Yuichi Ito

Fourth Period Swimming Class (2022)

The fourth-grade protagonist is going through physical and emotional changes and feels awkward as she can't help but compare herself to her friends. One day, she is blown away by her classmate Aya's swimming and realizes that she has feelings for her. ...

3 Intestine Road, Fish Island (2022)

A story of a family of three consisting of a pig, fish and a tadpole that lives in the stomach of a big fish. Their lives are turned upside down when a fruit floats into their home. ...

Boogerly Love (2022)

Hanako always watches the other kids play but she is too timid to ask if she can join in. Then one day, Booger Gal rockets out of her and helps her nose into a new life. ...

Liminal Park (2022)

A dark dark amusement park. Gradually, the rides begin to move. ...

Round Trip (2021)

Kaibun are palidromes in which words sound the same when read backwards and forwards. Sometimes the meaning changes, and sometimes not. I brought this playful and poetic world to life. ...

A Break in the Clouds (2021)

The children awake to the sound of their parents arguing. Their conduct is affected little by little in response to the adults' daily behavior. ...

Blink in the Desert (2021)

Malice comes up abruptly. As if it is blinking. Capricious like a flapping insect. One day the boy finds a winged insect and crushes it out of disgust. Meanwhile, the elephant sees the whole situation but says nothing. From that day on, the boy is chased b ...

Destiny (2021)

Yui has become estranged from her boyfriend, who doesn't even wish her happy birthday. Her friend Aya introduces a fortune teller said to be the real deal. What does destiny hold for them? This is a romantic comedy made during self-quarantine. ...

blink (2021)

That moment of refreshing sensation when drinking a soda in the hot summer. ...

Conflicted (2021)

Everyone has a sense of justice. The protagonist thinks her ideas are right and voices her opinions through protests for social justice. One day the demonstration turns violent. Maybe we could live in peace if self-righteousness were to disappear. ...

POP JUNKIE (2021)

TV shows, manga, music, movies, plays, pop stars and cartoon characters. I watch videos on my phone with the TV blaring and music in the background. I'm swimming in media... Is this the other side of the screen?! Awesome! ...

Coping Mechanism (2021)

No doubt negative enery is going to accumulate in my body today, tomorrow and the day after. When that happens, I'll have my own way of release. ...

Amane Diary (2021)

This work is based on 15 years of entries in the diary that I've kept since age eight. Through creating this work I was searching for freedom from my preconceptions about animation and myself. ...

Dear Viruses (2021)

This work is a missive to the life form we call viruses in the hope that we can coexist. The relationship between humans and viruses is poetically expressed from a different perspective. ...

The Mouse and a Prism (2021)

The mouse finds a prism and it reveals to him a magnificent rainbow like he's never seen before. He tries to show his friends but for some reason it won't reappear. It seems beauty has a mind of its own. ...

Squishy Fish Eggs (2021)

When I touched the sack of cod roe for the first time, it felt exactly like my thighs. It was light pink and so soft. Maybe my whole world is made of squishy fish eggs. ...

So I Picked Up the Worm (2021)

Far away from her hometown, the little fox studies in a foreign country. The monotonous days and bare relationships make her increasingly homesick. But one day, she finds the curiosity that she had once lost and takes a new step. ...

MUNCH MUNCH (2021)

How to make this mysterious cake? The ingredients include blue eggs, cookie flowers, pillow stuffing and much more. ...

Turtle's Stroll (2020)

One day, a pet turtle named Kamesuke decided to go out alone. It should have been all that he had hoped for and yet he couldn't help but feel like something was missing. ...

Grey Zone (2020)

Lumps of clay fall into the grey space. The white clay turns into a man, the black clay into a monster. The two lose their flesh every time they move so they start a battle to stay alive. ...

Representation of Light (2020)

My deceased great-grandmother had been a part of my life as a portrait on the wall. I searched for ways to substantiate her life inside me and decided to photograph and develop pictures of her at two different ages. ...

