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5.5/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Sanbiki no koguma san remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have ten minutes to spare and love scratchy, old black-and-white cartoons, Sanbiki no koguma san is a weirdly charming watch. But if you get bored by silent, repetitive movements of hand-drawn animals, you should probably skip this one immediately.
It is basically about three little bear cubs who get into very mild trouble. I stumbled on this while looking up early Japanese animation, and honestly, the simplicity of it is what hooked me.
The way the bears wobble when they walk is just adorable. It reminds me of the quirky, hand-crafted charm in Alice Hunting in Africa, where the animation is rough but has so much soul.
There is this one scene where one of the bears tries to climb over a small fence. He fails like three times, and the animator just loops the exact same falling animation.
It is so lazy, but I couldn't stop laughing at it. 🐻
The writer, Kazuko Murayama, clearly knew how to capture how toddlers—or in this case, bear cubs—behave. They just sort of wander around, poke things with sticks, and look generally confused by the world.
There is no grand plot here, just pure, innocent movement from a time before animation became a massive industry.
The print I saw was incredibly scratchy and dark. At times, a giant hair seemed stuck on the projector lens, which just added to the whole "watching a ghost" feeling.
It is not a masterpiece, obviously. But there is a quiet warmth here that modern, computerized cartoons often miss entirely.
If you enjoy finding weird, forgotten pieces of history like Dummies, give this little bear film a quick look. It is a sweet, dusty little time capsule.