I discovered their entire catalog in one glorious summer two years ago. Saying these films are moving is not an exaggeration; I can remember and relive very few other movies as clearly as these.
The soundtracks deserve equal recognition; without the music, most of the impact would vanish. I listen to at least one Ghibli song almost daily.
Just finished watching Areitty - I really liked it, although it was narrower in scope than I was hoping for somehow. Also on the dub, Arnett's voice was significantly quieter than anyone else's.
Also watched Whisper of the Heart again, still enjoy it. Them singing country roads still makes me cringe a bit but it's a great little movie and works really well even though it has no magical elements to it like so many of Ghibli's other movies.
Tomorrow will be Castle in the Sky, which I remember loving.
Totoro is probably my favourite because it captures what it's like being a kid so well. Yamadas is my least favourite for various reasons although I cannot see myself ever watching Pom Poko again either. My only real defining memory of that movie is the giant testicles.
All the others that aren't The Cat Returns I enjoy equally, though it's been years since I've seen Porco Rosso.
Those first three productions weren't done by Ghibli. Cagliostro was done by Miyazaki and Yasuo Otsuka at Telecom; Gauche was done by Takahata and Koichi Murata at Oh Pro; and Nausicaa was done at Topcraft, the proto-Ghibli of sorts. So make sure to mark those productions as non-Ghibli, just staffed by Ghibli members.
Speaking of which, was anyone else's first exposure to Ghibli watching Kiki's Delivery Service on the Disney Channel in the 90s? I tried so damn hard to get a copy of it when I was a little kid and when I was like 11 I was so psyched when they put it out on DVD. I took all the money I had and snatched that shit up alongside Mononoke, Laputa, Totoro and Spirited Away.
Hmm a lot of people like Princess Mononoke but I didn't. It was okay perhaps my distaste had to do with it being dubbed and watching older animation didn't really help either.
They or Disney? It's technically not, and that's what should matter in the OP anyway. I just think it'd be better to go with non-Ghibli for categorical purposes, anyhow.
One thing I completely adore as a Ghibli fan that nobody's mentioned yet is the set of Japanese blu-ray covers. Block color with the title in white lettering in the same font as the original poster/film release, and a silhouette, also in white, of an iconic image from the film.
Picking a favorite Ghibli film is difficult.. I usually say Kiki if someone asks me. Nobody really expects it, I think a lot of people overlook it as a simple kid's movie. (That would be Ponyo.)
I'd also like to see Kokurikozaka Kara added to the OP, saw it in Tokyo last summer and it was really beautiful, maybe not as deep as some Ghibli films but beautiful.
I think the dislike for Ponyo comes from it being the Ghibli Movie with the least cross-generational appeal. It really is a kids film, a little kids film, and while beautifully animated, doesn't try to be anything more as far as story goes.
One thing I completely adore as a Ghibli fan that nobody's mentioned yet is the set of Japanese blu-ray covers. Block color with the title in white lettering in the same font as the original poster/film release, and a silhouette, also in white, of an iconic image from the film.
I think the dislike for Ponyo comes from it being the Ghibli Movie with the least cross-generational appeal. It really is a kids film, a little kids film, and while beautifully animated, doesn't try to be anything more as far as story goes.
I wish Criterion's box cover designers could take some lessons from packaging like this. So slick, and the silhouettes tell you everything you need to know.
Earthsea and Poppy Hill, from what I've heard, suffer from shifty direction overall. That's probably due to Miyazaki being a poor teacher and very poor father to his own son, Goro. Unlike Yasuo Otsuka, who's busy teaching animators at Telecom how to actually deviate from the standard industry norms and create cool animation consistently, Miyazaki is just doing his own thing. The contrasts between the two are quite interesting, given how long they've collaborated on different projects.
First learned of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki when Tunrer Classic Movies did a month-long special of his films to commemorate his 50th birthday a few years back. They aired both the dubbed and subbed versions of the films they were showing. I really do wish I had recorded all the movies they showed
Favorite is Princess Mononoke, followed by Nausicaa
I've had a thread like this in the pipeline for years ever since the classic anime thread, but I never bothered to get too stuck in to it because the deeper I dug the more information I wanted. It was becoming too much effort at the end of the day
Aside from that, Ghibli are easily one of my favourite production company out there. I grew up adoring Miyazaki's flicks, and I find Takahata's efforts to be like red wine. My Neighbours the Yamadas is something I throw on at least once every two months so I can veg out in front of the TV and feel "at home." I enjoy Howl's Moving Castle and Tales from Earthsea, and I love stating this fact to other people so I can hear them grind their teeth. I've watched the original English dub of Porco Rosso so many times that I can practically recite a majority of the script while I watch it, even to the point where I can hear the original dub in my head say its lines while I watch it in Japanese. I consider it a privilege to have been able to watch Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away both subtitled in a quiet cinema.
