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A short animation titled Snowstorm Traveller has, fittingly, taken the global internet by storm. Recent Canadian university graduate Gerri Jin created the video as part of her graduation requirements, and though it clocks in at a mere 3:46, video still delivers an engaging plot with an unexpected twist ending, so sit back and enjoy watching the result of all of her hard work!

Gerri Lin, also known by the moniker xiaojin67 online, is a recent graduate of Vancouver’s Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She only uploaded her graduation project Anime Short Comedy Thriller–Snowstorm Traveller to the web earlier this month, but it’s already proven to be quite a hit among internet users around the world. While it’s hard to imagine what kind of story could be labeled as a “comedy thriller,” Gerri’s self-professed formula of “70% story, 20% animation, 9% illustration, and 1% madness” seems to be one of the keys to its success.

Here’s some background information as taken from the video’s YouTube description:

“An innkeeper welcomes an injured traveller in the snowstorm; however, he has second thoughts as the traveller’s potential identity is revealed…

This is my student graduation animation done at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. May 2015″ 

And here’s the video itself!

A slightly more detailed story synopsis is as follows. When a girl shows up at a mountain inn claiming to have been injured by gun-carrying wolves, the charismatic innkeeper decides to nurse her back to health. The two spend some quality time together, enjoying meals, massages, and even video games, until the innkeeper happens to hear a chilling radio broadcast which casts doubt on his visitor’s true identity. I for one certainly found myself hooked while watching, especially during the suspenseful ending with its unexpected plot twist…

While the video has already racked up an impressive 87,800 views on YouTube, it positively exploded in popularity once it was shared on Japanese video sharing site Niconico, reaching over 692,000 views as of this writing. In addition, some viewers are drawing parallels between Gerri’s work and the popular murder mystery series of video game-turned anime Higurashi no naku koro ni/When They Cry. Here’s a clip from the anime adaptation of that story, in which we see an unexpectedly violent outburst occur between characters Rena and Keiichi:

Now that Gerri has finished her education, you can bet that we’ll be keeping a close eye on all of her latest activities as she further develops her artistic skills. In fact, you can follow her work in English on Twitter or in Chinese on Weibo, as well as her photos on Instagram.

▼ Oh, and one last caveat to our Canadian readers–watch out for those gun-wielding wolves, folks!

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Original article by Takashi Harada
Source/Images: YouTube (xiaojin67)