Studio Colorido has spent the last decade establishing itself as a powerhouse of heartfelt anime fantasy. Known for visually striking coming-of-age tales like A Whisker Away, Drifting Home, and Cosmic Princess Kaguya!, the studio excels at colliding the extraordinary with the mundane lives of children. Their films are celebrated for their vibrant animation and a core philosophy that growing up doesn't require abandoning one's imagination.
Despite the massive success of their later Netflix-distributed releases, Studio Colorido’s magnum opus might just be their very first feature film. Directed by Hiroyasu Ishida and based on Tomihiko Morimi’s acclaimed 2010 novel, Penguin Highway is a uniquely brilliant gem in the studio's catalog. Fortunately for anime fans, this imaginative masterpiece is currently available to stream entirely for free on YouTube.
Released in 2018, Penguin Highway perfectly encapsulates Ishida’s fascination with childhood wonder and the blurry boundary between reality and fantasy. Rather than transporting its protagonist to a magical alternate world, the film turns a sleepy suburban town into a captivating science-fiction sandbox—rivaling classic coming-of-age sci-fi anime like FLCL or Den-noh Coil. The story follows Aoyama, an overly analytical elementary schooler whose meticulously scheduled life is thrown into chaos when a waddle of penguins inexplicably materializes in his landlocked neighborhood.
As the surreal events escalate—including the appearance of a massive, reality-bending floating sphere—Aoyama tackles the bizarre phenomena with the rigor of a seasoned scientist. Taking detailed notes and testing hypotheses, he approaches every impossible, mind-bending event not with fear, but as a thrilling puzzle waiting to be solved.