History Anime / AfterSchoolMidnighters

* BlindingBangs: Mutsuko's bangs always cover her eyes. The few times the camera dips low enough to show her eyes, it's a moment of tenseness.

** Kunstlijk's name is an obsolete Japanese loanword from Dutch. It means art(ificial) corpse and up to the early years of the 20th Century was what the Dutch called an anatomical model. In the late 19th Century, the first Japanese classes in Western healthcare were handled by a Dutchman, P.J.A. Slüys, who among his tools had one of Auzoux's papier-mache models. And so the word "kunstlijk" came into use in Japan too.[[note]]For the record, the modern words in Dutch and Japanese for a "kunstlijk" are "anatomisch model" and "jintai mokei" and you'll have to search for someone who knows what on earth a "kunstlijk" is. The average Dutchman would guess it to be a prop.[[/note]]

* {{Minimalism}}: An in-universe example occurs when the deuteragonist trio has to compose a melody on the piano that impresses the composer portraits. Mutsuko, in trying to recapture her fly, smashes one of the piano's key with full convinction, generating a B flat that resonates through the entire building. The portraits go wild about this fresh sense of minimalism and give up their medal.

* SpannerInTheWorks: The library ghosts' challenge to tell them something they don't know yet is not impossible to win, but the odds are stacked high in their favor. They have access to all knowledge that's up on the internet and they get to scan their challenger's mind before the challenge starts. Like all other Midnighters, they also get to pick their challenger if there's a group of them. Mako is their pick, which should've made for an easy win because she's not all that bright. But Mako proves that much of a CloudCuckoolander that she rattles off a stream-of consciousness story that not even the library ghosts can get a grasp on -- try as they might -- and on the verge of a brain melt they accept defeat.

** Kunstlijk's name is an obsolete Japanese loanword from Dutch. It means art(ificial) corpse and up to the early years of the 20th Century was what the Dutch called an anatomical model. In the late 19th Century, the first Japanese classes in Western healthcare were handled by a Dutchman, P.J.A. Slüys, who among his tools had one of Louis Thomas Jerome Auzoux's papier-mache models. And so the word "kunstlijk" came into use in Japan too. For the record, the modern words in Dutch and Japanese for a "kunstlijk" are "anatomisch model" and "jintai mokei" and you'll have to search for someone who knows what on earth a "kunstlijk" is.

* FourIsDeath: Kunstlijk's TimeMachine always ends up sending someone through time in relation to the number four. The fly and some junk was sent 40 years into the past, Sonny was sent 4 hours into the future, and Mako was sent 40 seconds into the future so Kunstlijk could show off.

And that's the main but not the only storyline. Up until the final challenge, Kunstlijk actually tries to sabotage the girls because of earlier vandalism and because he believes he and Goth will just be taken to another school. Kunstlijk also revives three formalin-stored rabbits who turn out to be gangsters and who get very angry when one of them disappears due to one of Kunstlijk's inventions. There's a bathroom ghost in the OldSchoolBuilding named Chablis that all of the Midnighters are terrified of. There's an honest-to-god [[StarfishAliens alien]] roaming around. And there's a TimeMachine that relates to Kunstlijk's "betrayal" forty years ago as well as several more inventions only a MadScientist would come up with. The film gets chaotic at times, but never incomprehensible.

''After School Midnighters'' (放課後ミッドナイターズ, ''Hōkago Midnighters'') is a Japanese [[ComputerGeneratedImages CGI]] HorrorComedy film released in 2012. It developed from plans to made a few educational shorts starring an [[EerieAnatomyModel anatomical model set]], Kunstlijk and Goth, into a non-educational film starring them and a whole lot of other characters.

There's a secret {{kimodameshi}} hosted by the spirits of St. Claire Elementary. Participants have to come to school at night and complete three challenges to earn three medals, which may be used to grant one wish. The hosting spirits are known as the Midnighters and Kunstlijk, a living anatomical model, used to be one of them before [[MistakenForBetrayal his perceived betrayal]]. At present, Kunstlijk and his pal Goth, a skeleton model, face extinction as the science room is set to be demolished. They fetch three 5-year old girls -- Mako, Miko, and Mutsuko -- to win the After School Midnight Party [[RaceAgainstTheClock before 4 o'clock]] so they can wish for the science room to be saved.

