Island society that hunts huge whale-like creatures


I'd appreciate any help identifying this animated film.

The main portrayal is of an island society that hunts huge whale-like
creatures, using boats and harpoons. When a member of this society dies, he
tumbles down an immensely deep hole, where he undergoes reincarnation into one
of the whales.

This film was from Japan and I saw it in the early 1990s, I think, on a VHS
collection from some animation festival or other. It was in color and I do not
remember there being any language in the film.




I believe [**Skywhales**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skywhales) is what you
are looking for. It is a British animated short film in 1983 directed and
written by _Phil Austin_ and _Derek Hayes_ , and it is included in the
_British Animation Collection Volume 1 DVD_.

You can view this animated short on
[Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ6qw1nh0tA).

A scene during the hunt, where the main character flew towards the skywhale
and stabbed it with a harpoon.

![5:45](https://i.stack.imgur.com/P7hZY.jpg)

The scene where everyone returned from the hunt. You can see a bunch of flying
ships anchored on the port.

![6:46](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IkUXS.jpg)

The main character died and went to throw himself down a hole inside a
building.

![7:59](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DE0cq.jpg)

As he dropped down the hole, he turned into cocoon, then emerged from it as a
skywhale.

![8:52](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZHUOh.jpg)

The characters in this animated film speak some sort of nonsensical language.
You probably mistook it for Japanese.




I believe [**Skywhales**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skywhales) is what you
are looking for. It is a British animated short film in 1983 directed and
written by _Phil Austin_ and _Derek Hayes_ , and it is included in the
_British Animation Collection Volume 1 DVD_.

You can view this animated short on
[Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ6qw1nh0tA).

A scene during the hunt, where the main character flew towards the skywhale
and stabbed it with a harpoon.

![5:45](https://i.stack.imgur.com/P7hZY.jpg)

The scene where everyone returned from the hunt. You can see a bunch of flying
ships anchored on the port.

![6:46](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IkUXS.jpg)

The main character died and went to throw himself down a hole inside a
building.

![7:59](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DE0cq.jpg)

As he dropped down the hole, he turned into cocoon, then emerged from it as a
skywhale.

![8:52](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZHUOh.jpg)

The characters in this animated film speak some sort of nonsensical language.
You probably mistook it for Japanese.

