YMMV / Ringing Bell

• Adaptation Displacement: Western audiences who are aware of the story's existence don't realize that it was a children's book first and think it was just some strange product of Sanrio for its time, in stark contrast to its native country where the original tale was told in many forms and has become a childhood staple and pop culture icon in Japan.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: The following examples apply to the Sanrio adaptation.
  • There are many different ways one could view the other sheep's inactions when Chirin is mourning his mother and none of them step in to comfort him. Most cynically, they could be seen as not caring for Chirin or his loss of his mother as long as their own offspring were safe. Alternately, they could be seen as being respectful to Chirin and giving him time and space to mourn. Also, it's entirely possible that some of the other sheep were willing to adopt him but it didn't help matters that Chirin immediately swore vengeance and ran off, not really giving them any time to process what was going on or even talk to Chirin, take him in, and help him through the tragedy.
  • Woe the Wolf's motivation for teaching Chirin is also up for debate, especially when Chirin finally kills him in the film. Did he see his relationship with Chirin as completely transactional and cold, or did he actually grow to genuinely care for the lamb and thought that dying would give Chirin what he truly wanted? Was it because, deep down, he was genuinely remorseful for ruining Chirin's life and, through some twisted logic, thought that helping Chirin fulfill his revenge would make up for it? Is he a Death Seeker, and let Chirin kill him to put himself out of his misery? And, if so, does he want to die because of his old age or simply out of pride? Or is all of this simply a plan to callously spite Chirin and drive him to despair by forcing the lamb to kill his father figure in some cruel Thanatos Gambit?
• Animation Age Ghetto: This is probably one of the reasons this film is mostly unknown in America. The original book, along with Takashi Yanase's other stand-alone works, including Anpanman has yet to be published in English. Averted with The Kindly Lion.
• Anvilicious:
  • The book and film are not subtle at all about revenge leaving you empty and monstrous.
  • The mentality of "the strong rule over the weak" will bring loneliness.
  • The cycle of violence and abuse is a huge problem.
• Awesome Music: The opening song in both the Japanese and English versions sets the tone for the story perfectly. That tune WILL haunt your dreams. In fact, the song was originally a poem written by Takashi Yanase for the very first page of the book.
• Broken Aesop: The moral of the story is supposed to be that Vengeance Feels Empty and obsessing over it can make you into a monster, as Chirin kills Woe but other sheep reject him (or in the original book he himself feeling he can't go back to sheep life) for his ghastly appearance and behavior, and he's now alone in the world after having killed someone who he came to see as a surrogate father figure. The anime somewhat fumbles this, however, as Chirin attacking Woe isn't portrayed as him doing it out of the desire for revenge, but rather to protect the other sheep in the pasture after being reminded of his mother protecting him. This makes the other sheep rejecting Chirin at the end come off more as a mix of No Good Deed Goes Unpunished and Ungrateful Bastard.
• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: The book and the film present the moral that revenge is totally not cool. The film in particular goes out of its way to hell and back to nail the message, but judging by the fact that Chirin's training montage song sounded motivational, his adult design having been considered to be horrifyingly awesome, and the Misaimed Fandom entry below, it didn't exactly work.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: Most audience members who felt Chirin didn't deserve what he got at the end have created Fan Sequels where he finds a happier life, a prominent one being finding a mate who loves him in spite of his horrific form.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • While the film is obscure in the west, fans of the film get along well with fans of the Unico movies and the original manga. Helps that the Unico movies were also made by Sanrio and Barbara Goodson voices both protagonists (Chirin and Unico) in the English Dubs. Mainly since both movies deal with the darker subject matter and how sympathetic both protagonists (Chirin and Unico) are. Helps that Osamu Tezuka (creator of Unico) and Takashi Yanase (author of Chirin no Suzu) were close friends with both creators having a close relationship with Sanrio during the 70s and 80s.
  • The film also gets along with fans of One Stormy Night since both films focus on a relationship between a wolf and a caprine (a goat or sheep), but with completely different results.
  • It also has developed a small one between Cult of the Lamb, another dark form of media where the protagonist is a Villain Protagonist sheep with a bell collar.
