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In The Cage (2018)
A mother and daughter wander through the forest. The mother flees from an invisible terror, choosing to remain alone with her daughter.
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Goannai Shimasu Another World e (2004)
An unnamed salaryman complains about Japanese tax rates. He is overheard by a mysterious stranger who traps him in a version of his everyday life in which there are no taxes. Part of a series of animated short films produced to educate young people about taxation.
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age 18+
The Animatrix (2003)
Straight from the creators of the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, this collection of short animated films from the world's leading anime directors fuses computer graphics and Japanese anime to provide the background of the Matrix universe and the conflict between man and machines. The shorts include Final Flight of the Osiris, The Second Renaissance, Kid's Story, Program, World Record, Beyond, A Detective Story and Matriculated.
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64
age 13+
Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League (2025)
The Batman family has returned to the present to discover that Japan has disappeared, and a giant island - Hinomoto - is now in the sky over Gotham City. At the top sit the Yakuza, a group of superpowered individuals who reign without honor or humanity and look suspiciously like the Justice League. Now, it’s up to Batman and his allies to save Gotham!
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Extremely Short (2024)
Somewhere between calligraphy, embryology and words from beyond the grave, a convulsive poem wraps itself around the Japanese syllable ‘da’ – a breath that could just as well be the first as the last.
33
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Kasa Jizou (1960)
In order to buy rice cakes for New Year's, Grandpa went out in the snowy weather to sell the umbrellas. On his way home without selling any, he found a Jizo and covered him with a umbrella. That night, while Grandpa and Grandma were sleeping, they heard something singing.
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23
Resident Evil 4D Executer (2000)
Five members of the U.B.C.S., a private military force owned by the Umbrella Corporation, are sent to Racoon City to trace Dr. Cameron and, foremost, her research. However, the horrors they encounter are beyond their imagination.
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9
The Old Young Crow (2023)
An Iranian boy befriends an old Japanese woman at a graveyard in Tokyo.
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Oh! Mikey HardCore (2005)
Welcome to the world of the Fuccon Family, aka Oh Mikey!, a bizarre and amazing mannequin drama that has taken Japan by storm. Based on a popular independent film, OH! Mikey is the bizarre and hilarious story of the Fuccon family, who have come from America to live in Japan, despite the fact that they are mannequins. Some episodes of the series were a little too spicy to air, and determined unfit for airing and were cut from the broadcast version. However, these cut scenes have been restored in HARDCORE where you get to see cut scenes from 8 different episodes.
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Jishu Seisaku Movie Binchou-tan
Binchou-tan wakes up in her tattered wooden hut only to discover that her water barrel is almost empty. She decides to go to the nearby stream, only to find the fast-flowing water to be brown. Walking the path to town, past green fields, Binchou-tan finally reaches an old water pump on the central marketplace, and fills her wooden bucket. On the way home it starts to rain, so she lets the rain fill the bucket to the rim, preparing herself for the next work day.
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Kudan (2008)
As oppose to the mythological creature Minotaur, a monsters of western culture, a Japanese monster Kudan has a human head and the body of cow. Kudan is born from female cow. It speaks human language, predicts significant incidents such as war or disaster and dies in three days. This story is about a man who is accidentally transformed into a Kudan. One day the man, who doesn’t communicate with his son well, receives a box by mail and he finds a strange helmet in the box. He is transformed into a Kudan when he wears it. Although his body stays in this world, his head is in another world, coming out from the cow’s body. The helmet is a door to another world…
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20
Children of Ether (2017)
Follow Rhonda, a woman with a dark past and a mysterious power, as she is pursued by an unknown assailant after the death of her father. Aided only by her wits and a pair of orphans, she journeys through a decaying, dystopian metropolis populated by raiders, gangs, and the supernatural. As she struggles to survive in this harsh urban tangle, she meets both friends and enemies, and searches for answers about this power, "The Ether", awakening within her.
