Takahashi Rumiko Anthology

Drama / Horror

According to an ancient legend, mermaid's flesh can grant immortality if eaten. 500 years ago, Yuta unknowingly ate a piece of mermaid's flesh. For centuries, he travels across Japan, hoping to find a mermaid, thinking she may be able to make him a normal human again. When he finally finds one, he discovers that she and her companions have been raising a girl to be their food so they can eat her and take on her youthful looks. That is how mermaids stay young. Yuta kills the mermaids and rescues her, but she has already eaten some of the mermaid's flesh. Although he had to kill the mermaids, Yuta isn't too disappointed. Yuta's once lonely existence is now over, as he has found a companion in Mana. And Mana, who had been trapped in a small hut her whole life, finds delight in even the simplest of things. Together, Yuta and Mana attempt to seek out more mermaids, trying to become normal humans again. (Source: Anime News Network)

Comedy / Slice of Life

A sophisticated collection of tales, ranging from the macabre to heartwarming to wacky. The trials and tribulations of daily life. 1. P no Higeki (The Tragedy of P) 2. Roman no Akindo (The Merchant of Romance) 3. Poi no Ie (The House of Trash) 4. Hachi no Naka (Hidden in the Pottery) 5. Hyakunen no Koi (One Hundred Years of Love) 6. L-size no Shiawase (Extra-Large Sized Happiness)

Comedy / Drama

Senmu No Inu contains six short stories that may especially appeal to readers with an appreciation for stories about relationships, character, and understanding other people. These are stories for thinking and feeling adults. 1. Semmu no Inu (専務の犬, 1994) 2. Meisou Kazoku Fire (迷走家族Ｆ, 1995) 3. Kimi ga Iru Dake de (君がいるだけで, 1999） 4. Cha no Aida no Love Song (茶の間のラブソング, 1996) 5. Oyaji Low Teen (おやじローティーン, 1997) 6. Orei ni Kaete (お礼にかえて, 1998)

Drama / Romance

If you have enough money, you can buy anything. So why wait for an organ you need to become available? Raised to be harvested for parts, Ray had already lost her eyes when renegade surgeon Black Jack rescued her. Now, ten years later, she has grown up to be a surgeon herself. And thanks to the unique artificial eyes she received as replacements, she has a reputation for performing incredible medical operations that no one else could even attempt. But unknown to any but a select few, her surgical endeavors are only part of a greater mission: to discover what happened to the other children she was raised with, and to find the men who stole the eyes she was born with and to bring them to justice. (Source: The Anime Network)

Drama / Slice of Life

Though seemingly unconnected, the characters in HUMAN CROSSING all have something in common. They are dealing with the sometimes joyous, but often horrific realities of everyday life. Set in modern day Japan, this compilation of short stories explores the lives of people from all walks of life. The animation used here is subtle, with realistic renderings that fully express the range of emotions experienced by the film`s characters. HUMAN CROSSING taps into the dramatic potential of reality, focusing on the isolated, sometimes lonely nature of urban life. Ultimately, however, the film suggests that perhaps there is an inter-connectedness between people that binds even the most disparate strangers together.

Drama / Fantasy

Millennium Actress blurs the lines between the past and the present, and truth and fiction, when a documentary filmmaker fulfills his quest to find the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, and learn why she mysteriously vanished at the height of her brilliant career. When Chiyoko grants the filmmaker’s request, he, in turn, presents her with a token – a key she had lost and thought was gone forever. The filmmaker could not have imagined that the key would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life, but also his own. (Source: Dreamworks) Note: The film received an early premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 28, 2001.

