#totto-chan: the little girl at the window

[moonlightsdream]

FILMS in 2025: 19 | Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window 窓ぎわのトットちゃん (2023) — dir. Shinnosuke Yakuwa     

[kaipanzero]

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

窓ぎわのトットちゃん (2023)

[ljaesch]

The Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window Anime Film Wins Best Animated Feature Awards at Anima 2025

The Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window anime film won the Best Animated Feature Jury and Audience Awards at the Anima 2025 film festival in Belgium. Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window is Shinei Animation’s anime film of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s Madoigwa no Totto-chan autobiographical memoir. The film opened in Japan on December 8, 2023. Kuroyanagi’s memoir tells her story of going to…

[genkinahito]

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! The Movie, Space Battleship Yamato 4K Remaster, Delicious in Dungeon, Miyuki Nakajima Gekijouban Yakai no Kiseki 1989 - 2002, Japanese Film Trailers

Welcome to the second of three trailer posts You can find the first part here and the third part will come tomorrow. Well, I completed Project X Zone a decade (or so) after buying it. Great anime sprite aesthetic, solid 3D/pixel art. Slick combat based on combos and juggling enemies. So-so story. I loved the characters and their interactions. Making up different teams of fighters from a roster…

[ydotome]

Madogiwa no Totto-chan - Dir. Shinnouske Yakuwa - Dec 8, 2023

[xelasrecords]

Unforgivable that I forgot to post my September watches because it was a whirlwind month. The theme is mostly war sprinkled with a little hearty goodness.

[shiuefha]

Has anyone watched this movie? I watched it a few hours ago, and it's really heartwarming.

It's been a long time since I bought and read the book, and I'm surprised that they make such a good movie adaptation of it.

[animemakeblog]

“Madogiwa no Totto-chan” The Trailer, December 8 Opening

A trailer for the anime film based on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's autobiographical novel Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window was unveiled via the film's official website.

[canmom]

l'aventure de canmom à annecy - épisode DEUX - mercredi

Wednesday! I've posted a little about it already but here's a slightly more detailed account while I wait for a morning crêpe in front of the giant lake. (La France, c'est bon ici.)

So the morning began with the anime film Totto-chan: The Little Girl in the Window by Shin-Ei! This is a lavish adaptation of the autobiographical novel about the childhood of actress and TV personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, published in the mid 80s. In her childhood, she was loud, inquisitive, and considered a problem by her teachers. The film depicts her childhood after she is taken to an alternative school called Tomoe Academy, run by the radically permissive, neurodivergence/disability accepting policies of its headmaster Sosaku Kobayashi.

But of course this is the 1940s; behind the idyllic escapades of Totto-chan is the looming fascism and war. Totto-chan's family become suspect for their western fashions. Moreover, Totto-chan's best friend, Yasuaki, is disabled by polio and, ultimately, doesn't have that long to live.

I think it would be easy to apply cynical readings to Totto-chan. You could say surely Kobayashi couldn't be as saintly as depicted, or observe that Totto-chan and her family are definitely quite well off and this is surely a private school. The Heidi-like style of the impossibly cute Totto-chan and friends could be overbearing, or you could call the depiction of Yasuaki sentimental.

But, I actually don't feel like making any of those moves. What this film makes me think of is how my mum used to work as a teacher before I was born, staying up late at night to write personalised curriculums for the kids, letting them talk, and generally going well out of her way to reject the strictures of the school system. And - to hear my mum tell it anyway - the kids loved her for it. She tells a story about how when the head teacher came to inspect, she asked them all to be quiet just this once - and he was amazed because they wouldn't be that quiet for anyone. And also how they tried to give her stolen tvs when she left the school to give birth to me lmao. The point is that it actually is possible to do a lot better than the overstretched, disciplinarian status quo of those times. and while i don't know how modern schools operate, back in the 80s, that was essential to say.

While most of the film focuses on Totto-chan and her relationship with Yasuaki, we do get many glimpses of Kobayashi's principles. At many points, Totto-chan does things that would get her scolded at another place, like dredging the cesspool for a lost wallet - but ever mild Kobayashi just tells her to put it back when she's done and helps her get clean after. At another point, he scolds the other teacher at the school for making a joke that came across as being at the expense of the other kids. It is a - perhaps idealised - depiction of how a school should work.

Of course there's a war on. The outside world becomes more hostile, and this is a place it really benefits from being a film, because it can show us the things that Totto-chan doesn't understand - the changing clothes and expressions of the adults, the increased militaristic imagery. In one deeply impactful sequence, Totto-chan runs from Yasuaki's funeral through a military parade and passes children playing at war with rifles. At the end of the film, the school is destroyed by firebombs - the deployment of the bomb portrayed in a lavishly detailed sequence. The real Kuroyanagi (Totto-chan) narrates how Kobayashi simply asked what kind of school they would build next - but there is an undercurrent of pain that this thing could be so fleeting.

