Pelleas.net | Masami Hata Filmography

The first anime feature produced by Sanrio (actual production was started in 1975). This is a colorful, painstakingly animated musical about a boy and his pet white elephant who one day drift onto a peaceful island which soon finds itself caught between two larger islands at war. The film is is based on a Yanase Takashi story, like The Bell of Chirin, but stylistically the two couldn't be further apart. Where Chirin is hard-boiled and realistic, Jumbo is light-hearted and cartoonish, though underneath it all also treating of a serious theme. Yanase earlier made the film The Kindly Lion (1970) at Mushi Productions, a film that likewise reveals the darker side of Takashi "Anpan Man" Yanase. Animated in a vivid, bold style and featuring an original and striking dramatic form (this film was only the second anime musical, the first being the 1974 Group Tac debut feature Jack and the Beanstalk), this is a film sure to please children and animation connoisseurs alike. Unfortunately it's completely unknown outside of Japan.