Historical Anime

An animated telling of famous Buddhist scriptures, the OVA series focuses on the early days of Buddhism surrounding Gautama Buddha/Siddhartha.

A two-part video series in which Dr. Teng (a researcher at the Time Institute) and his faithful kappa assistant Pasuke travel through time, first to the Battle of Sekigahara (1600) and then to the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima (1561). In the second installment, they then look in on the last stand of the Japanese underdog hero Yoshitsune in Hiraizu mi (1189) and then, after spending so much time on the Genpei War, suddenly leap several centuries into the future, to cover the first time Nobunaga Oda used firearms in battle, at Nagashino (1575) . A mixture of live-action and anime, described by Japanese sources as a "documentary with a touch of story," and presumably related in some way to Shotaro Ishinomori's multivolume manga history of Japan. (Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)

A slapstick OVA featuring super deformed members of the Shinsengumi members

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Brief lives of some composers, including Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, Chopin, Vivaldi, Johann Strauss, and Tchaikovsky. Bizarrely, the obscure Stephen Foster, composer of "Beautiful Dreamer" and Jeanie with the Light-Brown Hair, gets a whole episode to himself, probably thanks to being top of the hit parade when Commodore Perry's gunboat diplomacy opened Japan in 1853, while Bach and Handel are forced to share. (Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)

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Commercials explaining the founder of Daido Seimei (Daido Life), an insurance company in Japan. Hirooka Asako (1849-1919) was an affluent woman who through persistence was able to push for insurance requirements of small to medium business enterprises for their employees as coal miners who were at the most risk/vulnerable if a disaster/injury were to happen. She did this by facilitating 3 large business enterprise insurance companies to break off small chunks to form 1 new company where all three had shareholder value.

Flash animation ONA that tells about Tezuka Osamu's life.

An educational film about losing hope in children in Japan. In the movie's example, how it is bad it is to say another child "doesn't stand a chance" or "don't think too much of them, they won't amount to anything" because of their upbringing or background or single action they did.

Folktales from Japan. Each episode was composed of two stories. The focus of the anime was to showcase folktales from different prefectures. The original airing only reached 18 episodes (36 stories) before stopping, the show was rebroadcast at a later date and the final 8 episodes (16 stories) were shown. The anime was family oriented and funded by the Seibu Department Store chain with a "Seibu Family Gekijou" subtitle on each ep, perhaps to mirror the highly successful "Calpis Family Gekijou" adoring the World Masterpiece Theater anime program.

Extra stories of Beanie's Daily.

(No synopsis yet.)

An adaptation of the Kasa Jizou folktale where Jizou statues reward an elderly couple for giving them hats (kasa) to wear during the snowy weather.

Based on a book of the same name. A stop-motion anime about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. A 6 year old girl named Hiro-chan gets burned by the bomb while playing with a local laughing Jizo statue. While crying out her mothers name she also begged for water. Suddenly the Jizo statue's face became that of an angry expression and tears started flowing from its eyes which Hiro-chan was able to drink.

A more educational season of GG Bond. This season is composed of 2 arcs, each arc has 52 episodes. GG Bond works on cleaning up some fossils at the lab as they'll be used in a museum exhibit. He uses a fossil to create a data coin that is compatible with his special jet. This allows for him to travel back in time to the original animal (a T-Rex) the fossil was made of. While GG Bond is ecstatic to learn about dinosaurs in-person (as well as mine more accurate data for the data coin), he didn't quite realize the danger he'd be in. He successfully gets out of this sticky situation but there's still a lot more dinosaurs he needs to get information on.