WOKE (2020)

Right there in that little gap between fantasy and reality, me and you, movies and videos, concrete and abstract, is that nice cozy space. ...

Iron Pulse (2020)

A small family-owned iron factory was closed down. What will remain of it? ...

Long Live the Cat (2020)

Yasu is a cat over 20 years old. He's still alive and kicking in the house he was left behind. ...

Strangers in the Alley (2020)

Deep down the alley the black cat has entered is a town where nonhuman beings live in peace. The cat returns to his home to rest when suddenly he hears a strange sound coming from next door. ...

My Hand, Her Hand (2020)

The little girl has a complex because she doesn't look like her mom, and the mom wants her daughter to look more ladylike. Their faces don't look alike, but their hands do. The girl treasures this resemblance, which also enables the mom to treat her daught ...

Empty Hands (2020)

A mix of life tales in modern Japan where fate is predicted by your name and a fingerplay song. Are the members of this society playing into the hands of some higher being or are they living the life of impermanence? ...

I Am a Motif (2020)

There are three "Motifs". The complete differences between them make themselves self-doubt. The melody begins, and the music motif could not resist the impulse to dance, but the others also catching up ... Am "I" also a "Motif"? This film uses a Fugue from ...

While You Sleep (2020)

On the night of the blue moonlight, the girl has a magical dream. She meets a mushroom fairy who takes her to their festival. ...

Keep Forgetting (2019)

Why do you want acceptance? If it's not going to happen, then forget about what it was you wanted acknowledged and just have some soup, like always. ...

Where is my home? (2019)

Here, everyone is an outlander. But something's not right. Everyone else has a place to sit at the table, a home to return to at will. Not him. Lonely as it may be, he will look ahead and find his place here. ...

Bath House of Whales (2019)

Mizuki Kiyama's short animation utilizes a paint on glass technique to render a young girl's visit to a neighborhood sento (bath house) with her mother with dazzling sensuous wonder. Evoking childish fascination at daily rituals, this quotidian act amidst ...

The Death Vendor (2019)

One day a boy encounters a street vendor who sells chicks.Even the boy knows these birds will die very soon. To his eyes, the man is selling none other than death itself. ...

House Rattler (2019)

This house rattling spirit has lived in this old house for generations. But the old woman who lives there as the final resident can no longer hear the noises it makes, which leaves the house rattler filled with a sense of longing. ...

The On-hold Music of Terror (2019)

"You're right. There was a bug–I killed it." Late at night, only one voice wafts around the room. What lies on the other end of the telephone line is anyone's guess... ...

A Pawn (2019)

In a land where there are no enemies or allies is a lone soldier. He spends his days sculpting wood with his bayonet. And then one day, out of the blue, an enemy stands before him. ...

See My World (2019)

Two brothers are drawing pictures in art class, but they see completely different things. The younger one is confused by the behavior of his brother, who is lost in his own world. But then, his big brother shares his beautiful world of gentle sea creatures ...

Boozy Woozy Wonderland (2019)

Heartbroken, I bought a bottle of wine and drank it walking home. A tipsy journey reconstructed using the Japanese traditional storytelling method "rakugo. ...

Stay With Me (2019)

Now a grown woman, I sit on the train recollecting my childhood. That morning field baking in the sun. Making one bamboo-leaf boat after the other. The smoke from the fireworks spreading like a thick fog. And to those memories I say, "Welcome back. ...

Behind Us (2019)

One day a girl notices a distortion in her surrounding environment, which prompts her to start searching for her own connection with the world. But, the distortions become even more extreme. She wonders if the deviation is happening within her, or in the o ...

Psyche (2019)

One day, while the main character is dozing off, he is abandoned by the owner of the shadow that he lives in. This creature who has lost his home wanders through the night city in search of his shadow. ...

