Anime like Guskou Budori no Denki (2012)

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

Based on a short story by the popular children’s writer Kenji Miyazawa, Galactic Railroad offers viewers a slow-paced, dreamlike journey through space and time. When Giovanni, a lonely boy in a hill town, goes to get milk for his ailing mother, he finds himself crossing the Milky Way on a faster-than-light steam railroad. The stations he visits in various constellations, like the planets explored by St. Exupery’s Little Prince, offer curious adventures and an assortment of human "types." Reality and fantasy blur aboard the train, and its travels across the light-years sometimes suggests the journey through life. The characters are depicted as cats, presumably to avoid the problems of animating humans.



Tags: Afterlife , Philosophy , Trains , Classic Literature , Anthropomorphism , Astronomy , Travel , Primarily Animal Cast , Animals , Space , Tragedy , Religion , Mythology , Male Protagonist , Kids , Cosmic Horror , Bullying , 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 , Classic Literature , Writing , Denpa , Historical , Rural , Animals , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , CGI , Time Skip , Teacher , Anthropomorphism

Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka

Also known as The Boy and the Heron.

Studio: Studio Ghibli , Toho
Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Supernatural

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother’s tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy’s mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the “long-awaited one.”



Tags: Fairy Tale , Animals , Coming of Age , Isekai , Anthropomorphism , Shapeshifting , Urban Fantasy , Philosophy , Autobiographical , Male Protagonist , Adoption , Tragedy , Time Manipulation , Historical , Orphan , Rural , Pregnancy , Age Regression , War , CGI , Family Life , Archery , Bullying

TAMALA2010: a punk cat in space

Also known as Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Psychological , Sci-Fi

It's the year 2010 on the planet of cats, where lies Meguro City, a megalopolis entirely controlled by the super-corporation Catty & Co. The nefarious influence of this corporate empire extends malignantly across the feline galaxy. Tamala, a carefree, one-year-old kitten, decides to flee this cruel reality and boards her spaceship in search of her planet of origin.



Tags: Dystopian , Space , Anthropomorphism , Achromatic , Cyberpunk , Surreal Comedy , Animals , Female Protagonist , Conspiracy , Mixed Media , Anti-Hero , Mythology , CGI , Reincarnation , Fugitive , Cult , Satire

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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