Adventure / Comedy

GOSHO collection reveals the origin of the smash hit “Detective Conan.” “GO” into his world, and we will “SHO” you SEVEN romantic and exciting stories created by GOSHO AOYAMA. WAIT FOR ME (30 min.) A genius inventor, who is still a high school student, has a girlfriend two years older than him. One day, he invents a time machine and attempts to go two years back into the past, to become the same age as her. However, it is she who ultimately uses the machine to travel through time! TEN PLANETS IN THE NIGHT SKY (10 min.) Meet Baby Conan! Yukiko Kudo is looking for her missing husband. The only clue to find him again is to decipher a mysterious message left for her. Their baby, Shinichi Kudo, one who later becomes the famous high school Detective Conan, will at this age already be offering some important hints for her. THE WANDERING RED BUTTERFLY (7 min.) A handsome detective, Yusaku Kitakata, receives phone calls from a mysterious woman day after day, with a new case each day. He of course solves them one by one. But the biggest mystery is who is this mysterious woman? PLAY IT AGAIN (30 min.) Thanks to the mystical powers of a Cherry Blossom Tree, a 70-year-old man with a secret sword technique goes back into the past and becomes the same age as his granddaughter. While enjoying his youth for the second time around, he notices that a player is after his granddaughter. SANTA CLAUS IN SUMMER (30 min.) Keisuke, a young man of 17, accidentally activates the Earth Destruction System. The destiny of the Earth now depends on whether he can stop the system within 24 hours. However, suddenly amnesia strikes him and he forgets the pin number to stop the system. The time is running out... DETECTIVE GEORGE’S SPECIAL CASE (30 min.) A girl is fleeing from men in black. She runs into a detective agency and discovers that the detective there is a super-miniature-size, cool dude. He risks his life trying to solve a case for this client. Will they come through in the end? MAKING OF DETECTIVE CONAN (7 min.) Do you know how to make animation? Everybody wants to see the workings of an animation studio. Based on the concept of Detective Conan, the three sub-characters visit the animation studio of Detective Conan. This episode will surely catch the hearts of Detective Conan fans! [The actual animation is also involved in this special.] (Source: TMS Entertainment, LTD)

Drama / Romance

A series of animations based on prize-winning short stories for women. Kawamo wo Suberu Kaze (January 7, 2011) In the story, 33-year-old Kanazawa native Noriko had decided long ago not to accept an ordinary, provincial life for herself. So, she had gone to college in Tokyo, worked on her own, married a man at an elite trading firm, and had a child. She has just returned home from five years abroad with her husband and four-year-old son. However, she senses a large emptiness in her heart since coming back. Moreover, there is a man who shares a big secret with Noriko. Yuuge (March 10, 2013) Mimi, a wife in her late 20s, leaves her family and begins living with a young man. Jinsei Best 10 (March 17, 2013) Hatoko, a business woman, faces her upcoming 40th birthday and reunites with the person with whom she shared her first kiss in middle school, over two decades ago. Dokoka Dewanai Koko (March 24, 2013) A 43-year-old housewife gets a glimpse of a complicated relationship between a mother and a daughter. (Source: Anime News Network)

Action / Fantasy

An anthology of seven short animated films from Studio 4°C: 1.) Genius Party (directed by Atsuko Fukushima) A bizarre bird-like creature runs through a barren desert and finds what seems to be a smiling egg lying on the ground. 2.) Shanghai Dragon (directed by Shouji Kawamori) An imaginative Chinese boy finds a futuristic device that can make his own drawings come to life. After discovering the device, the town he lives in is about to be invaded by spaceships and machines of mass destruction that are all centuries ahead of Earth's time. 3.) Deathtic 4 (directed by Shinji Kimura) A tale set in a world full of zombies, living their normal zombie lives. A living frog falls from the blackened sky of the zombie world, and a little zombie boy with his friends try to bring the living creature back to its own world. 4.) Doorbell (directed by Youji Fukuyama) The main character is a ghost in his own world. He must outrun the other versions of himself, or they will take over his life. 5.) Limit Cycle (directed by Hideki Futamura) An existential examination of the world as seen through the lens of a man seemingly trapped in an endless cycle of work. 6.) Happy Machine (directed by Masaaki Yuasa) An infant who is happily secured in his own nursery suddenly discovers that everything about the nursery is fake. Soon the infant is forced out of the nursery into the world that exists outside, where adventure awaits, and there are many alien-like creatures to encounter. 7.) Baby Blue (directed by Shinichirou Watanabe) A small adventure of two young students who decide to go anywhere they can for just one day, to enjoy that day without caring about the rest, and simply be together. (Source: Anime News Network)

Drama

A boy finds a strange object while playing hide-and-seek. His grandfather tells him the story of his own youth, and the important role the old lamp played. This story is about the modernization of Japan and the changes that came with it. The Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan invested 214 million yen ($2.26 million) in "Young Animator Training Project" and entrusted the execution of the project to Japan Animation Creators Association (JaniCA). JaniCA produced four original anime (23 min long with OP and ED sequences) in cooperation with four production studios. Ojii-san no Lamp was one of these four projects.