One thing anime really excels at, I think, is making a small gesture become something freighted with a lot of emotional significance. In this film, this is the scene where Totto-chan helps Yasuaki climb a tree - trying different ladders, and eventually just physically pulling him up. (Totto-chan is the strongest kid in the school; another scene shows a rare moment of anger from Yasuaki when she lets him win an arm wrestling contest after beating the other kids; he is so desperate to participate). He in turn is an avid reader, and lends her a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin and dies before she can return it. Each of them is going a great effort to invite the other into their world. I don't know how much Yasuaki is based on a real person, but there is something striking to me in going to such effort to commemorate the brief life of a boy with polio, in defiance of the sentiment that a disabled person's life is less valuable.

Of course, you could say such a message is undermined a little by how elaborately, constructedly cute it makes all the children. These are more like dolls than real people. But that's anime I guess! There's something funny about this idealised little girl now being an actual real living person who narrates the beginning and end of the film.

The character animation in this film is excellent. It isn't flashy most of the time, but simply very naturalistic and characterful. The designs, which use soft reds around the lips, take a little getting used to but they work. And while I haven't read the original book, this arrangement of the story is compelling. I def cried a little, this film got me harder than I expected. Very worth a watch - when it hits the torrents I'll def Animation Night it!

[severalowls]

Scotland Loves Anime 2024 thoughts:

Promare - It's alright, mostly just absurdly over the top on purpose and a fairly standard exploitation metaphor and way too many characters who don't serve much of a purpose. Pretty gay, I guess? 6/10

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro - Somehow I'd never seen any of these, was a lot of fun in terms of humours and animation, and improved by seeing with an audience too. 8/10

Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture (all 4 parts) - Eh. First half had me cautiously optimistic, hooked, had never seen the anime but it was some compelling melodrama. And then the second half paid it all off way too quickly and in really boring ways. 5/10

The Birth of Kitato: The Mystery of GeGeGe - Again I've never interacted with the source material this is a prequel to but it was a pretty solid horror story and honestly the end cap where they tie it in with the characters from the original who were tonally way sillier was the only bit that threw me off. Echos of Umineko in there, but a little more direct? Was not expecting it to be so gorey! 7/10

Suzume - Really loved this. My small brain saw the boat perched on the house near the beginning and thought "damn, was that inspired by the 2011 tsunami" - no, genius, the whole film is an exploration of the damn tsunami and its impact on the survivors. Loved the symbolism in this. 8/10

The Scent of Love - Just a music video but pretty pleasant and was interesting to hear from the director about it + her experience on Suzume afterwards. Not a huge amount to say. 6/10

A Few Moments of Cheers - Didn't really hit with me, it felt semi-autobiographical but the films own point about the protagonist being naiive seemed, unfortunately, to apply to the film itself. Recorded Q&A from Popriq afterwards was excellent though, the interviewer was too old to really "get it" but some of the stuff he spoke about his process really resonated. More than the film, which was about art resonating with people? Wild! 6/10

KuruYukaba - Unfortunately the world's tallest man was sat in front of me for this one. There was a short by the same director (set in the same world I think) before it but it was already fairly dreamlike and the man's head was fully obscuring the very low subtitles so I didn't really follow that. The film itself was some very interesting worldbuilding and animation but too short to really do anything with it in the end. What felt like the mid-point of the film was about 10 minutes from the end. 6/10.

The Colors Within - Girl with synesthesia starts a band with a girl she finds beautiful at catholic school. Incredibly sweet! Loved the characters here, and it was also such an autistic romance story, but then it's also about catholic school so they never explicitly get into a relationship. Let them kiss. Still. 9/10.

