Goodbye, Don Glees!

In modern-day Tokyo, three homeless people’s lives are changed forever when they discover a baby girl at a garbage dump on Christmas Eve. As the New Year fast approaches, these three forgotten members of society band together to solve the mystery of the abandoned child and the fate of her parents. Along the way, encounters with seemingly unrelated events and people force them to confront their own haunted pasts, as they learn to face their future, together. (Source: Shout! Factory) Note: The film received an early premiere at the Big Apple Anime Fest on August 30, 2003.

Sixth-graders Kousuke and Natsume grew up in the same apartment building as childhood friends. During summer break, while playing in the apartment building that is set to be demolished, they find themselves caught in a strange phenomenon. All they can see around them is a vast sea. Will Kousuke and the others make it back to their world? A journey of farewells in summer has just begun. (Source: Netflix)

Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryou are high school students who met online. An urban legend speaks of a "summer ghost," a spirit girl who appears when fireworks are set off. Tomoya cannot live the life he envisioned for himself. Aoi cannot find her place in the world. Ryou has his once shining future suddenly pulled away. Each has their own reason for needing to meet the summer ghost. On a summer night when life and death cross paths, where will each of their emotions take them?

When you’re a bored teenager looking for thrills, sometimes the only thing you can turn to is rock ‘n roll. Having no skill, money, or even a full set of drums, a feared trio of high school delinquents nevertheless decide they are destined for musical glory in a quest to impress their only friend Aya, avoid a rival gang, and – most importantly – jam out. Animated almost entirely by director Kenji Iwaisawa, and featuring a lead performance by Japanese alt-rock legend Shintaro Sakamoto, ON-GAKU: OUR SOUND brings its own sound and vision to the Hiroyuki Oohashi manga from which it was adapted. With pitch-perfect deadpan humor, the film presents a highly original take on the beloved slacker comedy: a lo-fi buddy film with a blaring musical finale that will leave you wanting an immediate

A story about a goat and a wolf who become friends in a stormy night, and how they overcome differences and hardships. (Source: Anime News Network)

Remi is a boy living happily with his mother in the French countryside. But everything changes when his estranged father comes home and, in desperate need of money, reveals that Remi is adopted, and sells him. Heartbroken, Remi ends up with Vitalis, a traveling musician, and his troupe of animal entertainers. Together, they travel the country trying to make a living, along the way learning the harsh lessons of life. A deeply moving story about friendship, loss and the pursuit of happiness. (Source: AniDB)

Some people revel and play in the rain; others dread it and hide at the first drop. For high school student Takao, a summer shower is a source of artistic inspiration… but when he skips school in order to sketch in a rainy garden, Takao finds an even greater muse in Yukino, an older woman who seems adrift in the world. Despite the difference in their ages and lives, they strike up a comfortable relationship that slowly evolves as they randomly meet in the same garden whenever it rains. But with the rainy season coming to a close, Takao wonders if there's enough time left to put his feelings into actions and words. (Source: Sentai Filmworks)

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother’s tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy’s mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the “long-awaited one.” (Source: Letterboxd)