Out of Sight, Out of Mind (2019)

SOS... SOS... A black and white TV falls in love with the girl sending out the distress signal. He rushes up the mountain of trash and off to the moon he goes where the crying girl awaits. If only she could see him beyond the screen. ...

Summer Sky Reverie (2019)

It's summer vacation and all the kids in the neighborhood have left to visit relatives. But there in the relentless glare of the sun, is a boy looking up at the sky. ...

Indoor Days (2019)

On days I don't want to leave the house, I enjoy watching TV and videos on my smartphone. I'm supposed to be at home but the screen keeps taking me elsewhere and I lose my grip on my whereabouts and reality. ...

Flow of Life (2019)

The girl wished to transcend her own body and become a jellyfish. She was drawn to the figure of the jellyfish floating freely in the sea. ...

That summer there were two of us (2019)

Summer is coming to an end. A little girl on the beach remembers the days spent giggling and dancing with her friend. The goodbyes and memories intertwine in a mesh of sorrow and joy. ...

Hear the Snow Melt (2019)

A girl made of unmelted snow has fallen in love with the dragon who brings spring. A story of changing seasons and thawing hearts. ...

The Body in the Mind (2019)

We have limited control over our bodies, and we can't change ourselves at will. While I yearn for complete freedom, I also want to make peace with my frustration. ...

Pupa (2019)

How long has it been since she lost control of her body? She is completely tapped out and finds herself wishing that she could just shed her body. ...

In There (2018)

This story is about a place long ago, before birth and before death, that everyone knows and no one knows. ...

Namahage's Obon Homecoming (2018)

A visitor shows up in the middle of the night at the countryside house that Miyako shares with her father. Miyako goes to wake up her father, but the creature enters the house. Miyako stands frozen. ...

Lion Nanny's Journey (2018)

Lion Nanny rides the train and embarks on a life journey while interacting with those around her. ...

On the way home (2018)

The borderland between sleeping and waking is the moment when the daughter melds into her father. ...

Bero Bero (2018)

A dog we like to pet on the way home from school, an eccentric guy, and ringing doorbells as a prank. That's our life in this town. ...

Take Me Home (2018)

Brothers eating dinner, a girl watering the plants, a boy awakening in the night… The daily scenery from the house where they all lived at one point or another. ...

Typhoon No. 14 (2018)

Okinawa is ominous right before the arrival of a typhoon. At first, Anri is excited by the unusual turn of events, but gradually she becomes fearful of the threatening typhoon. Then, her big sister tells her that typhoons have an eye... ...

The Body Swap Center (2018)

Mimi is fed up with her pathetic self. One day she walks along looking at the ground like usual when she notices a suspicious flyer. ...

Gals (2018)

Reminiscing the days I spent with an old friend, facing up to the narrow but deep gap that lies between us. ...

The Pearl Remains (2018)

A woman traces her memories through a pearl ring, and comes upon her mother gazing at the same ring. But her memories soon lose their outline and become enclosed within the pearl. ...

A4 Microcosm (2018)

Microorganisms propagate, gather, and transform into an A4 sheet of paper. You can feel signs of life within the page. ...

Fluffiction (2018)

Fluffy turtles, fluffy monkeys, fluffy lizards. Discover the world populated by these mysteriously charming imaginary creatures. They have adorably fluffy bodies and are becoming an ever more common sight in daily life. ...

Live or Let Live (2018)

There's a pet caterpillar named Larva in my class. I don't like bugs but Larva is sweet and we become friends. But one day, I am faced with a horrible choice. ...

Dance to Life (2018)

For her, dance is life. And life is dance. Every tingle in her heart gets her swinging to the beat. ...

To day plus one (2018)

We go to sleep in hopes for a better tomorrow. ...

Jinxes (2018)

A girl heading home from school is met with a bigger version of herself who poses arbitrary challenges with unspeakable consequences. The little girl tries to keep up but suddenly the stakes are raised. ...

