Hikikomori-0 (2025) blends contemporary cultural motifs with Japanese folklore in the character “Brucio”, a composite of artist Bruce Yonemoto and a popular Japanese video game character. A series of seven high-end, handcrafted 3D-animated vignettes, utilizing cutting-edge motion and facial capture, brings Brucio to life in performances that are interminably sad yet hopeful - as he struggles just to open his apartment door and finally go outside.

In each vignette, the Nurikabe (a folkloric creature likened to an invisible, impassable wall) forms an invisible barrier Brucio cannot cross. The work connects myth with the global phenomenon of hikikomori, a form of self-seclusion originally defined by the Japanese but now seen worldwide. While Brucio is trapped, he may finally find his way outside with the help of his friends: a small green lizard and his brother.

Nurikabe (from the Bakemono no e) at BYU