Aliases
Kujira-tori, The Whale Hunt, くじらとり, Kujiratori, Kujira Tori
S1 (Movie)FALL 2001MOVIE
Part of this franchise
concluded
Announced
In production
Releasing
Completed
A short film only screened at the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. This animated short film is based on a story piece included in a longtime classic and awards-winning children's book "Iya Iya En" by Rieko Nakagawa.
Shigeru is a little boy who goes to the Tulip Nursery School. One morning at school, Shigeru sees the boys a year older building a ship with blocks. He wants to join in too. The completed ship is named the Elephant and Lion. Soon, the children realize the surroundings have transformed into a sea, and even fishes are swimming. The boys load fishing rods and ropes onto the Elephant and Lion, and set out on a whale hunt.
(Source: Ghibli Museum, edited)
Shigeru is a little boy who goes to the Tulip Nursery School. One morning at school, Shigeru sees the boys a year older building a ship with blocks. He wants to join in too. The completed ship is named the Elephant and Lion. Soon, the children realize the surroundings have transformed into a sea, and even fishes are swimming. The boys load fishing rods and ropes onto the Elephant and Lion, and set out on a whale hunt.
(Source: Ghibli Museum, edited)
Last updated
Jul 28, 2026, 02:29 PM
Franchise overview
Franchise timeline
Review every Courcast-tracked season for this series and jump between entries.
Renewal pulse
Courcast score breakdown
CourScore is the probability of an official sequel announcement within 18 months, blending attention velocity, completion strength, and catalogue health.
CourScore
49.4
CourScore is the probability of an official sequel announcement within 18 months.
Signal coverage: 100% • Signal freshness: High • Updated 5 hours ago
Top reasons
- Studio bandwidth - Studio Ghibli has no other concurrent active productions
- Crunchyroll Like Index - 89,661 likes / 90,016 reactions on recent episodes
- Key staff availability - Director Hayao Miyazaki has no other concurrent active productions
Runway
Unknown
Source runway is unclear, so feasibility is treated as unknown.
Financial & Commercial45
Production Feasibility59
Audience Reception61
Strategic Priors21
Fandom Engagement51
CourScore history
CourScore over time
Last analysedJul 28, 2026, 02:29 PM
Next scheduledin 19 hours
Renewal FAQ
The Whale Hunt renewal questions
Common questions about this title's renewal prospects, answered by Courcast's daily analysis.
- Is The Whale Hunt getting a new season?
- According to Courcast's latest analysis, The Whale Hunt has a 49% renewal probability. This score is updated daily and blends fandom momentum, streaming signals, source-material runway, and franchise history. Check back regularly for the latest forecast.
- Will The Whale Hunt be renewed?
- The Whale Hunt currently scores 49 out of 100 on Courcast. Signals driving this estimate include online discussion volume, sequel history within the franchise, and platform engagement data - all recalculated daily. Titles scoring above 70 are considered Very Likely to receive a continuation.
- What is The Whale Hunt's renewal probability?
- The Whale Hunt's CourScore is 49 as of the latest update. CourScore is Courcast's proprietary metric that aggregates over a dozen renewal signals - from source-material runway to social buzz - into a single daily-updated probability out of 100.
Latest signals
Fresh telemetry
Courcast watches every connected signal to surface the freshest indicators of momentum.
| Source | Metric | Geo | Value | Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| shikimori | score mean | GLOBAL | 62.9 | Jun 18, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| crunchyroll | episode dislikes | GLOBAL | 355 | Jul 24, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| crunchyroll | episode count | GLOBAL | 148 | Jul 24, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | completed | GLOBAL | 974 | Jul 24, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| crunchyroll | episode likes | GLOBAL | 89,661 | Jul 24, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | members | GLOBAL | 4,626 | Jul 24, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | watching | GLOBAL | 159 | Jul 24, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| crunchyroll | series available | GLOBAL | 1 | Jul 24, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | plan to watch | GLOBAL | 3,182 | Jul 24, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| anilist | trending | GLOBAL | 0 | Jul 22, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| google trends | interest weekly | GLOBAL | 41 | Jul 12, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| anilist | average score | GLOBAL | 54 | Jul 22, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| anilist | favorites | GLOBAL | 1 | Jul 22, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| tmdb | vote count | GLOBAL | 0 | Jul 22, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| anilist | popularity | GLOBAL | 1,170 | Jul 22, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| google trends | interest daily | GLOBAL | 20 | Jul 21, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| tmdb | popularity | GLOBAL | 0.03 | Jul 22, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | uploads 30d | GLOBAL | 25 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | uploads 7d | GLOBAL | 25 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | views 7d | GLOBAL | 13,579 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mangaupdates | bayesian rating | GLOBAL | 6.06 | Jul 22, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | channel views total | GLOBAL | 260,870 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | views 30d | GLOBAL | 13,579 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | subscribers total | GLOBAL | 1,290 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| wikipedia | pageviews daily | EN.WIKIPEDIA | 3 | Jul 27, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| kitsu | member count | GLOBAL | 368 | Jul 21, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| kitsu | rating rank | GLOBAL | 7,124 | Jul 21, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| kitsu | score mean | GLOBAL | 67.83 | Jul 21, 2026, 12:00 AM |