Bara no Hana to Joe

The scene is set with a poster on a street corner, a girl who cherishes her teddy bear, a street lamp and a playful moth that is drawn to the lamp. These creatures and inanimate objects, each with their own dramas, get involved in a war and the story ends in a tragic climax. This is a private animated piece that expresses feelings rather than telling a story. It can be said that Tezuka Osamu, frustrated with working for big companies, made an attempt here to depict what he really wanted in his animation. This work illustrates that even a poster on the wall can have a vivid drama behind it, and brings the magic of animation alive for us.

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. Note: In 1998, a renewed version was produced that changed some dialogue and re-recorded the audio with new voice actors. The last scene was also modified.

The story follows a racoon-like tanuki creature named Hal who find an abandoned human baby. Hal names the baby Pal and decides to transform into a human mother to raise him.

In a cone-shaped land named Kikyougahara in Shin Province, there lives a girl named Hana. She is a gentle girl, who always thinks of her family, in particular her great-grandmother Chiyo, whom she affectionately calls "Granny." One day, a traveling entertainment troupe named the Natsugawa Genzaemon Troupe happens by, and the villagers welcome them warmly. Upon finishing their performance and receiving their acclaim, the troupe's leader spots Hana with some "oyaki," his favorite food, and transforms into a fox in his excitement. It turns out that the leader Genbanojou, and his companions O-Natsu and Shinzaemon, are all foxes who have taken on human forms. Genbanojou hastily negotiates with Hana, telling her that in exchange for keeping their secret, he will grant her one wish. She answers, "I want to let my Granny see the cherry blossoms." Part of the 2017 Anime Tamago Projects.