Short answers, pulled from the story.
The film Panda! Go, Panda! was released in September 1972. This release coincided with the Japanese government's announcement of a panda loan to the Ueno Zoo, which sparked a national frenzy known as panda diplomacy.
Isao Takahata directed the film while Hayao Miyazaki served as the writer and scene designer. Animation directors for the project included Yoichi Kotabe and Yasuo Otsuka.
The story follows a girl named Mimiko who finds a panda cub named Panny and forms a family unit with him and his father PapaPanda. The narrative includes a town-wide chase, a dangerous floodgate incident, and the pandas returning to work at the zoo under specific conditions.
The film marked the transition of Takahata, Miyazaki, Kotabe, and Otsuka from studio employees to independent visionaries. Their collaboration on this project and its follow-up laid the groundwork for the formation of Studio Ghibli in 1985.
The follow-up short film is titled Panda! Go, Panda!: The Rainy-Day Circus. It features a tiger cub named Tiny and involves a storm that floods the land and derails a circus train.
Discotek Media released both films on Blu-ray in 2016. The films were subsequently re-released in 2022 by the current licensee GKIDS.