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I've never been able to figure this out. The nostalgia factor is huge, so it would be amazing if you could identify this.

This was about a 10 minute-long anime short, set to electronic music. There was no dialogue at all (like Interstella 5555, but this was a short film, and predated it).

It portrayed an epic tale which involved a male humanoid hero rescuing a female. I don't remember much more than that. I vaguely recall alien landscapes of some kind, possibly subterranean (but still open and lit up in probably a bluish light), and the male protagonist running. It is definitely possible the gender roles were actually swapped. I don't think they were robots/androids, but its possible. There were no other characters I don't think except for one villain or giant alien monster thing. The music was very good, electronic / synthesizer-based. The whole thing was very short, very simple, but somehow still epic.

I only saw this once, and it really struck me. I am guessing it was made in Japan in the late 1980s, or early 1990s, a few years before it aired - but this is just a hunch.

I saw this in the early or mid 1990's, on a Chicago cable channel which showed anime late at night. (There is a chance it was on MTV's liquid television, but I don't think so.) The lack of dialogue sounds almost like a Heavy Metal short, but it definitely wasn't from Heavy Metal.

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  • Glad you added the comment about "Heavy Metal," 'cause that was my first thought.
    – Lexible
    Sep 26, 2015 at 15:24
  • Hi there, thanks a lot for thoughts, definitely not Wizards however.
    – whatisthisanime
    Sep 28, 2015 at 16:13

4 Answers 4

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Sounds like parts of Gandahar (1987), by René Laloux. A male human hero sent to the future to stop a tyranny of android armies controlled by a giant brain creature. Heavy Metal-esque alien landscapes. Rescue of female, cliff hangers... all the usual tropes. Available to watch on YouTube.

Feature length, though, not 10 minutes.

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  • 2
    Lexible, thanks for the lead! It is definitely not Gandahar, and it was definitely a complete, stand-aone short, not a sequence from another film (99% sure)... But I think this was a very helpful idea because the style, and even the bluish color palette is very close! So I could see how the short in question was perhaps a French-Japanese collaboration, or even a French animation, and maybe even something else by René Laloux?
    – whatisthisanime
    Sep 28, 2015 at 16:18
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Possibly the short "Deprive" from the collection of animé shorts called "Robot Carnival". It is not an exact match to your description as it

involves an android in human disguise fighting other robots and a humanoid boss to rescue the girl.

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  • No unfortunately not this... for one thing, this was a very simple "proto-story" with only a protagonist, a damsel in distress, and one villain/monster... But yes, it was a short with no dialogue... perhaps I need to look for more collections of shorts like Robot Carnival...
    – whatisthisanime
    Sep 28, 2015 at 16:19
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This sounds very much like Peter Chung's Æon Flux shorts to me The timeline is right (1991-1992). Each story is typically 5-10 minutes long. The lack of dialogue, alien landscapes, and synth soundtrack fit perfectly.

The short, specifically, that I think you're looking for is "War" from season 2 (this season featured self-contained stories with no overarching narrative). There is a definite "rescue" theme (featuring rescues from both genders). It IS pretty epic, and there is much running to be had.

https://vimeo.com/49613968

No alien monster thing, though, which may be a dealbreaker.

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The music clip Peut-être toi from Mylène Farmer?

A boy and a girl running away from robots, he is shooting at them with an automatic crossbow. Starts underground then they get out and hug, just when you think they are safe, they get hit by a giant arrow and turn to stone statue of two people with arrow through them. It's a music video, has a French name. The refrain is "shut up, shut up, shut the f*** up".

Music video is like you described, lots of electronic music, very epic (there is even blue light and alien sky at one part):

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  • The OP says they saw it in early to mid-twenties, while Wikipedia says this song was recorded in 2005.
    – Gallifreyan
    Jun 29, 2017 at 17:47
  • I know. But it fits the description. Let's see what OP thinks. Memory can be a tricky thing. Now that I think about it, it also sounds like Animatrix Matriculated. Damn... That one is from 2003.
    – jo1storm
    Jun 29, 2017 at 18:09
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    Hi there, well it's neat that people are still trying to crack this! Unfortunately this is not the correct video, although it shares some thematic elements and is set to electronic music. A few big differences: 1) the video was much more retro in style, also a bit more cartoonish as opposed to slick anime aesthetics. 2) Almost 100% positive the music was completely instrumental. I can't really remember too much about it, but I would say it was not as high-tempo... mid-tempo or even ambient, perhaps faster at the climax. Although very much like a music video, the music was prob original.
    – whatisthisanime
    Jul 3, 2017 at 16:28

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