Really looking forward to the last efforts by the two generals and holding out hope that it won't be the last I see of them.
Just as great as Sugii's Miyazawa film, if not better or worse. The only niggle I really have with it is that the final scene, where
Gauche internally-apologizes to the bird he injured
, could have been more subtle, as in not having Gauche soliloquize. Recognizing the gravity of how he's developed can be conveyed with non-verbal expressions too! Non-verbal expression is, itself, one of the key binding devices of the whole film; communicating pure emotion through music is how Gauche naturally communicates, anyway. Even at the very end, he had this element of cognitive dissonance that drives him batty in the presence of others, which explain why he's so eager to live on the other side of the river bridge (the separation between private life and life with others). I think the film is a superb Japanese coming-of-age story simply because it shows an embarrassing, bottled-up individual develop into an amiable, versatile team member in the Japanse utopia of Ihatov. In the end, that final scene should do a fantastic job of concluding the story with Gauche's realization of how immature and dishonest he was to his people and, most importantly, himself. Instead, I felt a slight bit betrayed by a detail that's easy to look over, even for Takahata of all directors.
So many great moments in this piece. The animation was, to say the least, surprisingly-goodno: scenes like the first use of "Indian Tiger Hunt" show off a whole bunch of clever animation, distortion of the cat's frame and physical features, and the kind of expressionism that Takahata and Oh Pro are best at, making the whole room feel alive with the rough, crass music that just happens to not be Schumann. Gauche himself was interesting to watch, particularly because he acts so much differently on different sides of the bridgetimid, powerless and naked when rehearsing with the Venus Orchestra; haughty, powerful, and well-clothed when entertaining his woodland-creature guests. And because his laugh is always the same, and because this split between the two Gauches is ever-present, at least until the very end, I was always wondering how he was going to react next. Let's not forget about Takahata's brilliant decision to use classical orchestral music all the way through, or the gorgeous and stylized watercolor depiction of Ihatov at the base of Mt. Whatever, or even the memorable, perceptive antics of each furry thing that happens to enter into Gauche's private life and enlighten his subconscious.
Whereas Night on the Galactic Railroad succeeds in presenting the symbolic, overtly-abstract perspective that Miyazawa had on Buddhism and the way society should work, Gauche the Cellist is down-to-Earth from the very start, blending expressionist qualities with a realistic view of both the Japanese individual and how important communication is in a simpler world, with a simpler lifestyle. Oh: the animation of the musicians themselves is a perfect blend of the two. It's that darn good.
(Cross-posted from Anime-GAF because I just watched this).
I think the dislike for Ponyo comes from it being the Ghibli Movie with the least cross-generational appeal. It really is a kids film, a little kids film, and while beautifully animated, doesn't try to be anything more as far as story goes.
It's not hate! It's just a poorly paced film that's much less grand than Ghibli's other offerings. It's still worth watching, though, and I think it has some of the better Japanese voice acting in the Ghibli library.
I love the music in it, though. That score is just so beautiful for me.
Oh, we had movie night this semester, me and the guys, and it was essentially just Miyazaki films (we also watched Cap and Inception). We watched Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Nausica. All in all pretty good. Still need to see Ponyo.
It's really interesting that both Takahata's Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and Miyazaki's new epic are on track for summer 2013 release. I wonder if a Totoro/Grave of the Fireflies style dual release is possible since apparently Toshio Suzuki has some kind of master plan of making summer 2013 all about Studio Ghibli.
It's really interesting that both Takahata's Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and Miyazaki's new epic are on track for summer 2013 release. I wonder if a Totoro/Grave of the Fireflies style dual release is possible since apparently Toshio Suzuki has some kind of master plan of making summer 2013 all about Studio Ghibli.
It's probably going to be the last year for both directors to fully realize any last big productions they want to get done before they'll have to retire. Otsuka is already in his 80s (though he's pretty virile for an old Japanese guy), and guys Miyazaki and Takahata used to work with, Yasuji Mori in particular, have been deceased for a while now. These guys are the last of the former Toei Doga animators and directors, and they've got the best opportunities right now to coordinate these couple of releases.
I don't know about that but his next movie sure sounds interesting and I appreciate him for trying something completely different at his age. From what he has said it'll be quite a tragic story about a man developing a weapon for war and has only a few fantasy elements.
