Anime like Donguri to Yamaneko

Kaze no Matasaburou

Studio: MADHOUSE , Konami , Project Team Argos , Magic Capsule
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Slice of Life

A foreign transfer student from the city arrives one day in a Japanese country town. Enchanted by his air of mystery, his classmates nicknamed him "Matasaburou the Wind Imp" after a local legend. Eventually, they become friends and spend many days playing in the countryside. One windy day, Matasaburou returns to the city, leaving his classmates to speculate that he really was Matasaburou the Wind Imp and that he flew away on the wind.

Tags: Rural , Kids , School , Primarily Child Cast

Chuumon no Ooi Ryouriten (1991)

Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Horror , Supernatural

A short film based on a story by Japanese writer Kenji Miyazawa.
Two young British hunters get lost in the woods and discover a strange restaurant. Are the hunters about to discover how it feels to be the hunted?



Tags: Guns , No Dialogue , Animals , Classic Literature , Rural , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Shapeshifting , Cannibalism , Fairy Tale , Restaurant

Cello Hiki no Gauche

Studio: Gakken
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Music

A Miyazawa Kenji story adapted as a puppet animation.

Tags: Animals , Puppetry

Manga Nippon Mukashibanashi (1976)

Studio: Mainichi Broadcasting System , Group TAC
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy

An omnibus-format TV series consisting of anime adaptations of Japanese folk tales, this is one of Japan's longest-running TV series, and Group Tac's second TV series. The governing rule of the series was that the creative staff change from episode to episode. While later other anime series like Nippon Animation's Famous Works of Japanese Literature would attempt the same, none would be as long-lived or successful. The reason for rotating the staff each episode was so that each episode would have a completely different look and feel from its predecessor, and in this it was eminently successful. This is a series that is genuinely rewarding to watch, and is visually one of the richest in anime history. While this system also meant that quality varied, there were also occasionally superb episodes, as on the staff were many veterans like Group Tac founder SUGII Gisaburo himself, SHIBAYAMA Tsutomu, FURUZAWA Hideo, RIN Taro, and HIKONE Norio. Old episodes started being repeated more and more frequently as the years went on, and production of new episodes finally ceased completely in late 1995, but the series is still widely broadcast.



Tags: Historical

Ihatov Gensou: Kenji no Haru

Also known as Spring and Chaos.

Studio: Group TAC
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sci-Fi , Slice of Life

A unique biographical sketch of the life of the great modern Japanese poet Kenji Miyazawa, SPRING AND CHAOS is highly stylized and intense and draws on Miyazawa's writing techniques to tell his life story. Miyazawa often used animals as the main characters in his stories and poems, and it is this technique that allows director Shoji Kawamori to recreate Miyazawa's fanciful land of Ihatov and use it as the backdrop for Miyazawa`s life. Beautiful and affecting, SPRING AND CHAOS is a fitting tribute to one of Japan's greatest writers.

Tags: Biographical , Tragedy , Denpa , Classic Literature , Writing , Historical , Rural , Animals , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , CGI , Time Skip , Teacher , Anthropomorphism