Research 9, the short

 The short film was at first a little confusing to me since there was no real background information or talking. As 9 continued around the place by himself and eventually having a flashback more things made sense. I almost immediately got a sad feeling because in the flashback 9 was seen with another character, however now he was all alone. It was very heartwarming when the two characters shared their belongings and seemed to deeply care about each other. The flashback became at first intense when the monster showed up and the other character had to fight him. From context clues, I could already tell that it would not end well and it made me sad once again. My intuition was correct and the monster used a device and took the soul of 9's friend. It was amazing the way Shane Acker was able to create a sad scene and be able to show the heartbreak that 9 was going through even though he is an animated character. I was not expecting to feel an emotional connection since it was animated but Acker did a great job conveying his emotions onto the audience. As the movie continued the plot only thickened. 

Once the flashback was over the plot only got better and better. I was caught off guard when the monster showed up but this time in the present day. Based on what I had seen last time the monster showed up, this would be a difficult fight. 9 led the monster into a cave and was able to trick him! When I saw this I first thought that he died too easily and I thought it was odd. But then I saw that 9 was above the roster ready to attack and I gained hope again. When 9 was standing on the edge after running from the monster I almost lost all faith again, I believed there was no way he could escape that many times. But once again I was proven wrong when 9 outsmarted the monster and was able to kill him. I was so happy and sad at the same time, I was happy that 9 won, however somehow I felt bad for the monster's death. When it cut to the next scene where 9 was standing by the graves looking at his friend's "skin" sadness struck me even harder. I could relate to the feeling of mourning and missing a loved one that was taken too soon. When the device the monster used to have started vibrating I was confused but I could kind of tell what was happening. The souls were finally released and able to go to their graves and rest in peace. When his old friend, 5, looked back at him it filled my heart with sadness that they had to once again go a different way but also so happy the got to see each other once again and that he was able to be at peace.