And that's the main but not the only storyline. Up until the final challenge, Kunstlijk actually tries to sabotage the girls because of earlier vandalism and because he believes he and Goth will just be taken to another school. Kunstlijk also revives three rabbits stored in formalin who turn out to be gangsters and who get very angry when one of them disappears due to one of Kunstlijk's inventions. There's a bathroom ghost in the OldSchoolBuilding named Chablis that all of the Midnighters are terrified of. There's an honest-to-god [[StarfishAliens alien]] roaming around. And there's a TimeMachine that relates to Kunstlijk's "betrayal" forty years ago as well as several more inventions only a MadScientist would come up with. The film gets chaotic at times, but it juggles its storylines well enough.

During production, plans for a sequel were prepared because there was good hope the movie would be a success. It only did okay and the sequel was scrapped. However, in 2016 the popularity of the franchise got a boost when SNS broadcasted the twelve 90-seconds shorts about Kunstrijk's and Goth's hijinks-filled lives that were originally made to promote the film. In 2017, a crowdfunding campaign was launched on Campfire for the creation of a second season of shorts. The goal was met within three months and the shorts were released in 2018. There's been talk of reviving the sequel since. A [[https://twitter.com/hitoshitakekiyo/status/1145559818310045697 poster was released]] in 2019 with the elaboration that the sequel would involve another anatomical body from a closed school in a neighboring town coming to St. Claire Elementary, presumably to take Kunstlijk's place.

* BlankWhiteEyes: Kunstlijk's eyes roll back to hide his irises when Miko, instead of being impressed with the TimeMachine, berates him for

* FourIsDeath: Kunstlijk's TimeMachine always ends up sending someone through time in relation to the number four. The fly and some junk was sent 40 years into the past, Sony was sent 4 hours into the future, and Mako was sent 40 seconds into the future so Kunstlijk could show off.

** A case of "empathetic" body horror occurs when Kunstlijk enters a mannequin factory and stumbles upon a massive pile of mannequin body parts. They aren't alive like he is, but they are human models just like him and the screech of utter horror bordering on crying that he lets out defines the least comedic moments of the film.

* TheQuietOne: Schubert's portrait prefers not to talk and does so only once in the film when he throws Goth out of the music room so he can't interfere with the third challenge. Goth expresses surprise Schubert's portrait can talk.

* Deuteragonist: The girls Mako, Miko, and Mutsuko are the deuteragonists. Kunstlijk is the center of the franchise and he's the one whose life is most affected by the events of the film, but it is the girls' actions and subsequent adventure that make the story.
* EerieAnatomyModel: Kunstlijk is an anatomy model and Goth a skeleton model. They are set to be disposed off when the science room gets demolished the next day, a prospect that terrifies Goth but doesn't bother Kunstlijk because he's convinced they'll just go to another school. When a trio of girls vandalize Kunstlijk, he has them brought back at night by a gangster trio of dead half-skinned rabbits preserved in formalin that he revived. Goth saves them from Kunstlijk on the argument that the girls should partake in the After School Midnight Party, a challenge of which the prize is one wish. The wish could be used to prevent the science room's destruction, but Kunstlijk is more interested in revenge. His tricks backfire, of course, and one launches him all the way into the town where he hides in a fashion mannequin depot. It's upon seeing the mountain of mannequin limbs that he realizes there won't be another school for him and Goth; they're over 40 years old and replaceable by the dozen. Setting aside his hatred, he goes back to ensure the girls ace the ASMP. They do and wish "to play again". Because this can only happen if the science room is spared, it, along with Kunstlijk and Goth, are restored to prime condition and the plans for demolition erased.

* LivingDrawing: Four living paintings of famous composers make up one set of Midnighters at St. Claire Elementary. They are Music/JohannSebastianBach, who won't let a single chance to call himself the Father of Music go unused, Music/LudwigVanBeethoven, who is the passionate one, Music/FranzSchubert, TheQuietOne, and Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart, the young CloudCuckoolander. The protagonist trio knows little of their music, amusing Mozart and deeply angering Beethoven. The challenge the group sets for the girls is to compose a work that impresses them. Miko, who has a high class upbringing, wants to take it, but the midnighters are the ones who pick the challengers and they choose Mutsuko. By coincidence, her fly escapes and rests on the piano's keys. In recapturing it, she smashes hard on one of the keys. This display of minimalism is heralded by the paintings and they concede defeat.
* {{Minimalism}}: An in-universe example occurs when the protagonist trio has to compose a melody on the piano that impresses the composer portraits. Mutsuko, in trying to recapture her fly, smashes one of the piano's key with full convinction, generating a B flat that resonates through the entire building. The portraits go wild about this fresh sense of minimalism and give up their medal.

* VirtualGhost: Lumière and Dunkelheit and digital sages, ghosts composed of data with full access to the whole of the internet. It is hinted they used to be librarians at St. Claire Elementary before dying.

