Thanks to Katharine Davis for finding a link to this 13 minute anime: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3rr0av
This animated short is about a traveler who gets lost in a forest during a storm and seeks shelter in a small shrine. Inside he encounters multiple yokai, or spirits who inhabit various objects. The film has a quirky and also eerie quality, but *spoiler alert* after his one night in the shrine- has a nice ending after he repairs some of the discarded objects he encounters with his mending skills. The spirit of the shrine ends up terrorizing him, but ultimately rewards his effort after his stay and gifts him some new swag for his journey.
It would promote an interesting discussion with students regarding the role of the spirits in the story and also interpretations of the theme of the story. Comparing the spirits in the film compared to western ghost stories would be a fun exercise, as some of the ones in “Possession” are funny and others creepy, compared to mostly haunting ghosts encountered in western stories. Also, it could prompt a discussion about sustainability and protecting the environment as the story takes place in a pristine forest but also shows many trashed objects and the protagonists response to these repairable objects.
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