General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Yona Yona Penguin (よなよなペンギン)

Yona Yona Penguin (よなよなペンギン) is a 2009 Japanese-French full-CG animated fantasy adventure film directed by Rintaro, about a girl named Coco who dreams of flying and is drawn into an underground world where goblins mistake her for a legendary hero. It was produced by the Japanese studio Madhouse with the French company Denis Friedman Productions and released in Japan by Shochiku on December 23, 2009.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Director and original story	Rintaro, known for Galaxy Express 999 and Metropolis; his first work on an original story¹^•³
Production	Madhouse with Denis Friedman Productions (DFP); a Japan-France co-production with Singapore's MediaCorp as investor³^•⁴
Budget	$13 million⁴
World premiere	Venice International Film Festival, September 12, 2009, out of competition⁵
Japanese release	December 23, 2009; 88 minutes; distributed by Shochiku¹
Main voice cast	Ei Morisako as Coco, Rena Tanaka as Chaley, Hikaru Ota as Zammie, Yuji Tanaka as Buccaboo¹
International box office	$188,660, all from international markets⁶

Spoilers

Story

Coco is a young girl who walks the streets at night wearing a penguin coat, believing her late father's words that penguins too can fly.² One night a golden feather falls from the sky, and a penguin-shaped capsule leads her to a hidden shop full of penguin goods, where she meets Chaley, a timid goblin boy.¹^•⁷ Chaley has brought Coco to the goblin village in the belief that she is the legendary "flightless bird" destined to defeat Buccaboo, the Emperor of Darkness who is slowly destroying the village.¹^•⁷ Zammie, who calls himself Buccaboo's number-one henchman, soon throws the village into confusion, and Coco, though bewildered, rises to the challenge alongside Chaley.¹

Production

A first for Rintaro and Madhouse. The film was Madhouse's first fully 3DCG animated feature, and Rintaro's first work on an original story. Madhouse described the goal as creating "a unique 3D unlike anything else, drawing on 2D know-how," and the studio credited Rintaro, active since the early days of Japanese animation, with producing a gentle fantasy adventure for children.³ In a 2009 interview, Rintaro said the project had originally been planned as a picture book, and that producer Masao Maruyama of Madhouse suddenly proposed making it full CG; he accepted, wondering what new possibilities full CG might hold for him.⁸

International structure. The film was created and produced by Madhouse with the French company Denis Friedman Productions, with Madhouse's sister company Dynamo Pictures animating the opening and ending and DFP animating the middle; France's Mikros Image handled post-production.⁹ Singapore's MediaCorp joined as an investor and served as distributor in Singapore and Malaysia.⁴ Shochiku distributed the film in Japan, Hong Kong's Golden Network handled other parts of Asia, and France's Wild Bunch represented other international territories.⁹ Japanese, French, and English soundtracks were recorded.⁹

Key staff and cast. The screenplay was by Tomoko Konparu, character design by Katsuya Terada, and music by Toshiyuki Honda, who also appears in the cast as Spider.³ The voice cast mixed professional actors with television personalities: the comedy duo Bakusho Mondai's Hikaru Ota voiced the angel Zammie and Yuji Tanaka voiced the villain Buccaboo, while Koichi Yamadera played the archangel and George Takahashi voiced Coco's father.³

Release and reception

The film premiered out of competition at the 66th Venice International Film Festival on September 12, 2009, screened at the Sitges Film Festival in October, and showed in the special screenings section of the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival on October 19, 2009, before its Japanese theatrical release on December 23, 2009.⁵^•¹⁰ It opened in France on February 3, 2010, Singapore on March 11, 2010, Belgium on April 28, 2010, and Brazil on December 24, 2010.⁶^•¹⁰

Box Office Mojo records a total gross of $188,660, all international, with Brazil contributing $127,196 and France $27,790.⁶ A contemporary analysis of international animation co-productions noted that the film fell between the target groups of young children's franchises and young-adult animation, and highlighted the difficulty this posed for foreign animation.¹¹ A 2018 review of the Maiden Japan Blu-ray rated the film three of five, praising its bright visuals and likable allies and recommending it for children.¹²

Home media and streaming

The film was released on Japanese Blu-ray Disc by VAP on November 26, 2010.¹³ As of September 2026 it streams in Japan on Prime Video (rental), U-NEXT (flat-rate, with a 31-day free trial), and Hulu (flat-rate), and is available through TSUTAYA DISCAS's mail-order rental service.¹⁴

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026