Jarinko Chie

Jarinko Chie is a movie directed by Takahata in 1981. Based on the very popular manga by Etsumi Haruki, it is about ten year old Chie, "the most unfortunate girl in Japan," who manages her family diner while her unemployed yakuza father and her mother are separated. This sounds really depressing, but it's actually a very funny comedy. The story is set in Osaka, which has a totally different culture from Tokyo.

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Chibi Maruko-chan 82%

142 eps · 1990

You'll recognize the same episodic warmth of a scrappy kid navigating family and school life with slapstick timing.

My Neighbors the Yamadas 80%

1 eps · 1999

This one trades Osaka grit for surreal comic-strip vignettes, but keeps that same fond, funny look at messy family life.

GHOST CAT ANZU 74%

1 eps · 2024

Swap the yakuza dad for a lazy ghost cat, and you still get a stubborn kid slowly warming to an unlikely guardian.

Panda! Go Panda! 70%

1 eps · 1972

Takahata's touch is here too, softening a lonely child's situation into something playful rather than sad.