Thank you for my lovely dear friend for capturing and editing it like this. So cute, right? ✨😭

Hey folks!

I just rewatched From Up on Poppy Hill (2011) and I honestly need to get this off my chest: this movie is an absolute underrated gem and it gets unfairly overlooked by the fandom simply because Goro Miyazakidirected it. I feel like people carry a lot of bias from Tales from Earthsea, but this film proves that Goro is incredibly talented when he has the right material.

Here is why this movie is a top-tier Ghibli film for me:

• The 1963 Japan Setting: The historical recreation of Yokohama in 1963 is hands down one of the best atmospheres Ghibli has ever built. The contrast between post-war nostalgia and the excitement for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics captures a beautiful, transitional era of Japan.
• Stunning Animation: The art direction is gorgeous. From the ocean views and the ships signaling each other, to the busy Latin Quarter building, every single frame feels alive, warm, and deeply detailed.
• An Emotional Story: The plot is so moving and bittersweet. It tackles grief, family secrets, student activism, and young love with an emotional maturity that catches you off guard. The bond between Umi and Shun is beautifully written.

Honestly, this movie is an absolute masterpiece and it deserves way more love than it gets. If you haven't seen it, or if you skipped it because of the director, please give it a chance. It has all the magic, heart, and cozy vibes that make Studio Ghibli so special.

What are your thoughts on this one? Do you agree it deserves more recognition?

Castle in the Sky (Laputa) Not AI-generated

Laputa is made from a Sankei paper craft kit.

When I posted this earlier this week I only had two squares done. I’ve gotten quite a few more done! Bonus points for anyone who can guess every movie square 😅

SOS need help

This is my second time watching anime, my first was Spirited Away back in late August, which is now the best animated movie I’ve ever seen (previously Across the Spider Verse). I really enjoyed GOTF, I’d give it a 9/10, it’s not a 10 for me. I guess I expected too much, meaning this is supposedly the saddest movie of all time, I expected this movie to be sadder. The only time I cried was the ending where the big brother burned his sisters’ dead body. I almost cried twice earlier in the film. But I’ve cried more to Pixar films, for example, the most I’ve cried to any movie was Toy Story 3’s ending. I cried more to that ending than I did the entirety of GOTF. Idk, maybe I just have no emotions anymore. Lmk yall thoughts

https://youtu.be/tU8wRmDx7tQ?is=jRYLmAoLS09Mq5bj

Greetings all,

I was wondering if there was a market for used Ghibli movies? I pretty much have the whole collection that I'm going to sell, and was wondering where might be the best place to sell (ebay, Facebook, etc) also, about how much is a fair price for them? Most are in Blu-ray, some DVD, all in mint condition.

Thanks in advance!

some years ago I was on a trip in northern sweden and saw this cloud that for me looked exactly like laputa from the castle in the sky.

(no the photo is not edited, my old phones zoom just looked line that)

This really bugs me because she was gonna mess with Calcifer and weaken him and the castle, this is an easy way for the witch to get Howls heart.

Like seriously though, why let the witch in Howl’s Castle?

After my girlfriend prompted me to catch up on Miyazaki’s works, we’ve dedicated several evenings to a marathon of Hayao’s works within Studio Ghibli. Most evenings turned out to be truly magical, and filled to the brim with a certain kind of energy which most modern animation is sorely lacking. Although some movies did happen to be a miss (like Castle in the Sky and Kiki’s Delivery Service), most of Miyazaki’s works ended up delighting me nonetheless.

So imagine my surprise, when Ponyo, a movie that even my girlfriend wrote off as being generic and uninteresting, turned out to be my favorite Miyazaki movie up until that point, as well as one of my favorite movies of all time. It is full of thematic layers, symbolism and an artstyle which perfectly matches its hidden, yet profound message to the audience. You, however, surely wouldn’t have been able to guess that based on posts you may have read online, since most people seem to believe this movie is simply about childlike innocence and wonder, an opinion shared by both those who disliked and adored this movie. However, where most saw a simple, fun and magical adventure through the eyes of a young child, I saw a beautiful representation of the journey to self-acceptance as well as its hardships, a devastating clash between reality and fiction and a fight for self-preservation against bigotry and the fear of the “new”. (Furthermore, although this might put off some people, Ponyo’s story might be best understood as a trans allegory, which wouldn’t be that surprising given the recurring themes of gender and femininity in Miyazaki’s works, but I’d rather not expand on this at this time.)