There's a secret {{kimodameshi}} hosted by the spirits of St. Claire Elementary. Participants have to come to school at night and complete three challenges to earn three medals, which may be used to grant one wish. The hosting spirits are known as the Midnighters and Kunstlijk, a living anatomical model, used to be one of them before [[MistakenForBetrayal his perceived betrayal]]. At present, Kunstlijk and his pal Goth, a skeleton model, face extinction as the science room is set to be demolished. They bring three 5-year old girls -- Mako, Miko, and Mutsuko -- to win the After School Midnight Party [[RaceAgainstTheClock before 4 o'clock]] so they can wish for the science room to be saved.

There's a secret {{kimodameshi}} hosted by the spirits of St. Claire Elementary. Participants have to come to school at night and complete three challenges to earn three medals, which may be used to grant one wish. The hosting spirits are known as the Midnighters and Kunstlijk, a living anatomical model, used to be one of them before [[MistakenForBetrayal his perceived betrayal]]. At present, Kunstlijk and his pal Goth, a skeleton model, face extinction as the science room is set to be demolished. They bring three 5-year old girls -- Mako, Miko, and Mutsuko -- to perform the After School Midnight Party [[RaceAgainstTheClock before 4 o'clock]] so they can wish for the science room to be saved.

** A case of "empathetic" body horror occurs when Kunstlijk enters a mannequin factory and stumbles upon a massive pile of mannequin body parts. They aren't alive like he is, but they are human models just like him and the screech of pure horror bordering on crying that he lets out is easily one of the least comedic moments in the entire film.

There's a secret {{kimodameshi}} hosted by the spirits of St. Claire Elementary. Participants have to come to school at night and complete three challenges to earn three medals, which may be used to grant one wish. The hosting spirits are known as the Midnighters and Kunstlijk, a living anatomical model, used to be one of them before [[MistakenForBetrayal his perceived betrayal]]. At present, Kunstlijk and his pal Goth, a skeleton model, face extinction as the science room is set to be demolished. They bring three 5-year old girls -- Mako, Miko, and Mutsuko -- to perform the After School Midnight Party before 4 o'clock so they can wish for the science room to be saved.

And that's the main storyline.

During production, plans for a sequel were already being worked on because there was good hope the movie would be a success. It wasn't and the sequel was scrapped.

* BodyHorror: Kunstlijk might be unsettling as he is a depiction of a human with the skin peeled off on one half, but all in all he's still just an artificial body. The three rabbits are actual rabbits that were killed, half-flayed, and preserved in formalin for educational purposes. Kunstlijk revives them to do his bidding and they wake up screaming.

* MistakenForBetrayal: 40 years ago, Kunstlijk was hit in the back by junk (from his own TimeMachine he'd create decades later) just as he held up the last medal the mysterious girl had yet to earn. Knocked forward, it looked like he gave it to her out of sympathy for her wish and she happily ran off with it. Ever since, the other Midnighters have viewed Kunstlijk as a traitor who'll just give away the precious medal entrusted to him and he's been kicked out of the organization.

* SpannerInTheWorks: The library ghosts' challenge to tell them something they don't know yet is not impossible to win, but the odds are stacked high in their favor. They have access to all knowledge that's up on the internet and they get to scan their challenger's mind before the challenge starts. Like all other Midnighters, they also get to pick their challenger if there's a group of them. Mako is their pick, which should've made for an easy win because she's not all that bright. But Mako proves that much of a CloudCuckoolander that she rattles off a stream-of consciousness story that not even the library ghosts can get a grasp on and on the verge of a brain melt they accept defeat.

''After School Midnighters'' (放課後ミッドナイターズ, ''Hōkago Midnighters'') is a Japanese [[ComputerGeneratedImages CGI]] comedy-horror film released in 2012. It developed from plans to made a few educational shorts starring an [[EerieAnatomyModel anatomical model set]], Kunstlijk and Goth, into a non-educational film starring them and a whole lot of other characters.

** The ghosts Lumière and Dunkelheit respectively have the French word for "Light" and the German word for "Darkness" as their names.
** Kunstlijk's name is an obsolete Japanese loanword from Dutch. It means art(ificial) corpse and up to the early years of the 20th Century was what the Dutch called an anatomical model. In the late 19th Century, the first Japanese classes in Western healthcare were handled by a Dutchman, P.J.A. Slüys, who among his tools had one of Louis Thomas Jerome Auzoux's papier-mache models. And so the word "kunstlijk" came into use in Japan too. For the record, the modern words in Dutch and Japanese for a "kunstlijk" are "anatomisch model" and "jintai mokei".