Donguri to Yamaneko
1988 • MADHOUSE
- Format
- OVA
- Aired
- 1988
- Episodes
- 1
- Status
- Finished
- Studio
- MADHOUSE · Konami · Project Team Argos
- Genres
- Drama
The Acorns and the Wildcat is a unique short film in picture-book format from the creator of Night on the Galactic Railroad and Gauche the Cellist. Unusually for an anime, a narrator reads Kenji's story aloud while the action is played out on the screen by a succession of warm and evocative illustrations brought to life by subtle touches of animation. If the film feels somehow familiar yet you can't put your finger on the reason why, it's probably the sumptuously minimalist animation by Yasuhiro Nagura, who was the animation director of Mamoru Oshii's artsy 1986 feature Angel's Egg. That, and Kenji's wildcat is said to have been the inspiration for Miyazaki's Panda/Totoro creature. The idea of reading Kenji's story aloud instead of playing it out as a drama is quite refreshing, and Kenji's magical language and narrative style are entirely sufficient to sustain interest. Combined with the spacey music and breathtaking art, the result is a pleasantly unassuming little gem of a film.
Synopsis from AniList
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Where it came from
Released in 1988, Donguri to Yamaneko is an animated short film adaptation of a 1921 short story by Kenji Miyazawa. The project was produced by the animation studio Madhouse, which sought to capture the whimsical and surreal nature of Miyazawa's children's literature through a traditional cel-animation aesthetic. The film serves as an early example of the studio's commitment to adapting classic Japanese literary works for a contemporary audience.
The production leans heavily into the folk-inspired surrealism inherent in Miyazawa's writing, utilizing a distinct visual style that emphasizes natural landscapes and anthropomorphic figures. It is often cited by critics for its faithful preservation of the source material's melancholic and dreamlike tone. While not as widely distributed as the studio's major feature films, it remains a respected entry in their catalog, praised for its careful artistic execution and commitment to the author's idiosyncratic world-building.
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About Donguri to Yamaneko
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