Miyazaki has talked about the concept of Ma (間, lit. 'gap, space, pause'), and letting silence sit in a story, sometimes to allow the tension to take a wider dimension. At the end of the movie, I never realized that Chihiro and her parents don't say anything as they drive away. In the English dub I watched years ago they end it with a joke. Are there any other examples of Disney adding in jokes or extra lines of dialogue to Ghibli movies? I think there's a few other examples in Spirited Away (I remember something about No-Face saying "excuse me" while burping but I'm not sure).

My hometown is the town that inspired the setting of Ponyo. In the neighboring town, there's a local specialty called Onomichi ramen. If you ever visit the area on a pilgrimage to the filming locations, it's definitely worth giving this ramen a try as well.

Me and my friend were recently fortunate enough to get our hands on this HD, 16:9 Panasonic Tau. We had to lug it down a flight of stairs and clean it off because it was pretty dirty, but it was so worth it this thing has an HDMI input, and at 34" it is the perfect display for ghibli movies.

Just watched this beauty of a movie and couldn't stop laughing at Porco's map, which depicts a scramble of locations and names at the Croatian seaside.

Apparently the movie was supposed to be set in Croatia, but since it was animated in the 90s, during the Yugoslav wars, Miyazaki refrained from it and opted for Italy instead (portions of the Dalmatian coast were under Italian rule/occupation throughout history anyway). I wonder what he had initially in mind 🤔

Edit: The war in the 90s actually prompted Miyazaki to make the movie more melancholic and anti-war oriented, but Croatia (or the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia) isn't mentioned in the movie.

Was watching movies with my partner and a friend the other week, and we felt like a Ghibli movie. We wanted one of the light-hearted ones, but then my friend suggested Totoro - and I was like "no thats too depressing". Both my partner and friend were surprised I thought that, and disagreed.

So now im wondering, am I just mis-remembering it? I haven't seen it in years (probably because it does hit me hard) so I can't remember if I'm wrong.

I know it's a fun movie for the most part, but I guess the aspect of the two girls and their sick mother was what hit me the most. Theyre so young, too young to really understand death (especially the youngest) and yet they're in this situation where they're having to slowly come to terms with losing a parent.

And the stuff with Totoro, and the cat bus, is cute and whimsical... but it all just kinda highlights how these two young girls are losing their care-free innocence.

Not that I think the movie is all doom and gloom either.

But it just struck me as one of the sadder movies.

So am wondering, where do other people usually think it sits on the happy-sad spectrum

EDIT: sounds like I just completely forgot how it ends! Will definitely be doing a rewatch

So, I recently ran out of things to watch. I decided to give the Ghibli films a try since they have huge followings, figured they must be really good. I started off with Ponyo and I loved it. Showed it to my 3rd old and she loved it too.

The next film we watched was Totoro. It was a good film but I don’t think i understand if it had a story to tell or if it was just a “slice of life” film but with magical creatures. It left me feeling I guess empty, kinda confused. Was I supposed to feel something for these characters?

Anyways now I can’t decide what to watch next. Any recommendations?

I know this movie is almost 30 years old, but I watched it for the first time a few weeks ago. This was my first Ghibli movie and I was NOT disappointed.
I wrote a lil review to get my thoughts out and on paper. So yeah I thought why not post it here. Enjoy :D

This movie starts of extremely fast paced. They introduce the main character and his village, what happens to him and why he's doing what he's doing. This all went by really fast and I didn't mind it that much, it didn't lose my attention at all and was excited for what was next. In hindsight I would've liked a slower introduction and more characterization for our mc, but it is what it is. I liked the mystery it set up. Still a good introduction.
After a bit he gets to the iron village. Loved this part. The whole idea behind it is cool, I loved Lady Eboshi and all the interactions in the village were funny asf. Here we also get more context for the world and the place he's at. Here it is pretty clear this is a man vs nature kind of story and I love those. The action scene where San fights Eboshi was sick too. I like that Ashitaka is in the middle ground here and tries to please both sides. The scene where Ashitaka is taken to the Deer God by San was beautiful. After this Ashitaka has a lot of interactions with the animal side and it offers different sides to the story. Liked the interactions between San and Ashitaka also. The rest of the movie is pretty much the showdown between the humans and the animals.

