Dahlia no Obi - Recommendations

• TV (13 eps)
• 2003

Rumic's Theater is a collection of 13 stories by Rumiko Takahashi, who is also responsible for such things as Inuyasha, Kimagure Orange Road, and Mermaid's Forest. While each story has its own tone, the focus tends to be based upon marriage, death, apartments, or general quirky situations and experiences. Sarcasm and mixups abound in this entertaining series.

• OVA (1 ep)
• 1993

Young love remains in the hearts of so many; and it is this love that is explored within nine stories. A man meets his first love again -- a wild girl from his youth that was into the Beatles; a high school Rugby manager meets the team's star again after so many years; a salaryman falls for a mobster's girlfriend; and another leaves his small-town love to live life in a big city, and meets a girl that resembles her ten years later. Relationships aren't always as simple as just loving someone; sometimes it takes time to learn how to love.

• Movie (1 ep)
• 2016

Sanpei is a boy beekeeper and the sole survivor of an accident that killed his entire family. Sanpei meets Chiyo, a girl who gets stung by a bee, and starts a new life in her village. Eventually, Sanpei cultivates the land that the villagers had abandoned, and then disappears. In the land now filled with flowers, Chiyo waits, believing Sanpei will return.

• Movie (1 ep)
• 1991

Taeko Okajima lives a nondescript life in Tokyo performing office duties in the day and then coming home in the evening to listen to her mother’s remarks on the phone about her unmarried status. In a bid to escape the monotony, Taeko decides to visit the countryside she once loved as a child and spend time on a safflower farm run by relations of hers. But her journey awakens memories she thought she had long abandoned, and Taeko must once again decide the kind of person she truly wants to be.

• Movie (1 ep)
• 2018

An ambitious collection of three thrilling tales; Kanini & Kanino, Invisible, Life Ain't Gonna Lose. Together, the stories explore ideas of heroism large and small, and the infinite potential of the short film format allows the directors and Studio Ponoc to experiment with breathtaking, action-packed visuals, concise human drama, and gorgeous fantasy worlds, in this unforgettable short film anthology that is further demonstration of the studio’s exciting future.

• TV (51 eps)
• 1996 - 1997

Kiko is a four-year-old girl who rarely ever smiles and is capable of doing things other kids her age can't do, like cooking and shopping alone. Her odd habits and strange behavior make her very poular with all the kids in her class. Her life is filled with strange moments like helping her teacher find love and eating her carrots on dates, annoying her lovey-dovey parents, and playing with her cat, who happens to be an angel.

• Movie (1 ep)
• 2020

There are as many births and child delivery stories as there are people. Despite all the progress of medicine and science, it still happens that lives get lost during childbirth. On such a daily and common matter, we want to interview mothers on their intimate experience of giving birth, and adapt that material into animation to have it seen by audiences of all generations. This is a documentary animation on the very beginning and the mystery of life, told from the point of view of mothers.

• OVA (6 eps)
• 2002

From the minds of six directors comes Digital Juice, a Studio 4C collection of six shorts that border on the unusual. From chicken's insurance to trips to the moon, to a wine glass that might be... pregnant?! You can find it all here in one confusing and abstract twenty-minute package.

• Music Video (14 eps)
• 2005

The language of music can conjure many images. While one woman soars through the sky with wings made of silvery doves and a lone female awaits her lover in a hotel lobby, a goldfish dreams of becoming a human. But whether giant robots are fighting proxy battles or a birdman’s arrow morphs into an ice skater, the music continues to communicate in its own unique way.

• Movie (1 ep)
• 2006