Anime: Tabisuru Nuigurumi: Traveling Daru
I was browsing through the Crunchyroll site and I came across this gem under the slice of life category. It’s a simple and (almost) wordless short just 10 mins long, but it speaks volumes and is an absolute beauty to watch.
It tells the story of a little soft toy who gets left behind at the airport and his journey across the globe to find his owner again. There are a number of reasons why I enjoyed this short so much. The beginning animation of how Daru was created was unique, I like how the different scenes were displayed and the creation process was just shown in a couple of seconds.
I thought it was really original and appreciated how concise it made the introduction. The second reason I love this show is because of the locations that Daru went to. Most of them are iconic and identifiable, but a few rarer and more obscure places were also featured, and being able to recognize them was a thrill for me.
Besides the main story of how Daru was trying to get back to his owner, there’s was a subplot of him and a littler caterpillar. I think that it added a nice touch and merged seamlessly into the main storyline. Of course, the music was amazing and accompanied the places of interest perfectly.
Watching the show I thought I knew where it was going and how it was going to end, but the ending caught me by surprise. It overwhelmed me and just brought tears to my eyes. I really like this OVA a lot and it’s a bonus that the animation was good and the music so enjoyable.
American accents are still not Japanese voice actor’s forte and there was a few abrupt switches between the background music, but in general, this is totally worth watching. I love shorts that manage to contain such wonderful stories that touch you when longer series sometimes cannot. Please do go take a look and tell me what you think after!
Living. Loving. Learning. 
It was very sweet. Glad you pointed it out, since I had no idea about it. The story is familiar and been done many times, but it’s all how its told. It got me too. Well done.
Thanks! I think shorts get missed since most people concentrate on series and movies. But shorts likes these are always a treat to watch!