Nobody talks about this one. A six-episode comedy special designed to play between movies at a single Tokyo theater, Anime-gatari is pure inside-baseball joy for people who actually care about animation craft. It's a love letter to the medium itself, built by people who understand that sometimes the funniest thing you can do is make fun of how anime gets made. The show exists in the margins of what gets distributed, which is exactly where it thrives. If you've ever gotten mad at a director's choices or laughed at the specific failures of a low-budget episode, this knows what you mean. It's not trying to reach everyone. It's trying to reach you.

A set of brief comedic shorts made to play during intermissions at TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku, with only six of the eight theatrical episodes kept for home release.