My Little Goat – Tomoki Misato’s Dark and Unforgettable Stop-Motion Fable
My Little Goat (マイリトルゴート), the 2018 graduate film by Japanese director Tomoki Misato, remains one of the most haunting and visually distinctive stop-motion shorts of the past decade. Produced at Tokyo University of the Arts’ Graduate School of Film and New Media, the film blends tactile felt puppetry with disturbing fairy-tale horror to create a story that is as emotionally charged as it is technically masterful.
Misato, who would later become globally known as the creator of PUI PUI Molcar, made My Little Goat as his thesis project under producer Yuichi Ito. For this short, he pushed the limits of traditional stop-motion storytelling, crafting a world where innocence, fear, and maternal devotion collide with unsettling intensity.
A Fairy Tale Reimagined
The film begins by revisiting the Grimm folktale The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats. After discovering that a wolf has swallowed her children, the mother goat cuts open the beast’s belly and rescues her little ones.
But Misato subverts the familiar story immediately—one child is missing.
The eldest son, Toruku, is nowhere to be found, and the mother goat begins a desperate, emotional search that leads into a much darker and more psychologically complex territory than the traditional tale suggests. Misato has said that the film explores the idea of excessive parental love, posing unsettling questions about what “protection” and “care” can become when pushed too far.
The Tactile Unease of Felt Puppets
One of the film’s most striking artistic choices is its use of wool-felt puppets, which gives the characters a soft, almost plush appearance—an aesthetic at odds with the increasingly grim narrative. The contrast heightens the unease, making the disturbing imagery feel even more intimate.
The production relied heavily on hand-crafted materials and resourceful problem-solving typical of student films. Sets were built from repurposed items such as discarded floor mats transformed into floorboards, and the camera was positioned low to maintain a child-level perspective. These limitations became strengths, contributing to the film’s distinctive look and emotional tone.
A Story That Stays With You
Despite its modest scale, My Little Goat delivers a powerful thematic punch. It blends horror and tenderness, fairy-tale fantasy and psychological realism, all while maintaining a strong emotional core. Its final moments are as heartbreaking as they are unsettling, leaving viewers with lingering questions about trauma, love, and the fragile dynamics between parents and children.
The film’s narrative courage and stylistic originality have earned it widespread recognition. Festival programmers and critics often describe it as one of the darkest and most memorable stop-motion shorts of recent years.
Recognition & Festival Success
My Little Goat has been featured around the world and received significant acclaim, including:
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Official selections at Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (2019 and 2021)
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Awards at the Student CG Contest 2019, winning top places in both the Art and Entertainment Divisions
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Best Student Film at FICAM Meknès International Animation Film Festival (2019)
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Screenings at numerous international animation festivals across Europe and Asia
The film continues to be widely referenced in conversations about modern stop-motion innovation, particularly in the context of emerging Japanese directors.
A Glimpse Into Misato’s Artistic Future
Looking back, My Little Goat reads almost like a thematic precursor to the work Misato would later create. While his later projects, especially PUI PUI Molcar, lean into comedy and light-hearted charm, the same mastery of expressive puppetry and meticulous craft is present in both worlds.
This graduate film stands as an early showcase of Misato’s range: fearless storytelling, bold aesthetic choices, and a willingness to explore emotional extremities rarely attempted in stop-motion.
For many, My Little Goat is not just a student film—it’s a landmark piece of modern stop-motion cinema.
Sources
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YouTube – My Little Goat (Official Upload)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hFcNiq2obA -
Japan Media Arts Festival – Film Profile
https://j-mediaarts.jp/en/award/single/my-little-goat/index-2.html -
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia – Film Entry
https://www.shortshorts.org/2019/prg/en/3605 -
Director Interview & Production Notes (Japanese)
https://anikr.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-324.html -
Tomoki Misato Biography (Japanese Wikipedia)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/見里朝希
