Omohide poro poro

This is a very gentle and beautiful film, which could have been done as a 'normal' film with live actors, but it wouldn't have worked one-tenth as well; somehow doing it as an animation allows us to explore the characters much better.

It tells the story of Taeko, a 27 year old Tokyo office worker who goes to spend a few days in the countryside. She is at a stage where she is starting to question her life, and is haunted by memories of her 10th year.

One thing that stands out is that there is no great drama, the pace of the film is almost humdrum, the whole emphasis is on the development of the characters: this of course means that it will not be to everyone's taste.