• Funny Moments: While the film has very little moments of humor due to its melancholy tone, the first 5 minutes do contain brief moments of humor. These moments include:
  • Chirin jumps on top of a lamb and an adult sheep while chasing after a yellow butterfly. Both the lamb and the adult sheep react with surprise. His chase of the butterfly ends when he tries to fly in midair. He tries flapping his hooves and ears but falls down in the process.
  • Chirin follows a pile of dirt that a mole is digging. He tries digging very deep, which results in three of the four observing lambs getting hit with dirt. The mole then yells at him in complete gibberish: Chirin responds by putting his hoof around his head.
  • We see Chirin gracefully frolicking in the fields. While running, Chirin decides to close his eyes and he suddenly slips down a hill. While falling, his entire body suddenly curls up into a ball (resembling a cotton ball) before quickly shifting back to normal once he hits a fence.
  • There is a rare mid-movie one. After the Wolf succeeds in fighting a bear, said bear runs off with a cartoonish look and manner. A small moment of levity in what is mostly a dark and serious film.
  • After witnessing Chirin seemingly drown, Woe has only this morbidly silly line to say in the English dub:
  Woe: ...hmph. So much for dinner.
• Genius Bonus: For those familiar with Japanese folklore, Woe bears more than a passing resemblance to a Tatarigami, a corrupted god of rage, destruction and vengeance. And when an enraged Chirin voluntarily seeks him out to exact revenge...he is corrupted just as surely, as evidenced by the final form he takes.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the English dub, Gregg Berger provided the voice of Chirin as an adult ram. 15 years after the English dub, he would become the voice of Ripto in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! who is frequently tormenting sheep (notably during a pre-boss battle cutscene) to use as target practice for his magic wand.
• Magnificent Bastard: In the anime adaptation, which expands on the characters in one way, Woe (or at least his counterpart in said version) routinely slaughters other animals for the sake of food as well as to preserve the laws of nature. In the beginning, he attacks a sheep pasture, targeting the lamb Chirin specifically, but only succeeds in killing two sheep including his mother (in the other versions, he killed and ate all of the sheep). When a vengeful Chirin repeatedly pesters Woe to train him in a wolf's ways, he sends Chirin through grueling training that hardens the lamb until adulthood, growing attached to him all the while. With Woe having molded Chirin into a monster of a sheep, he plans an attack on Chirin's old pasture, then fights Chirin to the death when the latter refuses to kill the other sheep (in the book Chirin simply ambushes him and reveals his revenge). Graceful even after Chirin lands the killing blow, Woe expresses his pride in his disciple for finally becoming stronger than him and upholding his philosophies.
• Misaimed Fandom: Some fans believe that Chirin should have killed the flock. And considering the way they treated Chirin even after he pretty much saved their lives by killing the wolf, it's understandable. But not only is this just missing the point of the story that a vengeful mind can lead you down a nasty path, but it also is worth remembering that killing the sheep was the original plan, so it's understandable they have little reason to trust him after seeing him kill the guard dogs, and even after his Heel Realization. Both Sides Have a Point.
• Misaimed Merchandising: Since this was made by Sanrio, it's expected for them to make merchandise promoting the movie. To promote the film, Chirin (as a lamb) was featured in tons of merchandise between 1976 and 1978 (such as bags◊ and stuffed animals◊) keeping his happy and sweet nature (even the animation cells show a happy Chirin◊ on the top border). However, it comes off as very jarring considering the fate of the protagonist.
• Moe: Chirin as a lamb, the first 10 minutes of the film (or a couple of pages in the book) makes you want that give that adorable little lamb a hug (as seen in old◊ merchandise for the film◊). Until the story enters darker territory when he slowly starts losing his cuteness appeal as the story progresses.
• Narm:
  • Chirin's reaction to his mother's death would've worked a lot better if his mouth wasn't opened comically wide and he didn't look like he was dancing. The face he makes just before also looks too cartoony to be taken seriously.
    • In the original version of the story that later formed the basis of the kamishibai, Lyrica and flash animation adaptations, he is covered in his own mother's blood despite the blood being invisible for obvious reasons.