Quest of the Battling Gods (2018)

In the moments before death, one of the Battling Gods recalls his defeat in a magnificent fight. That battle transcended meta worlds, time and parallel universes as the Battling God faced off with another of his kind. All living creatures celebrated their ...

light of temptation (2018)

The angel of wind exhales, sending fluffy dandelion seeds into a slow dance. Wind and light guide the downy seeds into the magical world of botany. ...

Memory Drawers (2018)

Shiroinu writes down the day's events before he goes to sleep. One day, he opens a drawer buried in the snow and finds old diary entries. He realizes that he's forgotten the sensations and emotions from that time to the extent that he feels like he's readi ...

Shiosai-bound (2018)

A white lump appears at a landfill site with an ocean view and slowly heads for the sea. It is anxious to find a place to return. ...

Angel inside a box (2018)

This video installation is an experiment that imagines the canvas as a box and animates images within that space. ...

SIBLINGS (2018)

Two sisters stay at home alone. They spend their time in their own worlds, at times in synch with each other and other times disconnected. ...

7 falls, 8 comebacks, 7 sports (2018)

Bloopers in sports are different from the blunders we make in everyday life but they tend to share similar physical movements. The title comes from an old Japanese saying about recovering from bad happenings. ...

The Red Bridge is Falling Down (2018)

Everyone crosses the Red Bridge and yet no one likes him. One day, he falls into the deep valley. ...

Time Autobahn (2018)

A speeding car leaps onto the highway of Time and hurtles forward -- its velocity is limitless. ...

Candy.zip (2017)

Aoko is confident about the documents she creates at work, but doesn't get any positive feedback. Then, she witnesses her colleague secretly changing the documents she created. ...

Roll Call (2017)

During morning roll call at school, Wataya gets more and more nervous as her turn approaches. The tension causes her to lose the ability to control her own body. ...

Silent Smile (2017)

She wears a white mask to keep her sadness hidden from others. How can she free herself from the darkness of her mind? ...

mermaid song (2017)

A boy and a girl draw pictures on the wall with sticks made of black fish. One day a blue fish drifts ashore to them. ...

Mind Room (2017)

Little by little, something has gone wrong with a career woman's personal life. But these little things are what fill the big hole in her heart. ...

My secret school days (2017)

It would be so much better if everyone just went away... A girl who hates school sits in the corner of the classroom and creates an imaginary world. ...

That's why they were made (2017)

A robot works at a factory repeating the same operation everyday. One day an unexpected visitor arrives and changes his routine. ...

Invisible Touch (2017)

Tosuke is a home tutor who meets a girl named Miyako on the job. She is blind and doesn't move or speak. But is Tosuke seeing the real Miyako? ...

Nothing for them (2016)

A woman and man speak over the telephone. From the woman to the man, from the man to the woman, their feelings, love and hate get mingled. ...

Jade (2016)

A woman is pronounced to be ill but it is too much for her to accept. Her thoughts and worries continually change to makes a strange and mysterious world. ...

Brick Games (2016)

There lives a little girl with her brother in a city full of skyscrapers. One night when they were playing with their favourite game Jenga, something strange happened. ...

Japanese Chess (2016)

At a Shogi-chess game, the players start pondering opponent's game strategy or calculations. They lose themselves in their deep contemplation. ...

I Think You’re a Little Confused (2016)

One day a letter takes a blood-sausage to his friend, liver-sausage. So, he went... ...

Out of My Mind (2016)

In my deep dream there comes the landscape in my shapeless eyes. The peaceful sight gradually distorts. When anxiety and upsurge stands behind us, the nightly liberation begins. ...

I Wanna Be Your Friend (2015)

For friendship it is the most important to be cooperative. ...

Misfit Lil’ Sparrow (2015)

A little sparrow, Chunko, cannot make her head still like other sparrows.She wonders why. ...

Templex (2015)

One morning in the rainy season.A woman with curly hair wakes up.Phantasmagorical images of self-hatred come to her one after another. ...

