
The Magic Ballad
1982-01-01 · 26 min · ★ 5.2
The 25 minute film tells the tale of an ailing elderly woman named Itako who encounters a fox named Okon. The story opens with Itako lying bedridden, as she has for a long time. Okon enters her home and Itako tells the fox that he is welcome to take anything that he wants, for she has no use for anything anymore. Okon is delighted and in order to return the favour (the act of ongaeshi), Okon performs a magic jyōruri (a ballad with shamisen accompaniment) that heals Itako so that she is fit enough to walk again. Everyone is surprised by Itako's sudden recovery. She then hears of a hunter who has been badly injured and is near death. Itako hides Okon in the back of her shirt and has the fox sing the song while she plays shamisen in order to heal the man. This act of kindness is repeated for others until Itako's good fortune leads some to be suspicious of her.
Trailers are previews, not full movies.
No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.
Production details
- Directors
- Tadanari Okamoto
- Production companies
- Unavailable
- Countries
- Japan
- Status
- Released
Top Cast
Teruko Nagaoka
Tetsuo GotoTitle information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.
Where to watch
Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.
Availability not listed for this country.
Seasons & episodes
Recommendations

Two Dutch children stumble on a clearing in the woods where gnomes are going about their business. The gnomes are friendly to the children. A witch comes and takes them away on her broom to her gingerbread house, where she turns nasty on them, turning the boy into a spider, her yowling cat to stone, and tries to turn the girl into a rat when a gnome's arrow stops her. While the gnomes are fighting the witch, Hansel and Gretl free the other children who have been imprisoned and transformed by the witch.

Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.

When Brainy Smurf is favored to win the annual Smurfberry Hunt for the ninth year in a row, Gutsy Smurf sets out to discover how Brainy wins every year. Gutsy’s investigation takes him into spooky Smurfy Hollow–and right into Gargamel’s trap! Can Brainy and Gutsy, with the help of Smurfette, put aside their rivalry before Gargamel captures them–or worse, they come face-to-face with the legendary ghost, the Headless Horseman?

Buster Moon dreams up a star-studded spectacle set to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in this animated short featuring characters from the hit "Sing" films.

Mickey has been reading Alice in Wonderland, and falls asleep. He finds himself on the other side of the mirror, where the furniture is alive.

The people of Hamelin, overrun with rats, offer a bag of gold to anyone who can get rid of the rats. A piper offers to do the job, and successfully lures the rats into a mirage of cheese, which disappears. The citizens, disappointed that all he did was play a tune, offer only pocket change. The piper, angered, plays a new tune that has all the children of the city follow him, even the new twins the stork is preparing to deliver.

Jess joins her friends at a party in a dilapidated mansion hosted by the mysterious Seth. When odd things begin to happen to Jess and her friends, the Phantom Stranger intervenes to save her from a dreary fate.

Kubo mesmerizes the people in his village with his magical gift for spinning wild tales with origami. When he accidentally summons an evil spirit seeking vengeance, Kubo is forced to go on a quest to solve the mystery of his fallen samurai father and his mystical weaponry, as well as discover his own magical powers.

Ordered to teach a martial arts class of rambunctious bunny kittens, Po tells stories of each of the Furious Five's pasts.

Po and the Furious Five uncover the legend of three of kung fu's greatest heroes: Master Thundering Rhino, Master Storming Ox, and Master Croc.

Mater the tow truck travels from country to country as he retells his infamous but unbelievable stories.

Queen Poppy plans the first annual Trolls Kingdom Secret Holiday Gift Swap, but things don't go quite as expected.

Created for Disney's 100th anniversary, the short features Mickey Mouse corralling a gallery of legendary Disney characters for a group photo.

Mickey, Minnie, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow go on a musical wagon ride until Peg-Leg Pete tries to run them off the road.

This Oscar-winning short tells of a bull who preferred to sit under trees and smell flowers to clashing horns with his fellow animals. As luck would have it, an untimely bee reveals Ferdinand's ferocious side via pained howls and wild stomping. This lands him in the bull-fighting arena amidst characters based on Walt's animators with a matador reportedly modeled after Walt himself.

Naruto faces off against his old pupil Konohamaru in a tournament during the chuunin entrance exams.