Two stories that mix animation with naniwabushi (storytelling accompanied by shamisen playing). One is a tale of General Nogi, the famous suicide, visiting the shrines at lse on his way to Nagoya, while his wife is mistaken for a commoner as she books into a hotel. The second story is of a sumo wrestling trainee, ridiculed by his fellows, who trains hard and avenges himself-the standard cliches of a sports anime, just with plink-plonky music on top of it. (Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)

San Mao was a very poor orphan. He was wandering in Shanghai where people dreamed of riches in the 1930s. Sanmao, together with his baldheaded friend Xiao Laizi received grain unexpectedly from the entrepreneur Wu Zifu. Later he fell into a coma mysteriously, and the reporter Hou Yiwen would try to investigate the relationship between Wu Zifu and San Mao. (Source: Wikipedia)

A Matsue Jinbo production of the classic "White Elephant" story where a kind white elephant is tricked into helping a human who leads others back so the elephant would be captured.

A stop-motion comedy drama about sugar cube people from the Meiji era. Specifically it focuses on the father Kakuza who easily succumbs to emotion usually about his 37 year old daughter Touko's newest fiancé who tries to ask for his blessing. He's scared of losing his daughter even though it was his late wife's dying wish to see her as a happy bride. The show had a very irregular release schedule and by the end of its serialization its title had changed to Kakugen! Kakuza Tousan.

A Korean adaptation of the biblical story of David and Goliath.

The story revolves around Shouta, a regular high school boy whose life is suddenly changed when a creature called a Gasshapon appears in front of him, and claims to come from the future. (The Gasshapon is shaped like Bandai's Gashapon prize-dispensing machines.) The Gasshapon was sent to the past by the future Shouta, from an era in which an alien group called CC (or Cold Cosmo) have made it their mission to change all stars and planets that have light and warmth into dark, cold places like their own. The Gasshapon had intended to take young Shouta to 2080 to save the future, but because time travel had not been fully perfected yet, Shouta is thrown into a completely different time, the era of the Honnouji Incident (1582), where Shouta actually becomes the famous warlord Oda Nobunaga. (Source: ANN)

Short anime that aired as part of Niigata Sogo Television's variety program GataTube (潟ちゅーぶ).

Dungaree-wearing teenage tomboy Kaori lives next door to the brothers Ko and Yasu. One day as Kaori is walking to school, a US jet crashes near the boys' house. Based on the "1977 Yokohama F-4 crash" real life incident. (Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)

The evolution of man. In 1989, Tadanari Okamoto made a slightly re-edited version.

The protagonist visits Uji and tours the town, which has been shaped by the accumulation of history and culture from various eras, including the Heian period. (Source: Official Site)

A young boy lives with his grandfather who survived WW2. When a letter comes in the main, the grandfather begins to weeps. He then tells his grandson the story of about this letter his friend wrote.

A Shinagawa ward tourism anime. The anime was made in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration. It stars Sakamoto Ryouma, a historical figure who took part in overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate. He spent most of his youth in Shinagawa under the Tosa Clan residence and a statue of him was erected in his honor. He's considered a hero of Edo and worked as a cost guard/battery staff when Commodore Perry landed in Japan with black ships. Here, the anime has a young Ryouma encounter Kurofune-kun, a black ship chibi mascot, as they time slip to modern Shinagawa. Kurofune-kun shows him the sights and they meet other historical figures who time slipped.

Ten-year-old Kyoshi watches as a tramp transforms himself into a rich imposter at a stand-up bar in the Tamanoi district. Amusing tales from prewar Tokyo based on the 1968 autobiographical manga Strange Tales of Terajima and written by Yu Takita for the alternative magazine Garo. (Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)

The second season of Otona no Ikkyuu-san.

A traditional Japanese fable telling of a kind old man, his avaricious wife and an injured sparrow. The story explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy on the characters. (Source: Wikipedia)

Sanrio's detective short featuring the a real historical character, Nezumi Kozou.

A series of children's OVAs covering various stories from old folk tales, books, and historical events. Each OVA has a various amount of stories featured.

An educational film about the history of life insurance.

Based on the book by Kikuko Inaba.

Classic fairy tales and literary works, both western and eastern, originally aired as a part of the early morning children's program Hirake! Ponkikki before the anime was combined and released on VHS.

