Anime like Kaze no Matasaburou

Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru

Also known as Night on the Galactic Railroad.

Studio: Group TAC , TV Asahi , Nippon Herald Eiga , Asmik Ace , Asahi Shimbun
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery

What is true happiness? For Giovanni, the answer is as far away as the stars. Mired in hardship, the young kitten faces problems that should be unknown to someone his age. At school, his classmates mock and ridicule him, and after the bell rings, Giovanni toils at a job to earn enough money for bread. Then at home, instead of being taken care of by his mother, he must take care of her. The sole bright spot is that of the Festival of Stars, where he hopes to run into Campanella, his only friend. When they finally meet up, however, it isn't while looking up at the stars, but rather traveling amongst them... as the Galactic Railroad whisks the two away for parts unknown!



Tags: Afterlife , Philosophy , Trains , Classic Literature , Anthropomorphism , Primarily Animal Cast , Travel , Astronomy , Animals , Space , Tragedy , Religion , Mythology , Male Protagonist , Kids , Cosmic Horror , Bullying , Historical

Donguri to Yamaneko

Studio: MADHOUSE , Konami , Project Team Argos
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

The Acorns and the Wildcat is a unique short film in picture-book format from the creator of Night on the Galactic Railroad and Gauche the Cellist. Unusually for an anime, a narrator reads Kenji's story aloud while the action is played out on the screen by a succession of warm and evocative illustrations brought to life by subtle touches of animation. If the film feels somehow familiar yet you can't put your finger on the reason why, it's probably the sumptuously minimalist animation by Yasuhiro Nagura, who was the animation director of Mamoru Oshii's artsy 1986 feature Angel's Egg. That, and Kenji's wildcat is said to have been the inspiration for Miyazaki's Panda/Totoro creature. The idea of reading Kenji's story aloud instead of playing it out as a drama is quite refreshing, and Kenji's magical language and narrative style are entirely sufficient to sustain interest. Combined with the spacey music and breathtaking art, the result is a pleasantly unassuming little gem of a film.



Tags: Rural , Classic Literature , Animals , Kids

Hoshi no Ko Chobin

Studio: Watanabe Promotion , Studio Zero
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Sci-Fi

Chobin is a cute little alien prince from another planet, who crash landed on earth. Looking for his mother, he has a magical bracelet that will help him on his quest.

Tags: Aliens

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

Donguri to Yamaneko (1995)

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery

A retelling of Miyazawa Kenji's story of The Acorns and the Wildcat.

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

Yukiwatari

Studio: Magic Bus
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy

A short film based on a story by Japanese writer Miyazawa Kenji.

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Amefuri Kozou

Studio: Tooniverse , Tezuka Productions
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy

This is the second story of "The Lion Books" series. A boy meets a lonely little umbrella ghost wearing Geta. He promises the ghost that he will give it a pair of rain boots in exchange for three wishes. The boy, however, grows up completely forgetting the promise. One day, when he happens to remember the ghost, he rushes back to that bridge in his hometown, to the Rain Boy...This is a moving, sweet hometown fantasy about a gentle ghost and a forgotten promise.

Tags: Youkai , Male Protagonist , Kids , Bullying , Time Skip