Drama

Dramatic story of the Yamazaki family during the year Showa 39 (1964), the year that Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics.

Drama / Psychological

Anthology series adapting six modern classics of Japanese literature: No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) by Dazai Osamu — A high school student becomes lost and alienated. Despondent and aimless, he falls into a cycle of self abuse, depression and drugs that taints his life for years. Told in three chapters, each chapter deals with a different point in his life and the final chapter leaves him standing alone — an empty and hollow caricature of his former self. In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita) by Sakaguchi Ango — A love story between a 12th-century woman and a mountain bandit who abducts her. Run, Melos! (Hashire, Melos!) by Dazai Osamu — An updated retelling of a classic Greek tale of the story of Damon and Pythias. Unwavering friendship is the most prominent theme of this retelling. Despite facing hardships, the protagonist Melos does his best to save his friend's life, and in the end his efforts are rewarded. Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke — A famous artist is commissioned by a great lord to create a series of paintings depicting scenes of the Buddhist Hell. The artist is unable to paint scenes that he has not seen himself, prompting him to torture and torment the Lord's staff to create his imagined images of hell. His creative efforts taint the household, as the story descends into madness and destruction. Kokoro by Natsume Souseki — A 1914 tale of a young man's life journey during the Meiji era. The work deals with the transition from the Japanese Meiji society to the modern era, by exploring the friendship between a young man and an older man he calls Sensei. It continues the theme of isolation developed in Souseki's previous works, here in the context of interwoven strands of egoism and guilt, as opposed to shame. The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito) by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke — The Buddha Shakyamuni chances to notice a cold-hearted criminal suffering in Hell. But this criminal did perform one single act of kindness in not stepping on a spider in a forest. Moved by this selfless act, Shakyamuni takes the silvery thread of a spider in Paradise and lowers it down into Hell, but it falls upon the criminal to seize the opportunity and pull himself out — if he can. (Source: AniDB)

Adventure / Comedy

It's an animated variety show featuring the works of Monkey Punch that aired on WOWOW with the episodes being 52 minutes long. 12 episodes were aired between July 31, 2004 to June 25, 2005 and received a DVD exclusive 15 minute long special called Crime Mate. Each episode is divided into Mini Stage lasting 15 minutes and Grand Stage lasting 30 minutes mixed with 60 second segments. The Lupin characters appear in small 60 second segments called The Lupin Gang however they are voiceless as it relies on visual gags, they also appear in the Mankatsu Monkey segments featuring a monkey that only says "Mankatsu".

Action / Comedy

An anthology series adapting 8 short stories created by manga artist Tatsuki Fujimoto between ages 17 and 26. 1) A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard (Dir. Seishirou Nagaya, ZEXCS) 2) Sasaki Stopped a Bullet (Dir. Nobukage Kimura, Lapin Track) 3) Love is Blind (Dir. Nobuyuki Takeuchi, Lapin Track) 4) Shikaku (Dir. Naoya Ando, GRAPH77) 5) Mermaid Rhapsody (Dir. Tetsuaki Watanabe, 100Studio) 6) Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome (Dir. Kazuaki Terasawa, Studio Kafka) 7) Nayuta of the Prophecy (Dir. Tetsuaki Watanabe, 100Studio) 8) Sisters (Dir. Osamu Honma, P.A.WORKS) Note: This anime had a pre-release world premiere at the "Global Stage Hollywood 2025" film festival on October 5, 2025. A general two-week theatrical run in Japan divided into two parts released on the same day October 17, 2025. The anime series later streamed worldwide in Amazon Prime Video on November 8, 2025.