Totto-chan

Totto-chan is a very lively and curious girl, actually much too busy for the public and rather strict schools of 1940s Tokyo, so her parents send her to the Tomoe Gakuen, a modern and progressive type of school where there is much more room for each student's creativity and talents. There, Totto-chan comes into her own much better. But World War II, in which Japan sided with the Germans, is increasingly shaping everyday life. The school becomes increasingly austere and even has to close its doors after a heavy bombardment; Totto-chan and all the other children are evacuated.

In 1981, the autobiographical Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window , the memoirs of TV personality and Unicef ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi (b 1933), was published, in which she recounts her school experiences at the Tomoe Gakuen, a story about how innocent children have to hold their own in the grim reality of war. Director Shinnosuke Yakuwa adapted the story into this beautiful animated film.