1. No, the flood is not literal and nobody died. Almost nothing in this movie’s 2nd act is actually real.

This is perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of Ponyo’s story. Many people found that the flood, which is caused by Ponyo’s transformation at the halfway point of the movie, heavily clashes with the film’s own innocent and childlike nature, given that it must have caused the deaths of at least several hundreds of people. What some viewers fail to realize, however, is that the flood is not a literal event that happens within the story. The flood is meant to represent the undoing of the natural order that keeps fiction separated from reality. Because that is what the deep sea is: it is fiction, ideas unrealized and kept hidden from a hostile world that is more than willing to corrupt it (hence the recurring shots of the polluted sea across the movie). When fiction clashes with reality, when an idea so adverse to what the social consensus deems “normal” becomes reality, it causes an uproar, so sudden, so massive, it shakes up the natural order of the cosmos, generating floods all over the world. So, the “flood” is not a literal flood that causes the deaths of multiple people, it is the construction of a transitional period between a previous state of affairs and a newer, freer one, one inclusive of Ponyo’s nature.

This particular beat of the story, when read as something powerful and sweet, fits perfectly within Ponyo’s narrative, and it is by far my favorite scene in the movie, not to mention just how spectacular it looks. Fantastic work by Miyazaki.

2. Fujimoto is not just a worried parent. He is a representation of paranoia.

Understanding the deep sea as the representation of fiction, it becomes pretty evident what Fujimoto is meant to be a stand-in for: he is the personification of paranoia, the fear that any idea, that any part of fiction can become corrupted by man and by society as a whole. Within the story, Fujimoto is a man that has become disillusioned with the idea that mankind could ever remain pure and keep the sea uncorrupted by its nature, so he rejected his humanity in favor of becoming a hybrid with the deep sea itself, a creature no longer belonging to the natural world. He then vows to protect his daughters from the corruption of man and undo the current natural order, so that he may restore another status quo free of man’s influence. We never see this plan ever come to fruition, and by the end of the movie… Fujimoto doesn’t really seem much of a villain at all. He just seems worried that the natural world may end up rejecting Ponyo for her nature, and is moreso focused on looking out for her.

Some people seem to believe this particular story beat comes out of nowhere, suddenly showing Fujimoto, a previously established villain, in a much more different light. However, if you’ve followed the parallels within the story thus far, you might come to the realization that Fujimoto is meant to be emblematic of the paranoia that plagues many people in the same situation as Ponyo: is it worth it to risk upsetting the natural order, potentially opening up an ideal part of yourself to a world that might otherwise corrupt it, or perhaps it might be best to keep it hidden, far below the surface of the sea? This is the question that haunts Ponyo’s narrative, and in the end, it is the Goddess that answers such a question, thereby convincing Fujimoto to abandon his ways: if a kid can accept Ponyo for who she is, then a new natural order of things might not be fiction after all. However, therein lies the problem: in order to become reality, Ponyo must cease to be fiction, she must cease to perform any more magic and become a regular human being, so that a new order may take shape.

This scene was extremely powerful to me: having had a huge amount of trouble accepting some parts of myself, watching a movie perfectly encapsulating the feeling of finding somebody out there, somebody who’s more than willing to accept you no matter what, it triggered within me a certain kind of childlike joy which I hadn’t felt in ages, a joy I might hardly come by anytime soon (especially when that somebody you might find is no other than yourself, but that is a story for another time).

3. Ponyo being weird isn’t an issue, it’s the entire point.

Lastly, many people have seemingly complained about the weirdness in Ponyo, putting them off from watching and/or enjoying this movie. However, Ponyo’s weirdness is totally part of the message it is intended to communicate: Ponyo’s simple artstyle, gorgeous colors and surreal visuals are all evocative of a childlike view of the world, permeated by the fantasy and wonder of a young kid just learning about the ways of the world. And that is precisely what Ponyo is about: it’s about the discovery of the (unfortunately) rather rigid modern societal standards, and the will of a pair of young children to defy such an order to bring about something more flexible, powered by fantasy, yet still rooted in reality.

Though on this point, I’ll say that I agree that Ponyo’s unique aesthetic might not be pleasant to everyone, and I can totally see why some people might not react positively to it. Though I do find any complaints based upon a subjective dislike of Ponyo’s peculiar aesthetic to be disingenuous to an honest discussion about its merits and flaws, rather than admitting it might just not be for them.

Conclusion

Ponyo is a movie that pleasantly surprised me, and is one of if not the most beautiful and evocative work of Miyazaki’s own filmography. Though let me add one final thing: there’s no wrong way to enjoy Ponyo! This post was not made to call out any of y’all who might not care about Ponyo’s rich symbolism; it was mostly made out of sheer boredom and spite of such a fantastic work of art often being reduced to its most surface-level appealing factors. I do sure hope, however, that some of y’all appreciated the themes of the movie as much as I did!

Thanks for reading!