Olympic Games on Dankichi Island Review: Weird, Bouncy, 1930s Anime

If you have six minutes to spare today and want to see something truly bizarre, yes, this is worth a quick look.

Classic animation nerds will absolutely love the clunky charm of it. Anyone expecting modern logic—or clean drawings—will probably hate this within thirty seconds. 🐒

This is Olympic Games on Dankichi Island, a 1932 Japanese short that feels like a fever dream someone had after eating bad sushi.

The plot is basically a bunch of animals and a little crown-wearing kid named Dankichi having a sports day on a tropical island. They do a relay race, a tug-of-war, and something called a "tree-changing race" which I still do not fully understand.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic, messy energy in Touchdown Mickey, but way more low-budget and strange.

There is this one giraffe in the background of the race that just... vibrates. I do not think the animator knew how giraffes move, or maybe they just ran out of paper that week.

Also, the monkey runner during the relay race has some of the most rubbery legs I have ever seen. It is like his bones just turned to warm jelly mid-stride.

The crowd scenes are just a few repeating shapes, and you can see where the ink bled on the original cells. I actually love those little mistakes because it makes it feel like real, tired humans drew this in a cramped room ninety years ago.

The tug-of-war scene is probably the highlight, mostly because an elephant gets involved and the physics go completely out the window. Who's win anyway? It does not even matter.

The whole thing just sort of ends with everyone looking happy, except maybe the viewers who wanted a coherent story. If you like weird history or just want to see a cartoon pig run really fast, give it a go. 🏝️