Pigtails and Other Short Stories from Production I.G is a special collection of anime short films from the animation studio. These short stories, much like Genius Party, each have their own style, animation and director attached to the projects.
Note: This post has been updated in April 2025 to reflect the current blog layout and some minor tweaks to the original write-up.
Background:
“From Production I.G, the legendary animation studio behind Ghost in the Shell and Miss Hokusai, comes a collection of five award-winning and rarely seen short films, directed by some of the best animators from Japan.
Pigtails: A thought-provoking fable portraying a nation’s unspeakable feelings in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima disaster.
Kick-Heart: A love story between a pro-wrestler and a nun, each one with a secret to hide.
Li’l Spider Girl: A broken antiquarian meets with a scared, eight-legged baby arachnid slipped out from an ancient book.
Drawer Hobs: Unfulfilled call centre operator Noeru has to deal with six weird kids who have occupied her tiny apartment.
Oval x Over: Running against destiny was never this burning hot.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, February 2019.
Here are the list of anime shorts included in the collection:
Pigtails (みつあみの神様, Mitsuami no Kami-sama), a 2015 anime short film, was directed by Yoshimi Itazu. Staff credits also include writer Miho Maruo, and music composer Ichiko Aoba. This is the main feature of the collection, running at 28 minutes length.
Kick-Heart (キックハート, Kikkuhāto), a 2013 anime short film, was directed & written by Masaaki Yuasa. Staff credits also include character designer Michio Mihara and music composer Oorutaichi. This is notable for being funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign with support from fans across the world. The film runs at 12 minutes length. Note: Due to exclusivity with the kickstarter, the English dubs will not be included with this release.
Li’l Spider Girl (わすれなぐも, Wasurenagumo), a 2012 anime short film, was directed by Toshihisa Kaiya. Staff credits also include screenplay writer Daishiro Tanimura, character designer Hideki Takahashi, and music composer Yasuo Sugibayashi. This was released as part of the Anime Mirai project in 2011, running at 25 minutes length.
Drawer Hobs (たんすわらし。, Tansu Warashi), a 2011 anime short film, was directed by Kazuchika Kise. Staff credits also include screenplay writer Daishiro Tanimura, character designer Kazuchika Kise with original character designer Ryō Hirata, and music composer Yasuo Sugibayashi. This was included in both the Young Animators Fostering Project and the Anime Mirai project in 2010, running at 23 minutes length.
Oval x Over, a 2005 anime short film, was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Staff credits include character designer Imaitoonz, and music composer Yoshihiro Ike. This was a promotional anime for the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 Mile race, running at 9 minutes length.
Anime Limited acquired the licenses for these shorts in July 2016 and it had taken almost three years for them to be released. Listings had been up for a very long time for the standard edition but in recent months the distributor finally revealed their shop exclusive collector’s edition set.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Because this is a rather niche collection of anime shorts and are from one of their favourite studios, Anime Limited have gone all out on their collector’s edition. This is pretty similar to how they handled Genius Party & Genius Party Beyond.
This release is presented with a rigid box containing a digipack that houses the Blu-ray & DVD discs. Also included with the set is a 156-page Pigtails Storyboard Book and a 140-page Material Archive Book. Both books are well-detailed with the latter showcasing more in-depth information about each of the shorts from this collection.
The rigid box artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray & DVD has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99, with a standard edition Blu-ray & DVD combo pack available for retailers at an SRP of £24.99.
The short films anthology collection was made available exclusively through their AllTheAnime online store with an early bird offer where I ordered from. The set was on offer for £34.99 with free postage.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Digipack packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 156-page Pigtails Storyboard Book
- 140-page Material Archive Book
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 25th February 2019
The collector’s edition release for Pigtails and Other Short Stories from Production I.G contains all five short films on a single Blu-ray disc and single DVD disc.
The films are presented in Japanese audio with English subtitles only. An English dub for Masaaki Yuasa’s Kick Heart does exist but because its tied exclusively to its crowdfunding campaign it’s not allowed to be included with this release.
The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the Blu-ray disc is restricted to players set to Region B whilst the DVD disc is restricted to players set to Region 2.
Song lyrics are included for Pigtails, but not for Li’l Spider Girl and Drawer Hobs. There are some noticeable banding for these short films, but aside from that they do look great on Blu-ray though Oval x Over is an obvious upscale.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio (1.33:1 for Oval x Over) |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 aspect ratio (1.33:1 for Oval x Over) |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Trailers
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Trailers
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Pigtails and Other Short Stories from Production I.G is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland.
The collector’s edition Blu-ray & DVD release can be bought exclusively through the AllTheAnime Store, while the standard edition Blu-ray is available across different retailers including AllTheAnime Store, Amazon UK, and Anime-on-Line.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
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