The 31st Busan International Film Festival has announced a 13-film Japanese Animation Special, bringing veteran director Rintaro to Korea for the first time in 17 years alongside four younger directors. Billed as a Special Program in Focus, the season traces a century of Japanese animation history, pairing formative classics with new releases and one European-derived work that influenced generations of Japanese animators; most titles have rarely, if ever, screened in Korean cinemas.

Alongside Rintaro, directors Kadowaki Kohei, Katanosaka Ryo, Natsume Shingo and Shinomiya Yoshitoshi will attend. The classics strand spans works including Toei's 1958 "The White Snake Enchantress" (Japan's first full-colour animated feature, credited with inspiring a young Miyazaki Hayao), 1973's adult-oriented "Belladonna of Sadness," Tezuka Osamu's 1980 "Phoenix 2772," Oshii Mamoru's 1985 "Angel's Egg," a 2025 remaster of the 1995 anthology "Memories," Rintaro's own 2001 epic "Metropolis," Yuasa Masaaki's 2004 debut "Mind Game" and Morita Shuhei's 2004 short "Kakurenbo." Four newer titles complete the lineup, including Natsume Shingo's "Ghost – End of Night," produced by Madhouse and due for a 2027 Japanese theatrical release.