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In the Heian era, around 1000 years ago, a young boy of noble family named Ojarumaru is bored with his life of privilege. Meanwhile, three demons steal the power-stick of Enma, king of demons, and then lose it. Ojarumaru finds it, and uses it to transport himself to the present time. Here, he is befriended by a young boy named Kazuma, and becomes a member of his family. As time goes on, Ojarumaru makes many new friends, while dodging the comedic efforts of the three demons, Akane, Kisuke, and Aobee, as they try to recover the stick. (Source: ANN)

A tranquil forest and all of its residents must face the destruction of man. A squirrel, born and raised in the forrest, fights to defend his home and faces trials and adversities along the way. (Source: ANN)

One morning, two brothers living in a hut with their mother set out for the mountains to set traps for deer. They move silently through the forest undergrowth until suddenly a demon's arm reaches out from the treetops and grabs the younger brother. The older brother aims carefully, calms the shaking of his hands and lets an arrow fly, thus saving his brother's life. The demon's arm is left behind and somehow it looks familiar. After returning home a horrible truth is revealed.... Drawing on an early medieval Japanese legend, the film is reminiscent of the horror psychodrama Kwaidan. The Demon (1972) took awards at many animation festivals. (Source: kviff.com)

Based on an ancient legend, Dojoji Temple tells the story of a young priest who finds himself the object of intense infatuation and lust from a young woman. As he rebuffs her advances she becomes more and more desperate eventually turning herself into a gigantic serpent. The priest is hidden under the bell of the temple but the woman's passion is so intense that escape is impossible. A short animation from filmmaker Kihachiro Kawamoto. This film utilizes both stop motion and standard animation techniques.

The destiny of photographer Eadweard Muybridge and that of a Japanese mother clash poetically in this exploration of the irrepressible human desire to make time stand still. (Source: AniDB)

Korean War, 1951. Little Manuk is playing on the streets of his village and dreaming of life at the front where his father is a soldier. He returns home to find a parcel on the doorstep and, thinking it is a birthday present, he opens it. But its contents will change his life. (Source: IMDB)

Short experimental film from 1967 from animator Yoji Kuri.

A worker is fired from a factory for demanding a wage increase. His mother, worn thin by poverty, is caught in her own spinning wheel. Then a strange storm buries the town in snow, freezing rich and poor alike. Another short film by Kihachiro Kawamoto

When a young noblewoman, Iratsume, falls into a trance after copying Buddhist sutras and walks to a remote temple that women are forbidden to enter, she stirs up the ghost of the executed Prince Otsu. Otsu's ghost then mistakes Iratsume for one of her ancestors, a young woman who came to watch his execution. The beautiful face of this young woman was the last thing the Prince saw before he died, and his ghost cannot rest while her face haunts his sleep.

In a certain city, for just a moment in time, the lives of three strangers intersect. (Source: YouTube)

A boy named Lasset who lives on a farm in the rural northern US makes a perilous trek through the wilderness to a sanctuary 300 miles to the north to save the life of a gray wolf that he had raised from a puppy after an incident in which the wolf kills the family dog.

Ever since he was old enough to hold a crayon, Shinji has loved drawing and has dreamed of becoming a manga artist. When he starts attending school, the only other student who shares his passion is Masaru, who draws people he cares about as luchador wrestlers. As the two grow up, Shinji struggles to hone his skills but Masaru never moves away from his childish style. When Shinji finally moves to Tokyo to chase his dreams, he finds that the road ahead is incredibly difficult and struggles to make a mark on the industry. As Shinji grows increasingly jaded, his childhood friend might just be able to show him that there is more to art than financial success. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Short film by Furukawa Taku chronicalling human progress, or lack of it.

An alternate retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. The story begins in the same way as the original story but our young heroine instead of falling under the mystical spell begins to uncover the mystery of the man who cursed her and his relationship with her mother. It is a realistic reminder that "They lived happily ever after...", may not be as happy as we once envisioned.

A child whose head is numerals, a child who winds his own face and has it under his arm. What was left is his identity, a child whose eyes are provided by fishes, a child who lies down on the floor and head-butts his identity, a child who cannot say anything because of a zipper across his mouth. He undo the zipper but under it is another zipper... Ecology and philosophy of children with sadness and humour. (Source: Yamamura Animation)

Once we called the noble, profound and mysterious existence The Great. We have moved with the time, our thought and consciousness has changed. And yet what makes us still keep calling it The Great? (Source: kankaku.jp)

A huge pig is lying down in front of a house. Father, mother, grandmother, six children and a dog live in the house. Everyone is aware of the huge pig, and the pig is aware of the family. But nobody knows how and what the other think. The mother doesn't understand the father… It depends what you imagine when you hear about normal family life. (Source: Fresh Film Fest Website)

The two of them, all alone at home. All alone with her father's corpse. Memories, ideals, and reality all sink beneath the muck. Everyone is alone. Everyone is in solitude. (Source: Geidai Animation)

This is an animated version of Yanase Takashi's picture book featuring the friendship between a mother dog, Muku-muku, who lost her puppy, and the baby lion Buru-buru, who lost her mother. Although Tezuka Osamu planned to create an entire musical animated series for this story focused on the feelings of the mother dog and baby lion, this animated production was the only one never completed. (Source: Official Tezuka site)

Original monochrome version of a short experimental film by animation pioneer Youji Kuri.

The moon that fell into the deep sea woke up in the darkness. An angler fish came there. The moon explained why he fell into the sea, but the angler fish did not hear the story because he was absorbed in fishing. Eating a fish, he went away. A shark came next. He tried to take the moon to the sky, but he got too tired partway and left the moon. Crabs came. They carried the moon to the beach, because they needed the light of a full moon to lay their eggs. When they finished laying their eggs, they went home. The moon left alone on the beach was washed away by the waves and returned into the sea. The moon rolled down a hill and fell on a turtle. It was a very old turtle who should know a lot. The moon asked him how to go back to the sky. The turtle asked a ray in the sand to take the moon with him. The ray took the moon with him and dropped the moon in the deepest sea. The moon sank deeper and deeper. There was a big fish in the bottom of the sea. Wrapped in particles of light coming out from the mouth of the big fish, the moon emerged on the surface of the sea and melted. Did the moon return to the sky? This animation can be interpreted differently by different viewers. It can be interpreted, for example, as a story of the moon that fell into the sea whether in reality or in a dream, or as a story of an old moon that had to die for the birth of a new moon, or as a story of a soul heading for heaven. Whatever interpretation viewers make, the story conveys a positive message that we are all allowed to exist. Represented by this animation is a small world gently embracing us all -- transient existence... (Source: YouTube)

Stop motion cut-outs animation by Tadanari Okamoto, song narration by Kouhei Oikawa. (Source: AniDB)

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... (Source: YouTube)

Puppet animation by Tadanari Okamoto.