The 3-part series commissioned by Japan Construction Training Center for educational purposes (to elementary schools originally) shows how civil engineering has developed Japan into the country it is now. Part 1: Takes place in the Nara period and covers Chinese Buddhist monks which came to Japan and taught the people Buddhism and how to construct and fix bridges and pods to improve the lives of farmers suffering from drought and taxes in what is currently the Hyoujo Prefecture. Part 2: Takes place in the Sengoku period and covers Takeda Shingen and how the Kai Province was always plagued by the violent river rains dues to the mountain region surrounding them to them causing the Kofu Basin to flood. He funneled man-power into developing a system of flood control using stone embankments and planting tree lines. The civil engineering project is also the foundation for the Roushigumi which later became the Shinsengumi in the Edo period. Part 3: Takes place in the Edo period and covers the Meiji government wantin to catch up with the rest of the world's technology and hired many foreigners to implement the success of the Western world's industrial revolution. "Contract foreigners" (oyatoi gaikokujin) brought knowledge of: lighthouses, railways, ports, water supplies, improved flood control, and education. The railways specifically were handled by the British railway engineer Edmund Morel who was a mere 28 year old. The project was completed in 2 years connecting Tokyo to Yokohama in 1872 as Japan's first railroad and first two railroad stations. Unfortunately Morel had tuberculosis and died in right before the projected completed but he advised many Japanese scholars and engineers on railway production in his own home til his dead which lead to the boom of ever-so-famous-and-successful Japanese railway system.

To save the magical realms, a group of warriors rise against a great evil power.

The second Youtai Nuhai Zai Shanghai film which expands the back story of Rina and Michalli. It focuses on what happened to their parents fleeing and how the two children ended up in Shanghai as the Nazis try to hunt them down.

Recap episode of Silk Road Shounen Yuuto that took place between episode 16 and 17. The episode title is a homage to the famous novel Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo.

The second part of Anhe Zhuan.

Celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of Hikaru Genji, the protagonist of The Tale of Genji.

A stop-motion film about the classic Japanese tale of Momotarou.

A 1991 Korean Historical movie.

Primary school student G.G. Bond is eager for the 2008 Beijing Olympics when he is dragged back in time to the competitive islander of Olympus. His only hope to return is to recover the "Keyinuoer” diamond from the dragon who guards it at the peak of Bright Mountain. He can only do this if he wins the island's athletic competitions. He has the power of a super lollipop which enhances his athletic abilities for only a few minutes, but must face up against sports genius Super Qiang if he hopes to ever go home. (Source: Wikipedia)

(No synopsis yet.)

Based on the 1981 book of the same name by new age guru Ken Keyes, Jr., which in turn is based on the story of a 1952 experiment on the southern Japanese island of Kojima. (Please note that the "Hundredth monkey effect" is discredited in the scientific community.) Once one monkey has learned how to wash its food, it is able to teach others the same skill. When a certain number have learned (and Keyes suggests an arbitrary figure of 100), not only do the remaining monkeys suddenly appear to know how to do it, but so too does a completely different group of apes on a completely separate island. Keyes uses this apocryphal tale as a parable for the antinuclear movement, as "proof' that change would come if enough people joined forces. (Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)

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A biographical anime about Mother Teresa.

Based on a book of the same name. An anime about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The focus is a middle school boy who kept and bred carrier pigeons. While he was out of the city training them, the bomb dropped. Both he and the pigeon desperately tried to find their mother and child respectively in the chaos.

A continuation of Menghuan Xiyou.

Second season of The Legend of Huainanzi.

Various classic Japanese fairy tales told for child aged audiences.

(No synopsis yet.)

An spinoff of Sekai no Hikari: Shinran Shounin. It covers the life of Shinran Shounin and his involvement to develop the Mahayana Buddism branch. (Source: Wikipedia)

This is the story of the extraordinary Benkei, who after having met his enemy Yoshitsune in his childhood (then named 'Ushiwaka') came to guard him as a lifetime partner in later years.

