The Acorns and the Wildcat (Donguri to Yamaneko) is a unique short film in picture‑book format from the creator of *Night on the Galactic Railroad* and *Gauche the Cellist*. In an unusual approach for an anime, a narrator reads Kenji’s story aloud while the action is played out on screen through a succession of warm and evocative illustrations brought to life by subtle touches of animation. If the film feels familiar yet you can’t pinpoint why, it’s probably the sumptuously minimalist animation by Yasuhiro Nagura, who was the animation director of Mamoru Oshii’s artsy 1986 feature *Angel’s Egg*. Kenji’s wildcat is said to have inspired Miyazaki’s Panda/Totoro creature. The idea of reading Kenji’s story aloud…