This anthology film isnt tied together with any particularly inventive meta narrative like some others out there but like classics such as Robot Carnival its collection of stories have one aspect in common: their themes. And as you may have been able to ascertain by the title of the film that theme happens to be the concept of modest heroes. Everyday people some average and some not so much who make sacrifices and acts of heroism both big and small. This can range from a young boy simply trying to not let an egg allergy get the best of him in Life Aint Gonna Lose to an invisible man Invisible striving to find his place in a world that doesnt even acknowledge his existence. Hiromasa Yonebayashi director of Arrietty Marnie and Mary directs the first segment of two crabchildren embarking on a journey to save their father. While my least favorite of the bunch this is still quite the exciting journey during its runtime. Life Aint Gonna Lose is directed by Ghibli veteran Yoshiyuki Momose who was the art director behind the stunning visuals in many of Isao Takahatas most artistically bold films particularly Princess Kaguya and the Yamadas in his surprisingly first ever role as a director despite him being such a storied artist. This film was certainly my personal favorite by far. The story was the most grounded yet the animation and emotions portrayed gave it perhaps the most weight and impact of them all. Sometimes the most epic tales are those that can already happen in our own world. Fitting as the inspiration behind this story was itself inspired by a colleagues detail of raising a child with severe allergic conditions. The final segment Invisible is a visually jawdropping affair with an ambiguous and abstract plot that begs the viewer to see with their hearts instead of their brains. Loose and erratic linework perfectly renders a protagonist that for all intents and purposes is not visible. Ironically or likely even intentionally this short features arguably the most impressive character acting out of the entire trio of films. The director was specifically tasked with bringing life and expression to someone without a face. Needless to say the results speak for themselves. As with nearly any anthology the quality is variable but always relatively high and impressive. And unlike Studio Ponocs previous film Mary and the Witchs Flower which was good but very derivative of the Ghiblialumns past work at said studio its clearly apparent that these stories were produced to be above all else original daring and artist driven. I only lament that we will never get to see the contribution Isao Takahata was slated to put forth before his unfortunate passing. Beyond that though this is a consistently impressive showing from Ponoc and I am absolutely in support of more thematicallytied anthology films coming from them in the future. They may not be as profitable but the imagination and inspired drive behind them is far more apparent.