Based on a Norwegian fable. Hans was making bread and North Wind was blowing all the flour out of his bowl. He decides to visit the North Wind in his castle to ask him to stop and for compensation. North Wind gives him a tablecloth that summons delicious food on top of it. Unbeknownst to him, Hans was swindled out of his tablecloth by a local innkeeper. He returns to North Wind and gets a sheep that drops gold coins. The innkeeper swindles him again. Hans returns a 3rd time and gets a scepter, this time booby-trapped by North Wind to figure out who has been stealing Hans' gifts. The innkeeper gets his punishment when he tries to swindle the scepter and Hans gets to keep his 3 fantastical items and returns home to his mother.

Based on a book by Nishino Ayako. A story about the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima. Elementary schooler Nat-chan moved to Hiroshima and was knitting red gloves her male friend Shun-chan. The bomb hits and she dies. Shun-chan now an adult reunites with Nat-chan's remains via her shadow (nuclear shadow that is, where her body vaporized leaving an outline).

A stop-motion animation about sisters doing chores. One of them falls into a well and gets transported to a wonderland trying to retrieve a pail. There she helps the various creatures in wonderland and receives rewards. Upon returning home the other sister is jealous and tries the same but is rude and helps no one out of her selfishness.

Young Matsuwakamaru loses his father as an infant. To make matters worse, his beloved mother Kikkou passes away when he's 8 years old. While facing her death, Matsuwakamaru is puzzled at where people go when they die. If there is a cycle of heaven, hell, and rebirth, is there a way to escape this torturous circle, he wonders. With this great determination for the discovery of knowledge in mind, at only 9 years old, he joins a Buddhist monastery on Mt. Hiei, and changes his name to Shinran. This is the story of the man who would someday open the doors to the Joudo Shinshuu sect of Buddhism. (Source: ANN)

70 million years ago dinosaurs ruled the Korean Peninsula the same way they ruled the rest of the earth. At that time the part of the land now known as Jeonnam Yeosu was the forest habitat of numerous dinosaur species: Tarbosaurus. The youngest of a family of Tarbosaurs, Spotty is a curious and playful child. Along with his mother and siblings, he lives happily in the forest, waiting patiently to learn to hunt. When that day arrives, it marks the beginning of a long and painful journey into adulthood for Spotty. The cunning One-eye, an older Tyrannosaur looking for a new home, attacks Spotty's herd one day and, smelling sure victory, viciously tears Spotty's family away from him. Now on his own, he meets up with another lonely, lost Tarbosaur. Blue Eyes becomes his constant companion for two decades and the mother of his own children. But fate is fickle and Spotty's troubles with One-eye are not over, and revenge, death, fear, and sadness are all in Spotty's future - as is happiness and hope. (Source: IMDB)

Based on the picture book by Kodama Tatsuharu.

Follows the daily life of Toko-chan, a cute cave girl and her best friend.

Produced by Ogaki City, Gifu Prefecture. An anime that introduces the history and culture of Ogaki City.

This film depicts evolution from birth of life to whale in the sea with music and images by dedication to the American contemporary composer George Klum's "Vox Balaenae (1971)". There are 4 part, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. (Source: Yamamura Animation)

The Ishiyama-dera temple in Outsu announced that the temple's Ishiyama-dera engi emaki scrolls will get their first CG anime adaptation as part of a "Ishiyama-dera Digital engi emaki Project." The anime will depict the first story in the first scroll, which illustrates the Hira Myoujin deity appearing before temple founder Rōben in the form of an old man, and giving him an oracle to construct the Ishiyama-dera. The Ishiyama-dera engi emaki are a series of seven scrolls depicting 33 illustrated stories set in and around the temple, including a scene depicting the moment when Murasaki Shikibu allegedly was inspired to write The Tale of Genji while viewing Lake Biwa from the temple. The scrolls are considered an Important Cultural Property, and were first displayed together for the first time in 2012. (Source: ANN)

An old fisherman catches a fish bowl from the sea, the fishing child painted on the bowl comes out to reality to catch a lot of pearls for him. A missionary wants to occupy the bowl and is punished by the fishing child. (Source: IMDB)

An educational anime about the 3 major warlords in the Sengoku era. Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Kanbee-kun with Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu in manga. They are popular characters from "Rekishi Hiwa Historia," the history show.

