Top Graduation Project Anime Recommendations

rain town

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sci-Fi

Hiroyasu Ishida's graduation project at Kyoto Seika University.

Tags: Urban , No Dialogue , Robots , Dystopian , Female Protagonist , Tragedy , Graduation Project , Iyashikei

00:08

Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological

This piece takes 8 seconds, and creates intervals between the frames, and then makes them bigger. It's about expansion and enlargement, not the passage of time. 8 seconds becomes that much more luxuriant.

Graduate Work 2014, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation

Prize : 2014 Anima Mundi, Best Gallery Film 2014 ANIMPACT, Jury Special Prize 2014 Tokyo Anime Award Festival, Graduation Work Adobe prize



Tags: No Dialogue , Achromatic , Male Protagonist , Graduation Project

Yume ga Sameru made

Also known as Before you wake up.

Studio: FLAT STUDIO
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

One night, university student Souta meets a girl he has never met before. Yuki, who claims to have been saved by Souta in the past, seems to know nothing about outside world, from shopping to holding a fork. There is also something curious about her. She is extremely afraid of getting her skin touched. The curious life of the strange girl changes little by little.
There are men who seek to capture Yuki. It is said that Yuki has a power which holds the fate of the world, and they want her to sacrifice herself for the world. What is the power within Yuki? Why does she refuse to be touched? At last, Yuki reveals to Souta her hidden truth.
Yume ga Sameru made is the university graduation project of illustrator loundraw. It is presented as a trailer of a hypothetical anime movie.

Tags: Graduation Project , Urban

Mahou no nai Sekai de Ikiru to Iu Koto

Also known as Living in a world without magic.

Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy

Graduation work of Akiwashi.

Tags: Time Manipulation , Magic , Coming of Age , Adoption , Family Life , Tragedy , Musical Theater , Reincarnation , Graduation Project , Boys' Love

My Little Goat

Also known as My Little Goat.

Status: Finished
Genres: Horror , Mystery , Psychological

The mother goat rescues her little goats from the wolf's belly. But, she can't find Toruku, her eldest son! Where is Toruku?!

Tomoki Misato's 2018 Graduation Work at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Tags: Stop Motion , Animals , Primarily Child Cast , Primarily Animal Cast , Found Family , Anthropomorphism , Fairy Tale , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Gore , Tragedy , Graduation Project

Crazy for It

Also known as Crazy for It.

Status: Finished
Genres: Music , Psychological

Yuutarou Kubo's graduation film.

Tags: No Dialogue , Graduation Project

Out of Sight

Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy

Graduation Production made by three students graduated from the National Taiwan University of Arts.

The main character of little girl in the story confronts a robbery and strays from the road she is familiar with. After passing a hedge, she enters an unknown world and unfolds a magical adventure depending on senses other than vision and her imagination. With soft and cute colors as the main key, we used simple designs to depict the little girls' imaginary world.

Tags: Disability , Female Protagonist , No Dialogue , Witch , Isekai , Magic , Graduation Project

Kujira wo Yumemu

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

Graduation work of Shuzuku.

A girl wanders through a landscape of quiet ruin, alone except for her dog and a mysterious voice on her radio, reciting poems at a precise hour every day. A haunting memory of a nearby future.



Notes:
- Selected and pre-screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival as a part of the Anime no Bento official selection on July 19, 2025.
- Won the Grand Prix at the Kochi Anime Creator Award 2025 out of 30 nominated works.

Tags: Post-Apocalyptic , Graduation Project , Female Protagonist

Katasumi no Uroko

Also known as Scutes on my mind.

Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy

The scutes glisten in the corner of her mind and she starts to dig her memories up. What was like the museum director she encountered when she was lost?

Graduate Work 2015 by Megumi Ishitani, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation.



Tags: Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Animals , Dinosaurs , Graduation Project

Jeolyeonjooui Sahang

Also known as Break Ups.

Studio: Studio Goindol
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

Originally a 2009 Hoseo University graduation work by Joo Jaebum and Kim Sungdae.

