| Ringing Bell | |
 Poster of the film | |
| チリンの鈴 (Chirin no Suzu) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama, dark fantasy, adventure |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Takashi Yanase |
| Published by | Froebel-Kan |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Published | 1978 |
| Anime film | |
| Directed by | Masami Hata |
| Produced by | Shintaro Tsuji Tsunemasa Hatano |
| Studio | Sanrio Films |
| Licensed by | |
| Released | March 11, 1978 (Japan) April 8, 1983 (US) |
| Runtime | 47 minutes |
Ringing Bell (チリンの鈴, Chirin no Suzu, lit. Chirin's Bell) is a 1978 Japanese anime adventure-drama film adaptation of the storybook of the same name written by Takashi Yanase, the creator of Anpanman.[1] It is most notable by fans and critics as a family film which makes a sharp, sudden turn into a dark and violent story that criticizes and reflects upon the theme of revenge and war.
Ringing Bell was produced by Sanrio and originally shown as a double feature alongside the US/Sanrio co-production The Mouse and his Child.[2] It is Sanrio's first anime film to have a dark plot, only two films they co-produced with Sunrise, The Ideon: A Contact and The Ideon: Be Invoked – both of which serve as the conclusion to Yoshiyuki Tomino's Space Runaway Ideon, follow suit. Like the above-mentioned Ideon films, it is among Sanrio's first works to be aimed at young adult audience members in and outside Japan.
- ^ Remembering Ringing Bell: Half of Sanrio's Second-Darkest Double Feature Archived 2022-01-18 at the Wayback Machine Otaku USA Magazine
- ^ "Ringing Bell" (1978) and "One Stormy Night" (2005) Archived 2022-05-22 at the Wayback Machine Cartoon Research