Movie Anime
URACON II Opening Animation
Nihon Mukashi-banashi: Sarukani
An adaptation of an old Japanese folk tale also titled "Saru Kani Gassen." The story involves the two main characters: a crab and a monkey. Through the chance of luck, the crab finds a rice ball simultaneously as the monkey finds an apricot seed. The monkey does not want the apricot seed so he negotiates a trade with the crab for his rice ball. The monkey eats the rice ball immediately where as the crab plants the apricot seed and cares for it until it becomes a tall tree with plenty of apricot fruits. At this point, the crab cannot climb the tree to get the apricots, so he needs the monkey to get him the apricots. This is where the story takes a turn for the worse.
100% Renewable Energy
Short film directed by Amika Kubo and sponsored by WWF Japan as part of their campaign to move Japan away from nuclear energy and towards the use of renewable energy.
Stone
Independent, stop motion animation by Aihara Nobuhiro, combining drawings and real landscapes.
Nihiki no Sanma (Color Version)
Remake of the 1960 film with the same name in color that tells the story of a man and a woman who go by raft to a remote desert island with chickens and a dog. At first, it is a kind of paradise for them. They farm and fish following the same routine every day, feasting on grilled sanma that they roast out in the open.
One day, their harmony gets interrupted by a mustachioed scientist on a raft powered by an abused pig. This unwanted visitor constructs a robot which begins the process of industrialization on the island. The couple are disgruntled but decide to put up with the man and his technology.
(Source: AniList.co)
Nantoka Tengoku
Anthology film by animation collective G9+1 about various interpretations of heaven.
Uriko-hime to Amanojaku
Japan's first puppet animation directed by Mochinaga Tadahito and Tanaka Yoshitsugu.
100 Banme no Saru
Based on the 1981 book of the same name by new age guru Ken Keyes, Jr., which in turn is based on the story of a 1952 experiment on the southern Japanese island of Kojima.
Once one monkey has learned how to wash its food, it is able to teach others the same skill. When a certain number have learned (and Keyes suggests an arbitrary figure of 100), not only do the remaining monkeys suddenly appear to know how to do it, but so too does a completely different group of apes on a completely separate island. Keyes uses this apocryphal tale as a parable for the antinuclear movement, as "proof" that change would come if enough people joined forces.
(Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)
Gamba: Gamba to Nakama-tachi
Gamba, a town mouse with a brave, adventurous spirit decides to go on an adventure to discover the ocean. On his way, he meets a troubled child mouse, Chuta. He says his family and other mice have been killed by a clan of weasels living on a nearby island. Chuta asks a group of ship mice, the bravest of their kind, for help, but when they find out that the villain behind this event is the terrifying weasel-leader Noroi, they give up on helping Chuta. However seeing the hopeless Chuta, Gamba promises him to save the island, his family and the other mice. Gamba and his friends team up to go on their adventure to defeat the evil Noroi and his clan.
(Source: Varèse Sarabande)
Candy.zip
Aoko is confident about the documents she creates at work, but doesn't get any positive feedback. Then, she witnesses her colleague secretly changing the documents she created. Aoko is turned into a piece of candy to keep her quiet...
1st year work 2017, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation
(Source: YouTube)
Ga no Iru Tokoro
A Place Where There Are Moths depicts the conflict between drab concrete block apartment living and the natural environment in Japanese cities. The forces of nature are represented by the motif of a tree whose leaves metamorphose into orange moths and take over a middle-aged woman's apartment, pushing her room higher and higher within the building.
(Source: Midnight Eye)
Usalullaby
Increasing in its number, small rabbits take care of a great dolphin. Can the dolphin get to sleep by rabbits' gentle caress? May many people have good sleep and sweet dreams tonight even in the world with whining sounds and wriggle of yin and yang.
Graduate Work 2013, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation
(Source: Geidai Animation)
Suiren no Hito
An elderly man walks along his house and sees a turtle munching on a turnip. He does not disturb the creature but lets it eat in peace. Later that night, he has a dream of his late wife...