Anime like Toshi wo totta Wani

Kujira no Chouyaku

Also known as Glassy Ocean.

Studio: Bandai Visual , Ai ga areba Daijobu , Tamura Shigeru Studio
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy

Time has come to a standstill. A whale appears from a glassy ocean and spends half a day soaring gracefully across the skies. What makes this works extraordinary is the artist's decision to use the transparency and visual bulk of 3D computer graphics only for the un-moving ocean and glaciers. The people, whale, and ships are all hand-drawn, and with this contrast, he invites the viewer into a different world. This is a poem written in animation, the creation of a true fantasy. This project was a considerable under taking, and the results are marvelous.



Tags: Time Manipulation , Elderly Protagonist , Iyashikei , CGI , Achronological Order , Ships

Tsumiki no Ie

Also known as La Maison en Petits Cubes.

Studio: Oh! Production , Robot
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

An old man lives in a town that has become submerged in water. As the water level rises, he's forced to build additional levels onto his home with bricks (cubes) in order to stay above water. One day he accidentally drops his favorite pipe into the lower levels of his home, and decides to rent scuba diving equipment in order to go searching for it. As he descends through his sunken home, the old man recalls memories of the past in each room.



Tags: No Dialogue , Environmental , Dystopian , Scuba Diving , Post-Apocalyptic , Achronological Order , Elderly Protagonist , Coming of Age , Fishing , Cosmic Horror , Male Protagonist , Ships , Tragedy , Family Life , Marriage , Photography

Furusato Saisei: Nippon no Mukashi Banashi

Also known as Folktales from Japan.

Studio: TV Tokyo , Tomason , Sony Music Entertainment , Peter Pan Creation
Status: Finished
Genres:

Like in any culture, Japanese kids grow up listening to the stories repeatedly told by their parents and grandparents. The boy born from a peach; the princess from the moon who is discovered inside a bamboo; the old man who can make a dead cherry tree blossom, etc. These short stories that teach kids to see both the dark and bright sides of life have passed traditional moral values from generation to generation.

Each half-hour episode of Folktales from Japan consists of three self-contained stories, well-known and unknown, with a special focus on heartwarming stories that originate from Tohoku, the northern region heavily touched by the earthquake of 2011. May this program help cheer up earthquake victims and cast a light of hope for them.



Tags: Historical , Episodic , Youkai , Educational , Rural , Kids , Animals

Kyouiku Otogi Manga Usagi to Kame

Also known as The Hare and the Tortoise.

Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy

The story develops based on The Hare and the Tortoise, a song for kids (lyrics by Wasaburo Ishihara; composed by Benjiro Nosho). The pictures are drawn with a simple technique using only lines. Despite being a silent film, it is designed to incorporate musical elements. For example, the lyrics of the song The Hare and the Tortoise are represented as musical notes coming out of the characters' mouths. The unique backgrounds remind us of scenery in some foreign country rather than a landscape used in an old Japanese folk tale. This film is one of Sanae Yamamoto's earliest works and is described in documents as being produced by Kitayama Eiga Seisakusho owned by Seitaro Kitayama, Yamamoto's teacher. (Japanese Animated Film Classics)

Tags: Animals , Achromatic , Fairy Tale , Rural , No Dialogue , Educational , Travel

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

Konohana no Sakuya Mori

Also known as Forest this flower bloom.

Studio: Tomoyasu Murata Company
Status: Finished
Genres: Mystery

A horse puppet wanders into a silver world and pauses before an ethereal flower.

Tags: No Dialogue , Stop Motion , Tragedy , Animals , Puppetry , Post-Apocalyptic