Holy Shit! (2015)

One elephant lives in a mountain. He spends his life drawing pictures and fishing. Pigs with swollen crotches live in the city. The city is full of towers. One day a tower is built near the elephant's cabin, the elephant starts to climb it. ...

Helleborus Niger (2015)

A story of a father and a daughter. He projects the images of former himself on his daughter. Their feelings start to merge as their memories clearer. ...

A Place to Name (2015)

This place is where my grand parents, my parents, and I once lived. Even though I lose my memories and feelings of it, it does exist there and keeps to be in existence. ...

Lonesome Hero (2014)

This is for children who couldn't be on their own. And, for the time when you're older and you've forgotten your determination to be on your own. ...

PAMON (2014)

PAMON are magical and mysterious creatures who can move the hair on their head however they wish, and communicate using their chest hair. This tale takes a peek at an ordinary day for the PAMON. ...

Return to Dust (2014)

A skeleton is tied with red threads and stuck by clay. How much control do we have in our own actions? And what does hinder these actions? ...

The Fall (2014)

A depressed and isolated mind is similar to the sense of floating in the water. ...

The Closet (2014)

A young girl takes it into her head that her mother is taken by her newly born sister. Out of jealousy she hides her baby sister in darkness. ...

Decorations (2014)

A quaint kitchen in a house tucked away in the outskirts of the city. Amidst preparations for a banquet, the birth of a new life brings turmoil and change. And then, she heads off on her own journey. Those who send her off recall the day they embarked on t ...

Mrs. KABAGOdZILLA (2014)

'Mrs. KABAGodZILLA had a daughter whose feet and arms looked just like her own.' Mother and child were always together, but the mother's hospitalization makes the daughter remember the past, and think a little about what lies ahead. ...

Blue Eyes – in HARBOR TALE – (2014)

In the Harbor town "Y", The old red brick-built building which is in a corner of the town has watched the changing times of the harbor and people's lives for above hundred years. A red brick who is a piece of the building has seen "the glittering square th ...

Twins in Bakery (2013)

A magical incident happened in an ordinary bakery while the baker was away for delivery. That incident made this bakery the best in the town. But it is a secret not to be disclosed. ...

Self Image (2013)

A man walks. His form wobbles precariously. The world is hard to tell subjective or objective. His body is cut in pieces. Only the power of image can make these unite. ...

Happy fluffy time (2013)

A girl plays alone in the twilight park. Unexpectedly there appears a strange cotton candy man who makes magical cotton candies, which transform themselves into various animals and give the girl a happy fluffy moment. ...

Daily Lives at Daisy Lodge (2013)

The story of Bear, Acorn, Prawn Fritter, and Reading Glasses, or Specs, who live in a flat called Daisy Lodge from summer to a winter morning. And it continues to someday when we look back today. ...

Darkeling (2013)

Off-street mysteries. There are many things we don't find in the main streets. We might find many happenings in the back street, which don't happen in the main streets. ...

Feather Robe from Heaven (2012)

Story of Hagoromo, or feather robe from heaven, is a legend of Miho Beach. An angel sets her foot on the beach to bathe in the sea. Watching her, a fisherman sneaks her robe out, but returns it due to feeling guilty. That makes the angel very happy and ...

The surface of the earth (2012)

Earth is the place and the established existence. Earth is also a ball of dust, and a capricious object. At the avalanche of time-layer, falling deep down into the ground, you can see the fallacious landscape far from reality. The body recognizes the re ...

The Sakuramoto broom workshop (2012)

An old couple live in a Japanese village. They make brooms for a living. They have been together. . . and worked together for a long time. Recently, the husband has noticed his wife has had some symptoms of the disease which has caused some obstacles ...

xx (2012)

Red ribbon of a double helix is the bond to connect the girls; the transmitted touch of. . . soft hands, and the gentle memories only girls can inherit. Those dreamy moments abruptly end and the bodies transform regardless of their intentions. The 'xx ...