A bird raised by mice begins to question where she belongs and sets off on a daring journey of self-discovery.

This collection of 11 short films produced by Illumination includes: From the "Despicable Me" franchise: Mower Minions (2016); Yellow Is the New Black (2018); Competition (2015); Cro Minion (2015); Binky Nelson Unpacified (2015); Panic in the Mailroom (2013). From the "Secret Life of Pets" franchise: Super Gidget (2019). From the "Sing" franchise: Eddie's Life Coach (2017); Gunter Babysits (2017). From the "Lorax" franchise: Serenade (2012); Wagon Ho! (2012).

A giant whale appears and flies above Sakura New Town. With the whale’s sound of crying, some changes occur to Kenta Amano and Yokai.

Wirt and Gregory are brothers who get tired of walking, so, they borrow a car from a romantic songster made of vegetables.
Similar titles

Dilution is an experimental short film that explores the transit between resistance and (di)ssolution, between holding and releasing and a path towards obsessive repetition. They are layers, exposed pores, matter that oscillates between remaining or disappearing. The sound is not a background, but a puncture: friction, tearing, water that drags what still persists. A sensorial testimony of what refuses to vanish completely.

In a bleak hillside hotel, strange events are afoot, as something surprising drifts in on the mist… In this gorgeously made stop motion Animator, a lonely performer falls in love with a walrus. But her dreams of singing success may prove hopeless, as the audience has other plans. A deeply surreal but profoundly heartfelt film about finding your inner voice.

People go through their day to day lives through the city alongside their Pokémon as they all try to get home to reunite with their family for the New Year.

Shannon Amen unearths the passionate and pained expressions of a young woman overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety as she struggles to reconcile her sexual identity with her religious faith. A loving elegy to a friend lost to suicide.

The interconnected circuitry. The aggregated flora. Alternating currents of the visual field.

In the future, technology may change, but the patterns and routines of daily life stay constant, until we disrupt them. A short animation by Matthias Hoegg.

Camille's life is ruled by the ring of the alarm clock each morning. Her well-ordered life consists of preparing her cat's meals, and hearing the familiar sound of the automatic till in the store where she works as the cashier. But one day, a man enters her home without her knowing and starts living there during the day while she's at work. Little by little, he will free her from her chains.

This documentary, the final film directed by Frank Capra, explores America's plans for the future of space exploration. It was produced by the Martin-Marietta Corporation for exhibition in the Hall of Science at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Stop motion adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera.

The 365 days animation consists of sequence of 8760 pictures, all different shape and color, hand-drawn by the director every day in 365 days. This is the ultimate analog approach by the abstract animated film creator in digital era.
Short film on Raoul Servais' Servaisgrafie process/invention.

A tiny green bear (the Trickster) tries his best to impress a group of animals with his annoying tricks.

When an overconfident teen alien gets behind the controls of a spaceship, he must attempt to abduct a slumbering farmer under the watchful eye of a critical instructor. But abducting humans requires precision and a gentle touch, and within a few missteps it's painfully clear why more humans don't go missing every year.

Let's face it, rats are not the most beloved creatures on earth. However, maybe this little tale about the history of human and rat interaction will change the world's tune. At least that is the hope of Remy, the star of Ratatouille, and his reluctant brother Emile as they guide us through world history from a rat's perspective. Why can't we all just get along?

On a high mountain plain lives a lamb with wool of such remarkable sheen that he breaks into high-steppin' dance. But there comes a day when he loses his lustrous coat and, along with it, his pride. It takes a wise jackalope - a horn-adorned rabbit - to teach the moping lamb that wooly or not, it's what's inside that'll help him rebound from life's troubles.
A short animation film about knights.

With Jean-Baptiste at the front, Louise takes care of Bébé with the help of Uncle Pierre. The letters she receives from Jean-Baptiste worry her, but Pierre distracts Bébé with a box of tin soldiers. That night, Bébé has a dream of his soldiers vanquishing the enemy, and the next morning, Jean-Baptiste surprises the family by returning home.

Animated mugshots of criminals.
Audrey and her friends must find her mum a new boyfriend before her dad's Christmas party.