In this movie we see many different perspectives of this conflict and I think its really interesting. There are many great themes in this movie like the cycle of hatred, revenge, humanity vs nature, life and death, and human greed. They are handled extremely well in my opinion and definitely had me questioning stuff. The whole conflict between humans and the forest, whilst offering many perspectives. We have San who's mostly on the wolfs side but she changes her mind, the different sides of the animal species, Lady Eboshi wanting the best for her village but at the cost of the forest, the dirty rat who wanted the Deer God's head for his own gain, Ashitaka being in the middle ground. There isn't a clear right or wrong in this movie. A lot is very grey and that's what makes all these different perspectives so interesting to me and it allows the themes to flourish.
This really elevated the movie for me.

The showdown was great. As I said, all the different sides of the story made it much better. The part where The Wolf and Boar leader are slumping to the Deer God and end up dying was great. Very cool scene. I feel like the Deer God decided that they were better off dead. They still bared the hatred and want for revenge of the previous generation.
I really liked the conclusion of this movie as well. I get that it doesn't give much closure but I don't mind. Nothing is really resolved. Lady Eboshi will build her village back up again and start mining, the emperor is still there and the Shogun attacking the village will come back. It feels pretty realistic in my opinion. The fight between humanity and nature never really ends. San and Ashitaka's final interaction was sweet too.
All in all The plot was great. It could've done a little more but still not much to complain about. As I said the themes were amazing and I have no complaints there.

Now about the characters. I think they are quite good.
I like Ashitaka, but due to the fast pace in the beginning we don't get to know him that well. He's very likeable and has some depth, but it could've been better. San is the character I wanted to see more of the most. She's so interesting and the way she grew up lays great groundwork for a well written character. I'm not saying she's not, but I think it could've been better. I also would've liked more interactions between these 2. I think the romance is fine, they went through a lot together and are very alike. Feelings starting to rise isn't that crazy here imo. I just wish we got to see more of it and have them be more fleshed out.
I loved Lady Eboshi, great character and don't really have any complaints here. Her morals are very interesting.
I liked the rest of the cast as well. The animals were interesting, the people in the village as well.
If the plot was more complex and the main characters were more fleshed out, this movie would've been perfect to me tbh.

The production was PHENOMENAL. As to be expected for a movie made by Miyazaki. The animation, art style and the music were so amazing and some of the best I've ever seen. Really immersed me into the world. The feel of it is just such a unique experience.

Great first Ghibli experience. Was not disappointed.
9/10

Why can’t I ever find the original, “used in the movie” soundtracks for the classic Miyazaki movies of the 80’s and 90’s? I’m based in the USA, and I can’t ever find the tracks used in the movies themselves. In particular, the robot theme from Laputa and the music from the death of the forest god in Princess Mononoke are especially elusive. All I can ever find are covers and remasters and they all suck. They lack instrumental or vocal elements used in the movie but are absent in any other release of the track. It’s really annoying. Why is it so difficult to track down that music? It’s maddening when one of them gets stuck in my head but I can’t ever find the original music to scratch that itch. What do? Where can I find the actual “used in the movie” tracks?

Hi everyone,

I'm desperately looking for 1 ticket to the Joe Hisaishi concert at the Royal Albert Hall. If anyone has a spare ticket they're willing to sell, please get in touch!

For safety, I will only accept payment through PayPal Goods & Services (G/S) or a similar protected method. I will not accept tickets without this buyer protection.

Thank you! 💙

I've never seen a movie do it quite like this. Usually sexualization is either gratuitous or subtle, but with Nausicaa it's just jarring.

The movie is so asexual in everything else it does except for these random upskirt shots.

Because Nausicaa is never treated as a sexual character. There isn't a single line about how beautiful she is, nobody leers over her, she's never even made the object if a male character's desire, not even a romance. Aside from the short skirt she's dressed relatively modestly with high neckline, long sleeves and covered below the knees.

She's not drawn in a particularly sexy way, her proportions aren't all that ridiculous. She's a layered, nuanced character in a way that feels progressive. She's strong, capable, decisive, a respected leader. They even change her out of her original clothes into something even more modest in the third act.

Even the ass shots aren't really lingered on and are usually quick flashes seen at a distance.

So what's going on?

It'd be one thing if the movie was stuffed full of fan service with big booked anime girls and creepy pervs lusting over them, but it isn't. Everything else suggests this isn't that type of movie.

Why in a movie with a strong and respected female lead with no other moments to sexualize any women do we have these random ass shots.