Movie: The Magic Ballad

Top 2 Billed Cast

Teruko Nagaoka
長岡輝子

Tetsuo Goto
後藤哲夫

  • HomePage

  • Overview

    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.

  • Release Date

    1982-01-01

  • Average

    5.2

  • Rating:

    2.6 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    日本語
  • Keywords

Recommendations Movies

The Pied Piper
65%

The Pied Piper(en)

1933-09-16

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.

The House
70%

The House(en)

2022-01-14

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.

Yo-kai Watch: The Movie - The Great Adventure of the Flying Whale & the Double World, Meow!
72%

Yo-kai Watch: The Movie - The Great Adventure of the Flying Whale & the Double World, Meow!(ja)

2016-12-17

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.

Stopmotion
62%

Stopmotion(en)

2024-02-22

Ella Blake, a stop-motion animator struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother, embarks upon the creation of a film that becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her project take on a life of their own.

Naruto OVA 9: Chunin Exam on Fire! and Naruto vs. Konohamaru!
73%

Naruto OVA 9: Chunin Exam on Fire! and Naruto vs. Konohamaru!(ja)

2011-07-30

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

Once Upon a Studio
83%

Once Upon a Studio(en)

2023-09-24

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

Thru the Mirror
71%

Thru the Mirror(en)

1936-05-30

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.

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five
68%

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five(en)

2008-11-08

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

Kubo and the Two Strings
76%

Kubo and the Two Strings(en)

2016-08-18

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.

Sing: Thriller
72%

Sing: Thriller(en)

2024-10-15

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.

Short Peace
64%

Short Peace(ja)

2013-07-20

A traveler is confronted by spirits in an abandoned shrine; a story of honor and firefighting in ancient Japan; a white bear defends the royal family from a monstrous red demon; ragtag soldiers battle a robotic force in futuristic Japan.

DC Showcase: The Phantom Stranger
67%

DC Showcase: The Phantom Stranger(en)

2020-02-25

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.

Puss Gets the Boot
70%

Puss Gets the Boot(en)

1940-02-10

Jasper is given an ultimatum by his master: break one more thing and you're out. Rodent Jerry does his best to make sure that his tormentor "gets the boot".

Pokémon: Pikachu's Rescue Adventure
62%

Pokémon: Pikachu's Rescue Adventure(ja)

1999-07-17

One day, Pikachu and its friends are walking along when they suddenly fall through a Diglett hole and into Pokémon Valley, a secret location that no one knows about. Pikachu and its buddies tell the Pokémon that they could use some help looking for Togepi, who fell through the hole first. The group sets off and eventually finds Togepi in the Exeggcute nest—but one of the Exeggcute is missing. That leads the group on another hunt; this time, though, Pikachu and its friends come back to the nest empty-handed. That’s when a storm begins to brew, filling Pokémon valley with roaring thunder and gusts of wind that almost blow the friends—and the Exeggcute nest—away! Are the friends going to be able to keep the nest safe and reunite the Exeggcute?

Pikachu's Vacation
64%

Pikachu's Vacation(ja)

1998-07-18

Pikachu and the gang learn responsibility, teamwork as well as cooperation during their Summer vacation at Pokemon Island.

Trolls Holiday in Harmony
72%

Trolls Holiday in Harmony(en)

2021-11-26

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

Ferdinand the Bull
67%

Ferdinand the Bull(en)

1938-11-23

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.

Olaf's Frozen Adventure
65%

Olaf's Frozen Adventure(en)

2017-10-27

Olaf is on a mission to harness the best holiday traditions for Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff.

The Big Bad Wolf
65%

The Big Bad Wolf(en)

1934-04-14

The Big Bad Wolf torments Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs.

Babes in the Woods
60%

Babes in the Woods(en)

1932-11-19

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.

Similar Movies

Canada Vignettes: The Egg
52%

Canada Vignettes: The Egg(en)

1979-01-01

An egg desperately tries to prevent being hatched. In this animated short from the Canada Vignette series, learn how societies in evolution are often in danger of self-destruction.

How One Peasant Fed Two Generals
67%

How One Peasant Fed Two Generals(ru)

1965-01-01

The screen version of the Saltykov-Shchedrin tale about how two complacent generals miraculously found themselves on an uninhabited island. How a peasant was courting the generals, feeding and dressing them, content himself with crumbs from their table. They only slightly thanked him, but in the end they gave him only glass of vodka and a penny of silver.

Rocky and Bullwinkle
52%

Rocky and Bullwinkle(en)

2014-10-14

After receiving the key to the city for their heroic efforts, Rocket J. Squirrel notices that Bullwinkle falls in love with a robotic moose. Unbeknownst to him, inside the moose is Boris Badinov, who, along with Natasha Fatale and Fearless Leader, are carrying out another plan to eliminate Rocky & Bullwinkle.

