“Panda! Go, Panda!” ( パンダ・コパンダ) is an animated film that premiered on December 17, 1972. It was written and created by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Isao Takahata for TMS Entertainment (formerly Tokyo Movie), predating Studio Ghibli.

This short movie hit Japan at the height of the panda craze, initiated in September 1972, when the government announced the loan of a pair of giant pandas from China to the Ueno Zoo as part of Panda diplomacy.

The plot follows Mimiko, a bright little girl left alone when her grandmother leaves on a trip. When she arrives back home from the train station where she saw her grandmother off, she discovers she has a visitor: a baby panda. She quickly makes friends with the young panda and names it Pannie. She later meets Pannie’s father, a large panda she calls Papanda. She dubs Pannie her son and Papanda her father, and the three become a happy family with their own big adventures.

This is the 2008 movie poster for Panda! Go, Panda!, as part of the Ghibli Museum Library series (which logo’s can be found in the top left-hand corner of the poster). The Ghibli Museum Library is the collection of classic and non-Japanese animated films which have been dubbed or subtitled and released in Japan by Studio Ghibli under the Ghibli ga Ippai Collection label.

The art is taken from Miyazaki’s original layout drawings for the movie, which were, in turn, based heavily on the doomed Pipi Longstockings project.