Takahata Isao

Winter Days is an amazing, visually stunning collaboration of the greatest animation masters in the world joining forces to create a visual Renku, a style of poetry specific to Japan whereby composers write a poem as a group, each poet creating a different verse. Winter Days is taken from the famous Japanese poet Basho's Seven Poetry Collection, the paradigm of the sho-fu…

* Based on the novel series by Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anne Shirley is a freckle-faced, red-haired girl, who grows up in an orphanage having lost her parents at a very early age. Anne is always cheerful and fun-loving despite being brought up without love or affection. When she turns 10, she is adopted by the old farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla.…

Panda Kopanda: Amefuri Circus no Maki is a sequel to Panda! Go Panda! following a year later and this time the rather understanding zoo has allowed PaPanda and his son to continue visiting Mimiko. One day two strangers belonging to the circus enter Mimiko's home in the search for a runaway baby tiger, but leave in haste when they sense the presence of something monstrous…

Panda Kopanda (Panda! Go Panda!) is a 30 minute movie made in 1972. Miyazaki created the original idea, the script, the layouts, and did key animation, and Takahata directed the film. The story is about a little girl, Mimiko, who was left alone while her Grandma was away. A 1973 sequel, Panda Kopanda: Amefuri Saakasu no Maki (Panda! Go Panda! & the Rainy-day Circus),…

* Based on the very popular manga by Haruki Etsumi. Ten year old Chie is "the most unfortunate girl in Japan", who manages her family diner while her unemployed yakuza father and her mother are separated. This sounds really depressing, but it's actually a very funny comedy. The story is set in Osaka. After the success of the movie, a TV series was made, and Takahata Isao…

In the latter part of World War II, Seita and his sister Setsuko, orphaned when their mother is killed in the firebombing of Tokyo, are left to survive on their own in what remains of civilian life in Japan. The unfortunate siblings do their best to survive in the Japanese countryside, battling hunger, prejudice, and pride in their own quiet, personal battle.

* Adaptation of the Japanese folk tale Taketori Monogatari (Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), also known as Kaguya Hime (Princess Kaguya). In an idyllic rural setting, an old bamboo cutter and his wife raise a tiny girl found nestled within a glowing bamboo stalk along with a fortune in gold. As she approaches adulthood, the bamboo cutter uses the fortune to purchase a villa in the…

Only Yesterday revolves around Taeko, a single woman working a desk job in Tokyo in 1982, taking a vacation in the countryside with the family of her sister in-law. During her vacation, Taeko finds herself looking back at her time as a young schoolgirl growing up in 1966. The film flips back and forth between the two time periods with a lot of nostalgia and beautiful country…

This is a heart warming comedy whose main character is Takemoto Chie. She is an elementary school girl living with her father in a broiled meat restaurant. Because her father is a gambler and doesn't work, her mother left home being disgusted with him. Therefore, Chie is managing the restaurant. Source: AnimeNfo

Anne is an orphan full of imagination. When she arrives at her new home she learns that sometimes you have to be a sensible person too; at the same time her unique character changes, or at least attracts, the people around her. The story covers Anne's growth from about eleven to seventeen years old as she makes friends, goes to school and studies. At a difficult point in her…