"Chironup no Kitsune", also called "Foxes of Chironup", is an adventure anime feature directed in 1987 by Tetsuo Imazawa.
Basic plot: After having escaped from a bear, two foxes named Ken and Chin get to be happy to become parents of two cubes, Koro and Kan. And everything seems to be fine in their life as a family. The day after a great storm, and after an encounter with an elder couple (a fisherman and his wife), a group of soldiers arrive on the place to hunt for some fox pelts as souvenirs. The foxes have no other choice than to run for their lives...
When it comes to anime about animals, regardless of when it was made or it's for kids or not, this one has to be one of the most beautiful movies of this kind I've seen in a while. How some of the scenes are made were so credible, that I nearly forgot the fact I in the real life watched an animated feature. The animation itself is cute as well, hence the fact this film was originally made for kids. I normally don't cry for movies, but this one almost made me to, so sad some scenes were later in this film, hence the film's dark story.
But let's not turn away from the fact this happens in real life too, when it comes to hunting of animals in general, for the sake of souvenirs and similar goods. Let's not get into that right now since that's an another story. But you see what I mean...? Speaking about fox hunt anyway, this one made me think that this film might have supposed to tell us what kind of consequences fox-hunting could have for a fox family as the one shown in this film. But that was just my impression after having watched this film.
But still, I really loved how this children's animation movie was made altogether, and I think this film really deserves a good attention especially because of the film's dark story itself. Sadly this film has not been released in Norway at once, but if it was, I would have recommended this for any family in this country where I live. Anyway I would have recommended any family in the world to see this film at least once. And therefore I'll give this a well deserved overall rating 8/10.
An another anime feature that deals with foxes is "Gongitsune" (1985), also called "Gon, the Little Fox".
