Anime like Aru Nihon no Ekaki Shounen

Look Back

Also known as LOOK BACK.

Studio: Studio Durian , Avex Pictures
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Ayumu Fujino is a fourth grader who draws a manga strip for the school newspaper. Her art makes her the star of the class, but one day she's told that Kyomoto, a student who refuses to come to school, would also like to submit a manga for the paper...



Tags: Drawing , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , Primarily Female Cast , Otaku Culture , Hikikomori , Work , Meta , Rotoscoping , Autobiographical , Shounen , School

Ongaku

Also known as ON-GAKU: OUR SOUND.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Music , Slice of Life

When you’re a bored teenager looking for thrills, sometimes the only thing you can turn to is rock ‘n roll. Having no skill, money, or even a full set of drums, a feared trio of high school delinquents nevertheless decide they are destined for musical glory in a quest to impress their only friend Aya, avoid a rival gang, and – most importantly – jam out. Animated almost entirely by director Kenji Iwaisawa, and featuring a lead performance by Japanese alt-rock legend Shintaro Sakamoto, ON-GAKU: OUR SOUND brings its own sound and vision to the Hiroyuki Oohashi manga from which it was adapted. With pitch-perfect deadpan humor, the film presents a highly original take on the beloved slacker comedy: a lo-fi buddy film with a blaring musical finale that will leave you wanting an immediate encore.



Tags: Band , Delinquents , Rotoscoping , Coming of Age , Rock Music , Primarily Teen Cast , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , School

Kawaru Machi, Kawareru Machi, Ishinomaki feat. Jun

Studio: Robot , monofilmo
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Psychological

The Ishinomori Manga Museum released an animated short directed by Takuya Inaba based on Shotaro Ishinomori's semi-autobiographical and wordless manga Jun: Shotaro no Fantasy World. The short was inspired by Ishinomori's hometown of Ishinomaki wishing to pay tribute to the work while also paying tribute to the ongoing rebuilding and recovery of Ishinomaki from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.



Tags: Drawing , No Dialogue

Kaze Tachinu

Also known as The Wind Rises.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Walt Disney Studios
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

Although Jirou Horikoshi's nearsightedness prevents him from ever becoming a pilot, he leaves his hometown to study aeronautical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University for one simple purpose: to design and build planes just like his hero, Italian aircraft pioneer Giovanni Battista Caproni. His arrival in the capital coincides with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, during which he saves a maid serving the family of a young girl named Naoko Satomi; this disastrous event marks the beginning of over two decades of social unrest and malaise leading up to Japan's eventual surrender in World War II.

Tags: Aviation , Historical , Work , Biographical , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Time Skip , War , Primarily Adult Cast , Heterosexual , Foreign , Natural Disaster , Drawing , Marriage , Trains , 4-koma

Chibi Maruko-chan: Watashi no Suki na Uta

Studio: Nippon Animation , Sakura Production
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Sakura Momoko's teacher assigns the third grade to draw an image based on their favorite song to enter a contest. Momoko loves a song she recently learned during her music class and is anxious to make a good drawing based on it. On her way to meet her relatives in Shizuoka, she meets Shouko Kimura, a university student who occasionally draws portraits at the local train station and plans to also participate in an art contest. Fascinated by her illustrations, Sakura meets Kimura once again. Shouko is enchanted by Momoko's sympathy and honesty. They quickly become friends and end up inspiring each other in their own way.



Tags: Chibi , Female Protagonist , Family Life , Drawing , Iyashikei , Musical Theater

Muybridge no Ito

Also known as Muybridge's Strings.

Studio: Yamamura Animation, Inc. , NHK
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

The destiny of photographer Eadweard Muybridge and that of a Japanese mother clash poetically in this exploration of the irrepressible human desire to make time stand still.

Co-production from NHK and the National Film Board of Canada.

Tags: Historical

Madogiwa no Totto-chan

Studio: Shin-Ei Animation , Toho
Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life

This engaging series of childhood recollections tells about an ideal school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. This unusual school had old railroad cars for classrooms, and it was run by an extraordinary man-its founder and headmaster, Sosaku Kobayashi--who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.

In real life, the Totto-chan of the book has become one of Japan's most popular television personalities--Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. She attributes her success in life to this wonderful school and its headmaster.

The charm of this account has won the hearts of millions of people of all ages and made this book a runaway bestseller in Japan, with sales hitting the 4.5 million mark in its first year.



Tags: Autobiographical , Disability , Tragedy , School , War , Rural , Kids