Party Central
68%

Party Central(en)

2014-02-20

Mike and Sulley are back at Monsters University for a fun-filled weekend with their Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers. The gang is throwing their first party, but no one’s showing up. Luckily for them, Mike and Sulley have come up with a plan to make sure “Party Central” is the most epic party the school has ever seen.

The Fall of the House of Usher
50%

The Fall of the House of Usher(en)

1984-01-01

Animated adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe 1839 short story The Fall of the House of Usher, a work of Gothic fiction that includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities.

Soldier's Tale
0%

Soldier's Tale(ru)

1980-05-31

Based on the amusing Russian tales about a resourceful and cheerful soldier.

Pussy
66%

Pussy(pl)

2016-11-13

A young woman spends the evening alone at home. She decides to give herself a treat, but not everything works out as smoothly as she imagined.

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
0%

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs(ru)

2008-01-01

A poor misunderstood wolf tells the real story of what happened

Pot of Porridge
65%

Pot of Porridge(ru)

1984-01-01

Automated porridge production system provides the city with food for 3 years.

A Close Shave
76%

A Close Shave(en)

1996-03-07

Wallace's whirlwind romance with the proprietor of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin, and Gromit is framed for sheep-rustling in a fiendish criminal plot.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
71%

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit(en)

2005-09-15

Cheese-loving eccentric Wallace and his cunning canine pal Gromit run a business ridding the town of garden pests. Using only humane methods, which turns their home into a halfway house for evicted vermin, the pair stumble upon a mystery involving a voracious vegetarian monster that threatens to ruin the annual veggie-growing contest.

ANNA (kidnapper)
0%

ANNA (kidnapper)(ja)

2018-07-21

196X. Anna, an enigmatic and attractive professional kidnapper, abducts The Professor during his wedding ceremony on request from one of the latter's former girlfriend. This woman, whose face Anna has never seen, wishes to die with The Professor before he marries. Leaving the church with The Professor on the back seat of her motor-bike, Anna starts on the journey to the fictional city of 'Alpha Paris'.

Purrfit
0%

Purrfit(en)

2022-07-24

Tubby is a fat cat who has lived in the adoption centre since forever. Tubby is desperate to get out of there. One day, he saw a tv ad that skinny cats are in trend and getting many demands from humans. Tubby is determined to lose weight as it is the only way to attract humans to get him the ticket out of the adoption centre. Will Tubby finally get the adopted if he gets skinny and escape the jail-like adoption centre?

Dada
78%

Dada(nl)

1994-11-14

In a world where admiration and status are given to whomever can carry the heaviest books on their head, a man hopes his son will achieve what he himself couldn't.

It Happened to Crusoe
0%

It Happened to Crusoe(en)

1941-03-14

WARNING This cartoon features ignorant racial stereotypes and is NOT meant for children or the sensitive.

The Wind
0%

The Wind(ar)

2015-09-13

The tragedy of the Syrian people: War, conflict, loss, migration, exile, asylum, detention, drowning… A deserted place. Abandoned people. Abandoned country. The doors slammed shot; the doors are now locked - the keys thrown away...for what seems forever.

Electronic Control System of the C-1 Auto Pilot Part 1: Basic Electricity as Applied to Electronic Control System
0%

Electronic Control System of the C-1 Auto Pilot Part 1: Basic Electricity as Applied to Electronic Control System(en)

1943-01-27

Animated training film depicting the fundamentals of electricity and how electrical signals can be used to keep an airplane on correct course and altitude through an autopilot.

The Black Dog
0%

The Black Dog(es)

2023-07-26

Since Rosa was little, people used to say around town that her grandfather was a black dog. The legend, belonging to the Valley of Oaxaca, spoke of a man who had the ability to turn into a black dog and roam the streets at night. Through images of the town, interviews with the brothers and animated interventions, the documentary tells the story of the myth and its importance in the collective memory.

Totems
75%

Totems(fr)

2016-06-17

An excellent example of how sometimes dialogue is not necessary, Totems is a visual display of our inner animal disposition. A lumberjack is working in a forest when a tree falls down and his leg gets stuck. As he is trapped in a beautiful but cruel environment, the despair awakens his primal instincts.

The Battle for Miggershausen
0%

The Battle for Miggershausen(de)

1937-01-24

This technically quite well-made cartoon from pre-war Nazi Germany is a commercial (or propaganda piece) for Volksempfänger ("people's receiver"), inexpensive radios. First we see agricultural statistics: the far-away village of Miggershausen is quite below standards in milk and egg production. An anthropomorphic radio undertakes the long voyage by express train, steam train, hay carriage to Miggershausen to advertise its services. It is not well received. Then, it collects and leads an army of radios to try again. They flood all the farmhouses and seem to be more convincing that way - at day, they spread agricultural knowledge to bring milk and egg production up to standards; later, they just play music and illustrate how various people enjoy various kinds of music.