Ringing Bell

Chirin is a small lamb who lives in the flock with his mother and wears a bell around his neck. One night the wolf comes into the fold and his mother is killed protecting him. The lamb wants revenge. He climbs the mountain, finds the wolf and says he wants to be taught how to kill. The wolf agrees. Chirin stays beside him for years and stops being a lamb. Masami Hata directs. It was made by Sanrio, from a children's book by Takashi Yanase. The opening looks like a children's film: soft drawing, songs and appealing animals. About twenty minutes in the tone changes completely and never comes back. Sanrio was known at the time for Hello Kitty and produced this through its own animation arm; the result runs directly against the company's image. The idea is that revenge returns nobody to what they were. Chirin grows strong and the strength he gains cuts him off from everywhere he belonged, which the ending shows plainly. It runs about forty five minutes. It became known through being shown to children in Japan and later in the West, and is now among the most frequently cited examples of unexpectedly dark children's animation. Who it is for: viewers who like dark fables and seventies Japanese animation. Who it is not for: it is not suitable for small children, the violence is explicit, and the ending is entirely without hope.