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“Miyazaki's solo directorial debut adapting Tetsuya Chiba's sophisticated shoujo manga about a 10-year-old orphan girl's melodramatic adoption.”
Yuki no Taiyou Pilot
ユキの太陽
5.47
13,127 rank · 4,080 viewers · 1 favorites
Drama
Shoujo
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Synopsis
Miyazaki's solo directorial debut adapting Tetsuya Chiba's sophisticated shoujo manga about a 10-year-old orphan girl's melodramatic adoption.
This pilot is remembered, really, for one notable reason: this is Miyazaki's first time as a solo director. He teamed up with Takahata for the later episodes of the 1971-72 Lupin III series, but Yuki's Sun marked his first time solely in the captain's seat. Yuki's Sun was based upon a popular shoujo manga (girls' comic) by Tetsuya Chiba which was serialized in 1963. It involves a 10-year-old orphan girl who is adopted into a family. The storyline is somewhat complex, and seems to play out like grand melodrama. Chiba's stories were more sophisticated and grown-up than, say, Osamu Tezuka, who of course was the godfather of postwar Japanese manga. (Source: TheGhibliBlog)
What people say
Community consensus
Derived from 5 sampled reviews
5.8
/10
What 5 viewers settled on.
0%
recommend
Score distribution
median 6
mode 6
σ 0.40
Agreement
Strong agreement
σ 0.40 · scores cluster tight
The polarity gap
—
Not enough recommend signal yet
Score over time
↓ 0.20
Running avg · Jan 2018 → Mar 2025
Snap verdicts
· shortest highly-rated reviews
- 6 “The art style and character designs are undeniably cute. However, the story relies on clichés and suffers from confusing, disconnected scenes and abrupt transitions due to its limited five-minute...”
- 6 “The animation is remarkably vibrant and fluid for its era, showcasing early glimpses of Hayao Miyazaki’s signature directing style within a surprisingly content-rich four-minute runtime. While the...”
- 6 “This short film excels at quickly establishing a lovable and relatable main character within the first minute. However, the experience feels like a rushed, incomplete trailer that lacks a...”
Verbosity
Short · 80%
Medium · 0%
Long · 20%
Watch Order & Related
A self-contained story.
No sequels, spin-offs or alternate tellings — Yuki no Taiyou Pilot begins and ends here.
Cast
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A Special Production
Tokyo Movie.- Format 1 × 4′ eps × min
- Total runtime 0h 04m all episodes
- Aired Jan 1972 – ongoing
- Source Special media type
- Rated PG Children
- Ref. BS-7182 catalog