Iblard Jikan (Iblard Time in English), is an interesting experience. The best way to describe Iblard Jikan is that it's like looking through a window into another world, and getting a brief glimpse of the potential beauty that the world your looking at offers.

There isn't much to talk about in Iblard Jikan, as there is no real plot or characters to speak of, and there isn't really a need for one. The entire short exists just to show a slice of the world it created. What few characters we see are brief cameos by characters from other Ghibli projects that are added into the paintings, as a way of showing that the world you are watching is alive and there are stories going on even if you don't know any of the details.

The OVA was released as part of the Ghibli ga Ippai Collection and was directed by Naohisa Inoue. This short takes place in the fantasy world of Iblard, originally depicted in paintings by Inoue, which were inspired by the fantasy sequences of Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart. Studio Ghibli produced this short by digitally animating portions of the paintings and integrating original elements into the scenery.

There are a total of eight separate segments, each featuring a different painting or landscape, accompanied by an instrumental musical piece, making it feel like it's a journey all around the world that it's showing to you. The OVA has an original soundtrack composed by Kiyonori Matsuo, all of which match the laid back tone of the artwork. The result is a wonderfully relaxing experience to sit through.

Iblard Jikan is the type of media that is hard to give a score to, since it relies only on what the viewer is thinking or feeling. It would be easy to throw around works like "delightful" and "thought provoking", but this experience can't really be summed up by a simple review like this one. And the whole thing is one of those 'love it or hate it' experiences.

It's also hard to recommend to everyone since it's a 30 minute art piece that's simply meant to relax the watcher and bring them into the brief glimpses of the world it presents, but I'm sure the audience that it was intended for would get exactly what they're looking for out of it, as it makes for something nice to put on when you want to just unwind, fall asleep, simply something to have in the background.