Look Back - Oh this seems like a fun story of childhood rivalry... Oh now it's a romance this is such a beautiful story! (Emotionally devastating). Go and watch this immediately please. 10/10

Sand Land - Basically Mad Max: Fury Road as told by the writer of Dragon Ball Z. Good fun, humorous, power-up fights in the desert as you'd expect. Liked it but didn't really compare tonally to the previous two! 7/10

Totto-Chan: The Little Girl At The Window - You know those heart wrenching historical dramas about small children experiencing the outbreak of war? Yeah it's one of those, obviously. Also broke my heart with the addition of knowing I was crying for (fictionalised versions of) real people who actually died what with it being based on an autobiography. 9/10

Kuramerukagari - Somehow the other world's tallest man sat in front of me for this other film in the same world, KuruYukaba, so this was also hard to follow except had even more factional "intrigue" going on. Many of the same comments as before, it seems like a really interesting world but that maybe the director is more interested in worldbuilding and cool designs than a compelling story, which I can respect. Did tie in to a flash animation he made 20 years ago (Usigaeru) which was fun! 6/10

Ghost Cat Anzu - Strong first half, I liked the cat who grew to become a middle aged man-cat-spirit, that was a fun concept. Without spoiling anything because I think that made it worse for me, the second half felt a bit hurried and unmotivated, including the ending. 6/10

Trapezium - A pretty strong drama about teenage girls experiencing the stresses of idol culture at the behest of an impressively manipulative band leader, but then is ultimately more of a gentle bonk on the head because ultimately it's still trying to be a wholesome film about idols. 7/10

So top three were probably Look Back, Totto-chan and The Colors Within, in that order. That's a lot of anime in one week.

[randomingoftherandomness]

What are your favorite books?

Ooo… this one’s a toughie.

Off the top of my head, I am a big fan of the Lacey Flint series by Sharon J. Bolton (her books are just an auto buy for me when I see them in the bookstore), but my favourite books of all time are the Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones. I have been collecting them since I was 10 and I’ve reread every single book in my collection numerous times through the years and it is because of these books that sparked my desire to write. I still feel like the world lost something wonderful when Diana Wynne Jones passed. They hold a very special place in my heart.

On that vein, I think I own every edition of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman out there. So.

For this sake I also have to say the very controversial statement of Ghibli fucking ruined Howl’s Moving Castle. HOW DO YOU FUCK OVER SOMETHING SO PERFECT AS IS. That’s one of my most precious books and that story DID NOT NEED ANY CHANGING OR “FIXING” MIYAZAKI FUCKING RETIRE ALREADY. SOPHIE HATTER WAS PERFECT AS IS. fucking ruined a good character is what they’d done. It is because of this that I have never and will never watch a Ghibli project idc if this makes me sound insane.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is something I read when I was 19 and I can remember just setting it down when I finished and I stared at my bedroom wall for a good hour just trying to process.

Another book that was an unexpected pleasure is The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack. Til this day I cannot listen to Florence and The Machine’s Queen of Peace without thinking about how I had it on repeat while I was reading this book.

I have two quotes from Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman tattooed on me and frankly speaking, I think I left my heart somewhere in Northern Italy in the 80s.

There’s also something magically poignant and bittersweet about Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, and the point in my life when I read them. I think these books shaped a part of how I viewed certain things about the world.

As for graphic novels, my heart will always belong to Batman’s Court of Owls run. That was an experience and one day I’ll pluck up enough courage to own the omnibus that I’ve been eyeing since I was in Uni.

In terms of web novels, I’m big on Married to a Salted Fish Thrice (cried like a baby and I honestly have been haunted by the experience; 10/10 recommend), Loneliness (also cried; the smut was very good 👍🏼), Special Fondness (my heart twisted so good), After I Married the Disabled Tyrant (bear with me I know the title is a bit tetchy but it’s good! I promise!)

Can’t have a list of Recs without Lord Seventh, Golden Stage, Sha Po Lang, 2Ha, and SVSSS. There’s a reason why people love these.

There’s probably a lot more that I haven’t mentioned haha

[lacunasbalustrade]

results for my fcbf uquiz!

kyoya.

“I had else been as broad and general as the casing air.”

you seek security which is also your chiefest enemy. leaves freeze solid between your touch. there is coolness in your gaze but a heat under your breath that belies your true frustration of bloody river reeds and dragonflies lying dead. you love so much that so little can see it. hope is on the way, have faith. the beauty of yours is not the only thing you were found worthy for. 

ten thousand doors of January.

tasuku.

“I dare do all that becomes a man, he who dares do more is none.”

hear the crickets chirping boldly in your voice’s warmest undertones. you’ve been moving so quickly it was impossible to miss the flowers by the road. maybe you should let yourself sink to your knees once in a while, I don’t have answers for you but I do have a cup of chai tea, go make a phone call from the glass box by the road and listen to your voice echo back emptiness.

the phone box at the Edge of the World.

rouga.

“The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, which still we thank as love.”

the world above you at six thirty am awaits you, blanketed in quiet acceptance. how could it be possible to have so many contradictory thoughts in one single soul? I know you think to yourself sometimes that woe and the world works opposite and sideways, that the final companion and compass you wander looking for will never find you. sunset and dusk will bring a path to your side through the cement.

