Modest Heroes a 53minute yes thats how long it is animated feature which is actually three fifteenminute featurettes in one program is the second animated release from Studio Ponoc. Founded in 2015 the fledging studio found success nationwide with their first feature the charming if derivative Mary and the Witchs Flower. That film handled by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and many other former animators at Studio Ghibli who temporarily closed in 2014 but thankfully reopened recently was more of a crowdpleaser and technically more of a Best of Ghibli kind of showcase. Modest Heroes on the other hand is something quite different and may actually be all the better because of it. This package film a term borrowed from the 1940s Disney releases Make Mine Music Fun Fancy Free etc. provides the animators the opportunity to experiment with various animation techniques and aesthetic styles. Each featurette handled by different directors is loosely tied together with various shots of the quirkiest film projector Ive ever seen in any movie. The first featurette which opens this anthology Kanini and Kanino handled by Hiromasa Yonebayashi is an absolutely breathtaking and imaginative underwater fantasy about a pintsized family who wield staffs with crab claws shades of The Secret World of Arrietty who dwell at the bottom of the sea of all places. The titular characters are two siblings who are separated from their parents and set off on a journey to find them. This featurette is the only one of the three not to receive a dub and interestingly is rather limited with dialogue giving the picture a bit of a semisilent film treatment. There are occasions where the characters call out each others names. This short mixes traditional animation with computer generated imagery to realize both its underwater environment and the monstrous fishes who cast ominous shadows above our tiny heroes. After this stunner we shift gears to a more downtoearth sliceoflife kind of tale aptly named Life Aint Gonna Lose. Directed by Yoshiyuki Momose this short is based on an actual true story about a little boy who is lethally allergic to eggs. His mother strives to support him while managing her career as a dancer and the boy must eat special foods and avoid getting contact with egg yolk. Its a very relatable and nearly heart wrenching tale. The animation here is a bit more like a watercolorpainting style but the short is no less impactful for it. This dubbed version features the voice of Maggie Q as the boys mother. The final tale and arguably the gloomiest is Akihito Yamashitas Invisible in which we follow a man who is literally invisible to everyone around him. All we see is his coat hat glasses shoes and gloves. He needs to carry a weight in order to stay on the ground because otherwise he will float away. He does good deeds but is unnoticed by others... until he sees a runaway babys carriage. This short is animated in the classic hand drawn style and with more shadowy colors. Again dialogue is sparse in this short but not to the same degree as in the first. All three featurettes showcase the visual range of Studio Ponoc in ways that will leave you eager to come back for more and more. Interestingly after the showing I went to an interview with Ponoc producer Yoshiaki Nishimura aired who expressed the need to try to stand out from other studios in Japan. His solutionto try to push the limits of animation and make their movies the kind that kids would enjoy and would also inspire adults. Its very rare to see animation studios today with this kind of thinking. Bravo to Studio Ponoc for making the approach. It will be very interesting to see what they do next. If you ever get a chance to see Modest Heroes I strongly suggest you do so and without hesitation.