The "Nihon Omoshiro Mukashi Banashi" franchise presents Japanese folktales in an anthology format, featuring distinct elderly female characters within individual stories rather than a singular recurring "Old Woman." These characters appear across various tales, including:

* The compassionate old woman who tends a magical dog with her husband in "Hanasaka-jii" (The Old Man Who Made Flowers Bloom).
* The avaricious old woman whose actions create conflict in "Shitakiri Suzume" (The Tongue-Cut Sparrow).
* Potential elderly protagonists or figures in regional variants of tales like "Warashibe Chōja" (The Straw Millionaire).

Each elderly woman fulfills a role specific to her folktale's narrative, often serving as moral archetypes like virtuous helpers or cautionary figures. Their stories are self-contained, lacking continuous development, overarching arcs, or unified backstories across seasons, films, or spin-offs. This episodic structure, inherent to the anthology, adapts traditional folktales without interconnected continuity.