Whichwood.

davide 

“Away, and mock the time with fairest show. False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”

whether or not you mean it, my guess is that you conceal forevermore some soft part of you beneath the surface of your heart. maybe durians are a good way to describe it, maybe not. what you need is to break down in front of someone and realise that your hard-headedness was something that kept you from seeing the air and the oxygen return to your cheeks.

scumble

sofia

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air.”

oh, but how many times have you been repressed by a world that could never comprehend your brilliance? behind the clouds the moon in the morning always appears intimate. but you glow with the stolen rays of the sun, rightfully yours and yet also a hidden gift. stop waiting to repay your debts and don’t let your fear hold you back from claiming your rightful throne on the morning glories.

totto-chan: the little girl at the window

shido

“Stars, hide your fires. Let not light see my deep and dark desires.”

shadows overcome the paths you walk, although you walk them for good reason. denied credit and denied capital letters, denied of substance and removed to the role of a ghost and a silhouette. I have no advice for one who cannot believe a word I say, but I do see the words that rise out of your skin, forming gauntlets around your arm. be prepared.

the cartographers

terumi 

“There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face.”

whoever could you require comfort from? there are people who follow your every movement hidden in the boat behind you. step away from the stern and let someone else take charge. This way lies only the Styx, my wayward friend, and it is not yet your time to become Persephone. Follow your own sun and outshine the horizon itself at dusk. you have a hundred tries. I cannot wait to see what you become.

the lost apothecary 

kiri 

“And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp; Is't night's predominance, or the day's shame, that darkness does the face of earth entomb, when living light should kiss it?”

I still hear you after all this time. maybe you have found your way through this life, perhaps you have not. eventuality will express itself when you return to the tides of the coursing sea and require navigators to find you starlight again in the pollution of the humans. can you still say we are all beautiful if we are all monsters? we are all monsters, only we can choose to build houses or break them.

when the sea turned to silver

[ljaesch]

Kodansha's Announcements at New York Comic Con 2024

Kodansha announced some new print and digital licenses during its panel at New York Comic Con 2024. Print Announcements Kodansha will publish new volumes of the Blue Lock manga starting in July 2025 until the company is caught up with the Japanese release. Kodansha is also is reprinting the 2-in-1 omnibus editions of The Drops of God manga. It was also announced that Barnes & Noble will be…

[deviokta]

Movies I Saw in Theatre - 2024

Q1

JANUARY 2024

1. Monsters (Japan)

2. Sehidup Semati

FEBRUARY 2024

1. Agak Laen

2. Sinden Gaib

MARCH 2024

1. Exhuma (South Korea)

2. Kung Fu Panda 4

Q2

APRIL 2024

1. Kong X Godzilla: New Empire

2. The First Omen

3. Badarawuhi di Desa Penari

4. Siksa Kubur

5. Siksa Kubur (rewatch)

6. Dua Hati Biru

7. The Fall Guy

8. Totto-Chan Little Girl at The Window (Japan)

MAY 2024

1. Civil War (IMAX)

2. "Lahn Mah" (How To Make Million Before Grandma Died)

3. Kingdom for The Planet of The Apes (IMAX)

4. Imaginary Friends

5. Malam Pencabut Nyawa

6. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

7. Furiosa : A Mad Max Saga

JUNE 2024

1. Monkey Man (India)

2. The Strangers part 1

3. The Plot (South Korea)

4. Inside Out 2

5. Marni : The Story of Wewe Gombel

6. A Quiet Place : Day One

Q3

JULY 2024

1. Twisters (IMAX)

2. Sekawan Limo

3. Longlegs

4. Hijack 1971 (South Korea)

5. Deadpool and Wolverine (IMAX)

AUGUST 2024

1. Sakaratul Maut

2. A Legend (China)

3. Rumah Dinas Bapak

4. Trap

5. Borderlands

6. Revolver (South Korea)

SEPTEMBER 2024

1. Kaka Boss

2. Speak No Evil

3. Never Let Go

Q4

OCTOBER 2024

1. Home Sweet Loan (di Solo)

2. Kuasa Gelap

3. The Wild Robot

NOVEMBER 2024

1. Venom : The Last Dance

DECEMBER 2024

1. Moana 2

Jumlah film yang ditonton di bioskop sepanjang tahun 2024 : 46 film.

Tidak ada yang rewatch, semua ditonton satu kali saja.

[ydotome]

Madogiwa no Totto-chan - Dir. Shinnouske Yakuwa - Dec 8, 2023

[fandompost]

Anime Limited Acquires ‘Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window’ Anime Feature Film http://dlvr.it/TG4SGD