Anime like Yodaka no Hoshi

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 , Tragedy , Anthropomorphism , Primarily Animal Cast , Travel , Astronomy , Space , Animals , Religion , Mythology , Male Protagonist , Kids , Historical , Bullying

Cello Hiki no Gauche

Also known as Gauche the Cellist.

Studio: Oh! Production
Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Fantasy , Music

The story concerns Gauche, a professional cellist. During rehearsals for a performance, he is scolded by the conductor because his playing is not good enough. His timing is off and he seems to have no "feel" for the music.

Gauche returns to his lonely cottage and starts practicing. Then a cat enters who tricks him into understanding the inner meaning of the music. The importance of practice is shown by a cuckoo, rhythm by a badger and tenderness by a mouse. In four days he learns the true meaning and feeling of music and develops into a great musician.

Laced with popular classical music this special combines fun and inspiration for all ages and audiences.



Tags: Musical Theater , Historical , Classical Music , Animals , Classic Literature , Rural , Male Protagonist , Kids , Urban Fantasy , Slapstick , Anthropomorphism

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

Kaze no Matasaburou (Movie)

Studio: Buemon
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Supernatural

A girl moves from the city and goes to school in the country due to some circumstances in his father's job. Her new schoolmates keep her at a distance. There is a boy she'd like to get to know better, but she worries about how he might treat her, and doesn't try to get closer. She begins to hate life in the country, and longs to return to the city, but she ends up meeting a real god of wind. The work depicts the fears, kindness, and love of children in a short, fleeting fairy tale.



Kaze no Matasaburou is one of four Anime Tamago 2016 young animator training projects.

Tags: Urban Fantasy , Animals , Rural , School , Kids , Full CGI

Tori no Uta

Also known as Bird's Song; Bird's Poem.

Studio: Toei Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Psychological

A boy is walking home through the city where he finds a new path that he follows. It starts to rain and he sheeks shelter with the aid of a girl. He falls in love with the girl. He gets a feather, and if he always carries it, they will meet again. He returns to his home following the path, but the next day he cant find it again. Time progresses and he forgets the girl. 50 years later he returns to the same city and he dreams of the girl. He is still dutifully carrying the feather.

Written, drawn, and directed by famed illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.



Tags: Philosophy , Male Protagonist

1001 Nights

Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Romance

Presented in the form of a feverish love dream, 1001 Nights (based on Amano's book of artwork) is the first performance of the groundbreaking "Filmharmonic" series, which presents new orchestral works by film composers in tandem with short films made by A-list directors. 1001 Nights is the series's only animated work, and plans originally called for the film to be completely computer animated.

Tags: Mythology , Fairy Tale , Foreign , Nudity , No Dialogue , Demons , Classic Literature , Heterosexual , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Historical , Dragons , CGI

Fantascope Tylostoma

Also known as Fantascope Tylostoma.

Studio: Toei Animation
Status: Finished
Genres: Supernatural

A man who appears every 700 years.
Stretching before the man's eyes the world rusted away to monochrome and gray.
Once before the town flourished that is now in ruins.
The man now, has a chance meeting with a person, a prositute.
A story of passion curling like smoke... Tairosu Tomah's story has begun.



Tags: Reincarnation , Achromatic , Gods , Revenge , Historical , Ghost , Post-Apocalyptic , Male Protagonist , Suicide , Age Regression

Toshi wo totta Wani

Also known as The Old Crocodile.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

A very old crocodile, so old that he had witnessed the building of the pyramids, was suffering from rheumatism, and no longer able to catch his food. In desperation, he decided to eat his great grand son. Although his thousands of years of longevity entitled him to much respect, the family decided he would have to be put down.

Unable to bear the disrespect of his family, the old crocodile said goodbye to the Nile. One day the old crocodile met an octopus. The octopus treated her new friend to a variety of fish that she caught just for him. When the night fell, he couldn’t restrain himself from eating one of the octopus’s legs. Since then, the old crocodile began to help himself to the octopus’ leg every night…



Tags: Animals , Achromatic , Cannibalism , Fairy Tale , Rural , Foreign , Anti-Hero , Tragedy