Aliases
Kujira-tori, The Whale Hunt, くじらとり, Kujiratori, Kujira Tori
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
Oct 28, 2026, 06:24 AM
Franchise overview
Franchise timeline
Review every Courcast-tracked season for this series and jump between entries.
Renewal pulse
Courcast score breakdown
CourScore weighs signals for an official sequel announcement within 18 months, blending attention velocity, completion strength, and catalogue health.
CourScore
14.2
CourScore measures renewal signals out of 100. It is not a calibrated probability of an official sequel announcement within 18 months.
Signal coverage: 100% • Signal freshness: Medium • Updated 15 hours ago
Top reasons
- Titles like this rarely return - 25 years with no new entry: of films (first entries) in that position, under 1% got a new season or film within 10 years
- Committee renewal track record - Lead committee members (Studio Ghibli) have a smoothed catalogue continuation rate of 2%, below the catalogue average of 14%
- Time since finale - ~302 months since estimated air window ended
Runway
Unknown
Source runway is unclear, so feasibility is treated as unknown.
Financial & Commercial37
Production Feasibility24
Audience Reception49
Strategic Priors21
Fandom Engagement50
CourScore history
CourScore over time
Last analysedOct 28, 2026, 06:24 AM
Next scheduledin 9 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 14/100 renewal signal score. 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 14 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. Scores from 70 indicate strong renewal signals; scores from 85 are labelled very likely.
- What is The Whale Hunt's renewal probability?
- The Whale Hunt's CourScore is 14 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 signal score out of 100.
Latest signals
Fresh telemetry
Courcast watches every connected signal to surface the freshest indicators of momentum.
| Source | Metric | Geo | Value | Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| anilist | average score | GLOBAL | 54 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| anilist | favorites | GLOBAL | 1 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| anilist | popularity | GLOBAL | 1,182 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| anilist | trending | GLOBAL | 0 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| crunchyroll | episode count | GLOBAL | 20 | Sep 11, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| crunchyroll | episode dislikes | GLOBAL | 68 | Sep 11, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| crunchyroll | episode likes | GLOBAL | 2,577 | Sep 11, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| crunchyroll | series available | GLOBAL | 1 | Sep 11, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| google trends | interest daily | GLOBAL | 22 | Sep 10, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| google trends | interest weekly | GLOBAL | 39 | Aug 30, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| kitsu | member count | GLOBAL | 369 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| kitsu | rating rank | GLOBAL | 7,173 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| kitsu | score mean | GLOBAL | 67.83 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | chapters total | GLOBAL | 109 | Sep 3, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | completed | GLOBAL | 988 | Oct 16, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | members | GLOBAL | 4,669 | Oct 16, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | plan to watch | GLOBAL | 3,209 | Oct 16, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | rating | GLOBAL | 8.45 | Sep 3, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | source members | GLOBAL | 5,422 | Sep 3, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | source status code | GLOBAL | 3 | Sep 3, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | volumes total | GLOBAL | 6 | Sep 3, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mal | watching | GLOBAL | 160 | Oct 16, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| mangaupdates | bayesian rating | GLOBAL | 6.11 | Oct 26, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| shikimori | completion ratio | GLOBAL | 0.05 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| shikimori | member count | GLOBAL | 619 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| shikimori | score mean | GLOBAL | 63 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| simkl | score mean | GLOBAL | 57 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| tmdb | popularity | GLOBAL | 0.45 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| tmdb | vote count | GLOBAL | 0 | Oct 2, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| wikipedia | pageviews daily | EN.WIKIPEDIA | 1 | Oct 27, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | channel views total | GLOBAL | 260,870 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | subscribers total | GLOBAL | 1,290 | Jun 17, 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 30d | GLOBAL | 13,579 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |
| youtube | views 7d | GLOBAL | 13,579 | Jun 17, 2026, 12:00 AM |