Yamada tends the flower garden at school and watches the plants grow under her kind care. Kase is the energetic and beautiful star of the track team. She watches Yamada nurture the flowers each morning from the window of her neighboring classroom. The quiet girl and the popular track star gradually form a friendship. The friendship grows stronger and becomes love and the two girls move forward hand in hand.

The important similarity between Kimi no Hikari: Asagao to Kase-san and Joshikausei is there is no dialogue between the main characters or anyone else for that matter. We only get to know the characters through their actions. The story plays out silently between the two girls as a calming melody plays in the background. Kimi no Hikari: Asagao to Kase-san is a short film, only seven minutes long, but extremely beautiful to watch.

The Red Turtle has the plot of a classic folk tale. A nameless man set adrift by a storm wakes on a deserted island. The island is a paradise with food and water in abundance. Despite that, the nameless man attempts to leave the island many times; each time an unseen creature destroys his raft. He spots the creature, a giant red sea turtle, destroying his latest escape vehicle. The Red Turtle chases the man inland and the man flips it on its back with a bamboo stick. Feeling guilty, the nameless man attempts to flip the turtle back over but fails. He brings it water in an attempt to save its life, but it dies. Filled with sorrow, the man weeps and falls asleep next to it. The shell begins to split and out steps a woman. The nameless man falls in love with the woman and abandons his dreams of leaving the island. We watch the couple raise a child, watch that child grow and leave the nest, and the couple grow old. The nameless man eventually dies in his sleep. The woman grieves, walks back down to the sea, turns into the Red Turtle and swims away.

The story has no dialogue. We again watch the story unfold through the actions of the characters. We don’t need them to talk to fill in the blanks. The painting-like imagery and the expressions of the characters are all we need to tell us what they are thinking and what they feel. The Red Turtle is a much more serious film than the slice-of-life Joshikausei, and much longer at 1 hour and 21 minutes. It’s classic storytelling in a classic way.

Fumikiri Jikan is a different kind of slice-of-life story. The scenes revolve around the different people that stop at a railroad crossing on their way to and from their daily obligations. The stories only last as long as the crossing gate bars their paths. We watch girls on their way to school talk about their hopes and wishes, childhood friends talk about becoming something more, and complete strangers interact as they wait for the train to cross their path just as they cross paths with each other.

Fumikiri Jikan does have dialogue and that works in the way being silent works for Joshikausei. The actions aren’t the focus as they are in Joshikausei, the words are important and often the inner dialogue is how we understand the character’s feelings. We see each of the characters at least twice as we gain more and more insight into their lives. The stories we see are sweet and simple ones about how we interact with friends and strangers. We know if you like the simple cuteness of Joshikausei you will thoroughly enjoy Fumikiri Jikan.

Aiura is based on a co-manga or four-panel comic about three high school girls with no motivation. Amaya, Iwasawa, and Uehara dither away their time after school doing very little that is productive. You can laugh at the antics of the mischievous trio as they live their daily lives of idleness. The conversations the girls have range from choosing nicknames to who is worthy of having their lives saved. The trio expresses their lack of motivation through their actions, too, like not taking advantage of the time to study but playing games instead.

The anime is filled with all kinds of cute much like Joshikausei. While it does differ in that it has dialogue it’s still a slice-of-life story where there really isn’t an overarching plot. You can easily spare the time for this short that clocks in at less than minutes an episode.

Aoi used to love climbing and the idea of mountain climbing before a childhood accident left her afraid of heights. She spends years focusing on inside pursuits to the extent she becomes withdrawn and shy. Aoi begins to reconnect with other girls in high school when she becomes friends again with a girl she loved to climb with in elementary school. Aoi’s interaction with her old friend Hinata Kuraue becomes the catalyst for her change from homebound to outgoing high school girl.

The story is light but has a few heavy moments as Aoi has to confront her past and continue to move forward. We compare Yama no Susume to Joshikausei because of its focus on female friendship. The two shows give us stories of the support that the girls give each other in their daily lives, though Joshikausei has a lighter-hearted look at that support than Yama no Susume. The shows are both extremely cute and will make your heart lighter.

Paulette no Isu is the whimsical short story of a girl and her chair. The story was created by noitaminA studio to celebrate their 10th anniversary. We begin with Paulette sitting alone in a garden on a sunny day looking through a crack in the wall at the other children playing. She’s sad. Paulette sits down on a chair near the house. The chair then comes to life and gallops away with her sitting on its seat. Paulette and the chair become best friends as it serves as her shade for napping, holding her books, and running across the fields. The girl and her magical chair share a brilliant and innocent story that makes us all smile at the joyful nature of imagination.

Innocence is the reason you’ll love this short. We see the girls in Joshikausei spend an entire episode playing with a skateboard. Paulette no Isu shares that adorable quality you’ll see in Joshikausei.