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Robotech: The Inside Story (2013)
Robotech: The Inside Story is a documentary of the production of Robotech, recorded in 1986 by the fan Dexter Odani for a film class, but not finished and released until 2013. It included many interviews with rare members of the Robotech production team, as well as cast members such as Reba West and Greg Snow. It is included in the bonus features on Robotech: The Complete Set (20-Disc Collection).
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Himeyuri (2012)
The 30-minute film centers around a group of high school students who became nurses called Himeyuri and served during the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. The Himeyuri Alumnae Incorporated Foundation, which runs the Himeyuri Peace Museum in Okinawa, produced the film with the aim to convey the experiences of those high school students, many of whom lost their lives during the battle, to children.
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A.F. Archetypes Forces (2002)
It is the year 2124, and the crew of a medical transport ship are carrying dangerous cargo to its destination. The contents, though mostly unknown, are rumored to be viral in nature, and must not be let out under any circumstances. But when a leak occurs, the ship, as well as the crew, is at risk of being destroyed. With only two robotic space suits and limited ammo, can they escape in time, or are their fates sealed?
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Grievance of a Starmaker (2002)
A boy is frustrated by the lack of bright stars in the sky. To reconcile the problem, he pays a visit to the Starmaker, a man whose lost faith in the world below him is restored by the boy's ardent devotion to cleaning the dirty stars.
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Popcorn
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Feed (2016)
Adults prepare a meal, which children consume. The image is just like the mechanical feeding of livestock. The children dote on a goat, but behind the house goats are turned into hamburgers, which are placed on the dinner table. Why do humans continue to kill and eat animals? This profound theme is expressed through quiet music and pictures composed of acrylic drawings.
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13
Momotaro's Sea Eagles (1943)
Considered the first animated feature film from Japan. Although it's short, it was billed as a main attraction. This government funded propaganda film features the classic folklore character Momotaro and his animal friends as they attack Pearl Harbor which is defended by characters strikingly similar to Bluto and Olive Oil from the Popeye cartoons. The animation is mixed with real video footage from the attack on Pearl Harbor supplied by the military.
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17
The Nighthawk Star (2013)
The stars in the sky seem to maintain the remote, eternal order which earthbound souls can hardly hope to attain, as it would take exceptional energy to transform oneself from an earthly creature into a brightly shining star. However, the ugly nighthawk who had experienced great hardship being despised by fellow birds managed to convert that hardship into enormous energy to fly up to heaven, and in the end could glow as the nighthawk star. A short made by Ryu Kato celebrating Kenji Miyazawa's 80+ years of fairy tales based on the story of the same name. (Source: The World of Kenji Miyazawa)
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14
Gundam: Mission to the Rise (1998)
Gundam Mission to the Rise is a short CGI movie with a duration of 5 minutes directed by Katsuhiro Otomo aired during the Gundam Big Bang Project event (August 1998). The story is settled in the Universal Century, although it's not completely clear whether in late years (after 0093) or in an alternative UC timeline.
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18
Shadow Skill: The Movie (1996)
In a war-torn world of deadly conflict, one small group of heroes stand against the forces of darkness, armed only with two weapons — their unswerving dedication to good and the superhuman martial art known as the Shadow Skill... For the 14-year-old Gau Ban, it is time once again to return to the grave of his parents, murdered by bandits when he was just ten. In the company of his adoptive sister Elle Lagu, Gau quickly comes to realize that his journey is more than a pilgrimage, and that his combat abilities as a student of the Karuda School of Martial Arts are about to be pushed to the breaking point! Note: The three OVA episodes together (Sevalle, Septia & Sui Rame) are also sometimes referred to as Shadow Skill: The Movie.
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CJ7: The Cartoon (2010)
As the animated version of Stephen Chow's 2008 hit comedy CJ7, CJ7: The Cartoon loosely adopts the original plot of how a father and a son accidentally pick up an alien named CJ7. The film has a newly developed story line during which CJ7 protects the environment and saves the earth.