A 1980 Korean Fantasy movie.

An anime made in honor of the 60th Anniversary of Adachi's union to Tokyo City. It follows 2 kids and the anthropomorphic version of Adachi called Adacchii.

(No synopsis yet.)

An educational film based on a true story of an elementary school boy bringing his wheel-chair bound grandmother to school in order for her to tell the story of her living through WW2 and the atomic bomb.

An educational film about the A-Bomb Dome, which is currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

An old man goes to the market to sell some pork. However, on the way there, he is attacked by wolves on the mountain.

An educational web anime where an apathetic elementary student Yukita, who is visiting his grandfather along with his sister, clicks a mysterious app on his KakoPad. The two children are suddenly teleported back to August 1, 1945--the same date as the Nagaoka air raid. The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival was founded in 1946. The event is in remembrance of those who died in WW2, specifically with the three shiragiku (white chrysanthemum fireworks) launched. The anime itself was commissioned by the foundation that organizes the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival. In 2003 and onward, the fireworks officially starts at 10:30pm, the same time the bombing began; and the duration of the short is 10min30sec long as well to mirror this very important time.

(No synopsis yet.)

An educational film about the importance of helping people starring the Ojarumaru cast.

Based on a children's picture book of the same name. On December 5, 1965, a U.S. aircraft carrier is en route from Vietnam to Yokosuka, Japan. While conducting training exercises 80 miles off Okinawa, an A4 strike aircraft is loaded with a B43 hydrogen bomb, but it falls overboard and sinks in 16,000 feet of water. Based on the true story of the USS Ticonderoga, which reached Japan two days later (on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor; nice touch). Neither side revealed the incident, nor that she was carrying atomic weapons in contravention of U.S. treaties with Japan. The plane, its pilot, and the bomb were never recovered, and the incident was only declassified in 1989, causing an outcry in Japan and resulting in this environmentally themed anime. The extra "n" in Ticonderonga may be a genuine error in transcription or an attempt to distance the story from real events, since the anime continues with Ashika, a boy from a Japanese fishing town, contacted by telepathic whales who bring him visions of fearful seamonsters. Then again, if you were a whale given a choice between nuclear contamination and talking to Japanese fishermen, which would you choose? (Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)

The second season of the Kakuza Tousan franchise.

The Xuanling Sect, the head of the four major sects, came to Shuicheng to select disciples for the first time in many years. The Fang and Qin families started fighting openly and secretly around this opportunity that would determine their fate. In the end, Qin Nan relied on his dedicated training, excellent talent, and the God of War Soul obtained by chance, and under the fair judgment of the messenger Xiao Qingxue, he successfully reversed the decline and defeated the Fang family. After entering the sect, Qin Nan aroused the hatred of Ouyang Jun, the son of the sect leader, because of his involvement in Xiao Qingxue's forced marriage. In order to continue to become stronger and repay Xiao Qingxue's kindness, Qin Nan repeatedly defeated powerful enemies, won the first place in the Wanxiang Competition and the Outer Sect Competition, entered the Wuyuan Pavilion with the four major sect geniuses, and obtained the power to stir up the continent. A shocking secret, an appointment with Leng Feng to fight in the Palace of Life and Death, overcoming the siege of Linshui City by the Beihai family, exploring the Nine-Character Mantra Tower, and vowing to fight the evil forces of the sect to the end. (Source: Iqiyi, Google translated)

Produced by Ogaki City, Gifu Prefecture. The 5th animation series Gakitabi!: Akechi no Furusato, which introduces the history and culture of Ogaki City.

An education anime about the aftermath of the atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima. The story follows Enoki wounded by it 1km north of Hiroshima.