  • Chirin's meltdown after finding out he accidentally smashed the mother bird's eggs is overly dramatic.
  • It is mentioned in the second page of the book and at least five times throughout the anime that Woe does eat his prey, but because it is not explicitly shown, many commentators and reviewers have taken the censorship too literally, perceiving Woe as a wolf who only kills for sport. Unless Chirin's mother was a victim of surplus killing, the one ewe that he killed by breaking her neck might as well could have ended up as his dinner since her body is not shown after the attack.
  • As Steve Reviews pointed out, the way the other sheep react to Chirin killing the guard dogs is rather cartoony and out-of-place in an intense scene.
• Never Live It Down: While it is understandable and rather justified for the flock to fear Chirin at the end of the movie, it doesn't really change the fact they did it after Chirin still basically saved their lives right in front of their eyes and not even a "thank you" was given. Thus, while it is true Chirin had grown up to be a monster in both appearance and nature, many reviewers still saw their act as ungrateful. It does not help that in the extended versions of the story, mother ewes warn their children that if they cry, Chirin will come and gore them to death.
• Popular with Furries: Being a dark revenge tale about animals, it has its fair share of furry fans on both sides of the Pacific. The original book has also been retold in many different forms in its native country. Chirin is also beloved by furries (mainly as a lamb) due to his cute appearance, but many have also found his adult design outright badass.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Barbara Goodson is best known as the English voice of Rita Repulsa and Laharl. She is the English voice of Chirin as a lamb, this film serves as Barbara Goodson's oldest voice acting and dubbing roles. As the movie progresses, Chirin's voice actually starts sounding like an earlier version of Goodson's Rita voice at times.
  • This film is also one of the earliest voice acting roles of Gregg Berger, who does Chirin as an adult. He would later be known by many as Grimlock, Odie, Orson, The Gromble, and Ripto respectively.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: While it does have a good reception overall, the movie is infamous for being incredibly painful to watch and thus hard to suggest to people, which is due in no small part to the unrelentingly depressing tone where protagonist Chirin suffers from misfortune after misfortune once his mother dies, along with the Downer Ending where he implicitly freezes to death. Not to mention almost every character, especially Woe, is ignorant at best or coldhearted at worst, with the few exceptions being Chirin's mother and the other baby lambs, and Chirin becomes a Villain Protagonist in part of being motivated by vengeance. It can be a challenge to find anyone who thinks children and their families were the target audience for this movie.
  • Then again, this movie is based on an already dark children's book by the creator of flipping Anpanman and others, who is no stranger to making depressing subject matter aimed at children.
    • The original book version by Takashi Yanase and some other adaptations don't entirely have this problem, since most of Chirin's misfortune (with the exception of the murder of his mother) is exclusive to the movie, and the ending is a bit lighter in the part that it's never stated Chirin is in complete agony, just that he regrets slaying the wolf but shows gratitude for helping him learn the lupine nature. Alongside the original story only having a total of 3 (later demoted to two) characters.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The rest of the flock are meant to be nothing more than terrified victims... but most fans think them to be complete jerkasses, because they do nothing while Chirin mourns his mother, and shun him at the end even though he defeated Woe in front of them, which, had Chirin not been known at that point as a notorious hunter to them, would've painted them as outright Ungrateful Bastards. It's even worse in the other versions of the story where they now remember Chirin as a boogeyman who kills lambs if they cry.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The picture book and its movie adaptation were aimed at children as a cautionary tale, but it's dark, violent (blood-free however), and depressing.
• The Woobie:
  • Chirin, all the way through. Even during and after he grows up to be a hunter, you STILL can't help but feel sorry for him considering what exactly he went through to become that.
  • Chirin's Mother also comes across this in the film version, especially to adult viewers who are mothers in real life. Since she's the only member of her flock that is desperately searching for her son the entire evening. She even risks walking across the fence just to locate Chirin. Especially when she starts crying out of relief when she reunites with Chirin.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Chirin as a lamb (and the other lambs) has a much more humanized face compared to the adult sheep. It's more notable in the original book, where his face is given a more humanized nose◊, smile, and depicted with dimples.◊

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