Interest Stacks

A group of elementary school children play in their classroom, imagining that they are on a boat in the ocean. This fantasy becomes reality, and soon all the students find themselves stranded in the deep blue sea, looking for their own Moby Dick. Some of the kids want to harpoon the whale, others want to take its picture, and many of the kids are afraid and just want to return home. In the end, a gentle Totoro-esque whale shows up and plays with the children until their fantasy ends and they are again back in school. (Source: Nausicaa.net)

This is a short film about 15 minutes long, which was shown for a limited time only at the Ghibli Museum. Koro is a puppy owned by a little girl in a small town. One day she leaves the front gate ajar when she goes to school. Koro slips out and wanders the streets of the town. He is picked up by a girl riding a bicycle, but slips away at the level train crossing. He meets a friendly old dog and his kindly owners, while his mistress and her father ride around town putting up "Lost" signs on the power poles. Koro eventually falls asleep under a delivery van, whose driver gives him a ride. When he gets near home, Koro smells the familiar neighborhood and leaps out of the truck and into the arms of his delighted mistress.

One windy day, Mei Kusakabe ventures outside to play despite the turbulent weather. But just as she is about to indulge in her caramel candy, a sudden whirlwind appears and begins to chase her! Retreating back into the house, Mei discovers that her pursuer is a young Nekobasu, and after deciding on a sweet truce, the two quickly become friends. The baby Nekobasu returns that evening and invites Mei to travel with him—marking the start of their exhilarating adventure in and around the bustling forest. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

The short film's main character is a water spider who seems to have fallen in love with a water strider. Though she is scared of him at first, the water strider soon gets used to the presence of the spider. (Source: Wikipedia)

A young boy, tired of the city, escapes into the country. When trying to bring vegetables to the market to sell, his cart breaks down and he exchanges the vegetables for a mystical seed. Returning home he plants the seed in a normal pot—only to find it growing into a planet. (Source: ANN)

A nameless heroine packs up her belongings into a large satchel and heads out of the city. Walking on foot across the countryside, she encounters a strange collection of creepy crawlies and ghostly spirits.

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and his wife in a mountain. One night, he found a bunch of mice heading to somewhere. He followed them and saw the mice playing Sumo. The man and his wife happened to know the mice living in their house always lose the matches, and they gave them some foods to support the team.

In a lonesome water mill deep in a forest of briers and brambles lives a witch named Baba Yaga. There the witch keeps her servant the Egg Princess confined and forces the tiny egg-girl to do all the hard daily chores around the mill. One night, a large batch of kneaded dough resting in a trough suddenly comes to life from the witch's spell. Fearful of the witch, the Egg Princess and her new friend decide to run away. What will lay ahead for the two of them...? (Source: Official Website)

Short film shown only in the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. The nine-minute short adapts a picture book by Rieko Nakagawa and Yuriko Yamawaki, the author and illustrator of two previous books that inspired Ghibli shorts (Sora Iro no Tane, The Whale Hunt). In the story, a boy named Yuuji and a rabbit named Gikku find a stick at the same time, and decide to compete in games to decide who can keep the stick. However, whether it is a foot race, long jump, or sumo wrestling, they always end up in a tie. (Source: ANN)

To humans, Boro the caterpillar's world is small; but as he takes his first steps in life, the trials he comes to face are enormous. From hungry predators to unforgiving weather, he must overcome these obstacles by himself on his great journey through the untamed wilderness of suburban Japan. [Written by MAL Rewrite]