Tomato confit (2012)

There once lived two brothers in a town. The elder lived alone. The younger lived with his parents. They did not get along well... They called each other occasionally. The elder one was impatient and emotional and did nothing but work... One day the elder ...

Harbor Tale (2011)

Peek-a-boo (2011)

The old granny playing peek-a-boo is gone. Instead, a stranger appears and draws closer to the child. Peek-a-boo involves exercising memory, and looking directly at your partner. ...

the life of the weed (2011)

A town flourishes on the sea, and a weed takes shelter there. From then on, the weed endlessly repeats its small and harsh life. The weed uses its own body to perform a dance that condenses the things perceived in that town over a lifetime. ...

Imamura Store (2011)

There is an elderly woman who has run a store in a Japanese town for over sixty years. She marries into the Imamura Store and cares for the shop by herself, as she lived each day as the present. ...

Flowers (2011)

A girl who loves to dance but has talent. 'Talent' is not something to be added on, but rather 'complements what is lacking'. The important thing is to continually keep the easily wilted 'flower' blooming beautifully. ...

Fleeting Dream (2011)

A girl is informed by her doctor that she is pregnant. Surprised by the unexpected announcement, falls into an anguish. The fleeting dream is a despairing dream. ...

Promises (2011)

It was a season when the tree leaves turn red. There was a woman crying in front of the child's [body]. She takes the shadow off. . . her dead son. Just to stay with him she runs with the shadow in her arms through the town at night. Then she makes ...

creator (2011)

A man is left alone in empty white space. He starts to create his own world with materials popped up out of nowhere and build a house and made animals. But there is a hole in this world and he wonders about it. In the meanwhile he learns there is the borde ...

Ygg's Bird (2011)

We are all living in a food chain. All of the living beings support each other as predator-prey relationship in the balance of nature. Yet there is a huge and ferocious bird. It is so brutal that all the creatures are afraid of it. . . Everything rep ...

tick tack (2011)

A little Chinku thinks his father does not love him. And when he thinks [that] his grandfather, his only supporter, rejects his hand for help, Chinku feels betrayed. . . Chinku draws circles with a huge and heavy pencil, which the time to fly fast. . ...

Rootless Heart (2011)

Two high school students are playing in the ruins. They hear something from the darkness and one of them goes deep into a dark room where something suspicious is hiding and both of them have their hearts taken out. Later a boy and his sister drop by the ...

A brightening life (2010)

It's an underground world. Up on the ground there are many people coming and going. There lives a garbage bag. . . underground. He has no work, no home and no family. This is a story in which a dirty black garbage bag gains a new life through. . . ...

Another Time (2010)

It is the day of Grandpa's wake. Grandma is a alone in her room looking at the album full of memories of him. 'Are you sad, Grandma?' asks the boy. She answers her grandson merrily with jokes. . . she falls asleep and in her dream she meets a man and ...

Where he can relax (2010)

After losing a job at the company a man starts working part-time handing out balloons in a rabbit costume. He finds it comfortable to disguise himself in the costume, as nobody would recognize him. Finally, he decides to wear the costume all the time in ...

The Vesper Mutters (2010)

As dusk closed in, a streetlight in a park was turned on. Moths flew towards the light. Suddenly they stop the motion. Under the streetlight. . . playground equipment appears. . . A child strayed among them. . . ...

anti-chaos (2010)

It's a story about a frog, who is eager to make his companions stand as a line. He is the only one who wears an armlet, and has a little different skin color from the other frogs. This work focus on the relationship between "rulers" and "ruled ones", and d ...

Winter Days (2003)

An animated film based on one of the renku (collaborative linked poems) in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō. The creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material – the ...

Blue Eyes – in HARBOR TALE – (2014)

In the Harbor town "Y", The old red brick-built building which is in a corner of the town has watched the changing times of the harbor and people's lives for above hundred years. A red brick who is a piece of the building has seen "the glittering square th ...

Harbor Tale (2011)