A young, feuding couple who, through the power of time travel, realize how strong their relationship really is.



Tags: Graduation Project

Ishikeri

Also known as Ishikeri-Kicking Rocks.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

All of sudden, a boy starts to play hopscotch. Kicking stone is a simply play but it doesn’t work simply as it seems. He struggles by the rule he made himself.

1st year work 2013 from Yutaro Kubo, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation



Tags: Graduation Project , No Dialogue , Male Protagonist

I think you're a little confused

Also known as I think you’re a little confused.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy

One day a letter takes a blood-sausage to his friend, liver-sausage. So, he went... Its motif comes from Grimm's fairy tale "The Strange Feast".

Graduate Work 2016 by Iku Ogawa, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation.



Tags: No Dialogue , Stop Motion , Graduation Project

Atashi Dake wo Mite

Also known as Look at Me Only.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

Having forgotten exciting feelings of the early days of the relationship, the man drifts along petting his guinea pig. One day he meets a beauty of flower who appreciates the pet.

Tomoki Misato's 2016 Graduation Work at Musashino Art University.

Tags: Stop Motion , Heterosexual , No Dialogue , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Animals , Graduation Project

Kata no Ato

Also known as The mark of Emi.

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance

My friend Emi appeared in my dream. I was so surprised by this, I couldn't face her at school that day. But I forgot that we had to go to the swimming pool for PE class that afternoon, so I ended up having to borrow Emi's swimsuit.

Furukawahara Momoka's graduation work from 2019 at Tokyo Zokei University.

Tags: LGBTQ+ Themes , School , Yuri , Primarily Female Cast , Nudity , Graduation Project , Primarily Child Cast

Shui Naodai

Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Sci-Fi

In this story, the kids are constantly forced to bury themselves into their endless homework by those giant monsters behind them. The children's brains are filled with water that can be heated by tension. If a kid is overstressed, the water in their brain would boil and produce steam, which becomes the food of the greedy monsters and the energy of the whole city. Thus, those poor children repeat their lives day after day, serving as the powerplant of their world, spending their childhood in tragic misery... Water Brain, the head is in the water.

Graduation design work of the Ani7ime team of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

Tags: Graduation Project

Anklet to Aoi Umi

Also known as Memory of blue.

Status: Finished
Genres:

2017 Graduation work of Akane Hirai, Ryosuke Yanagida and Mai Yamaguchi at Tama Art University. The movie was finished in 2019.

Tags: Graduation Project

Mamiko no Unko

Also known as Mamiko’s Poop.

Status: Finished
Genres:

Graduation work of Yasuteru Ohno at Tama Art University.

A heartbroken schoolgirl drowns her sorrows in food after being cheated on. When nature calls, what follows in the bathroom becomes an explosive outlet for her rage directed straight at her unfaithful boyfriend.

Notes: Selected for the Fantasia Film Festival Anime no Bento official selection highlighting indie talent.

Tags: Graduation Project , Body Horror , Revenge , School

Googuri Googuri

Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Music

"Googuri Googuri" - a made up word, a secret word, shared by a girl and her grandfather. For the girl, her grandfather is at times like a mountain, at other times like a tree, or an ocean; a warm and comfortable place. Her thoughts take wing into her endless imagination. The things we have seen, smelled, thought, and everything we have experienced, extending and expanding within the infinite expanse inside ourselves.

Graduate Work 2010, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation.



Tags: Graduation Project

Watashi no Touchika

Also known as Our Little Pond.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

I’m the only one who can't live without an oxygen tank in the underwater world. No matter how suffocated I feel, I preserve peace and harmony by pretending the selfish girl and my friends with complicated family backgrounds don’t bother me.

Graduate Work 2021, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation



Tags: Graduation Project

Fragile

Also known as Fragile.

Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological

Hamaguchi Taigo's graduation work from 2020 at Tama Art University.

Tags: Graduation Project