Oh, Ghibli!
May. 29th, 2009 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daemonlunaI am on a Studio Ghibli kick.
A couple of months ago, we rewatched My Neighbour Totoro.
If you haven't seen it, words cannot describe either totoros (sorta like.. well.. maybe if you took a bear crossed with a cat and an owl and he was eight feet tall...) or the cute:
The first time I saw Totoro, it was a Chinese dub that a friend's coworker had lent to her when she found out she liked anime. We picked up a surprising amount of plot without understanding a word of it. The little totoros make dibby-dah sounds as they walk in the Chinese dub. We called it the dibby-dah movie for the longest time. It is still one of my all-time favourites, which was why there was about a four or five year period where everyone gave me stuffed totoros. They're all sitting on top of my bookcases, with the exception of the large one. By large, I mean two feet tall and three feet wide. He has taken up residence on top of my filing cabinet in my office at the library. (And if anyone tells you that totoros eat cows, they liiiiiie! Look at those teeth! Vegetarian!)
Totoro is still one of the best all-ages movies out there in existence ever. Also, I, um. Need another DVD copy. Mine is the old English release, and the newer Disney-released version has better subtitles. (Whiiich would make three versions, since I also have the Japanese version. And several more versions on VHS. But who's counting?)
Then a few weeks ago, we watched Kiki's Delivery Service when Mannie and her little guy came to visit. (Take that, fundamentalist extremists! An absolutely charming, gentle, endearing story about a little witch girl!)
Tonight, we watched most of Pom Poko but got bored before the end (now I remember why I don't own the DVD. Still good, but not my favourite.) I like the folklore elements (Japanese folklore, where shapeshifting racoon-dog/tanuki testicles are canon!), but with all the slapstick and the kinda weak plot, and it didn't stand up very well to a second viewing. I'll probably go back and watch the last twenty minutes later tonight. If you are curious:
Then we watched Whisper of the Heart, which is all kinds of awesome. It's a deceptively simple story about a Japanese schoolgirl who reads books, follows a cat on the train, and tries to decide what she wants to do with her life. (Budding romance via library book! Meticulously crafted visuals of everyday life in modern Japan! Heroine who is totally unaware that she could possibly be described as "spunky" and hence is not in the least annoying!)
I thnk either Spirited Away or Princes Mononoke next. (Although I also have Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa.) Oh, Studio Ghibli! You are the anti-Disney and I love you for it!
A couple of months ago, we rewatched My Neighbour Totoro.
If you haven't seen it, words cannot describe either totoros (sorta like.. well.. maybe if you took a bear crossed with a cat and an owl and he was eight feet tall...) or the cute:
The first time I saw Totoro, it was a Chinese dub that a friend's coworker had lent to her when she found out she liked anime. We picked up a surprising amount of plot without understanding a word of it. The little totoros make dibby-dah sounds as they walk in the Chinese dub. We called it the dibby-dah movie for the longest time. It is still one of my all-time favourites, which was why there was about a four or five year period where everyone gave me stuffed totoros. They're all sitting on top of my bookcases, with the exception of the large one. By large, I mean two feet tall and three feet wide. He has taken up residence on top of my filing cabinet in my office at the library. (And if anyone tells you that totoros eat cows, they liiiiiie! Look at those teeth! Vegetarian!)
Totoro is still one of the best all-ages movies out there in existence ever. Also, I, um. Need another DVD copy. Mine is the old English release, and the newer Disney-released version has better subtitles. (Whiiich would make three versions, since I also have the Japanese version. And several more versions on VHS. But who's counting?)
Then a few weeks ago, we watched Kiki's Delivery Service when Mannie and her little guy came to visit. (Take that, fundamentalist extremists! An absolutely charming, gentle, endearing story about a little witch girl!)
Tonight, we watched most of Pom Poko but got bored before the end (now I remember why I don't own the DVD. Still good, but not my favourite.) I like the folklore elements (Japanese folklore, where shapeshifting racoon-dog/tanuki testicles are canon!), but with all the slapstick and the kinda weak plot, and it didn't stand up very well to a second viewing. I'll probably go back and watch the last twenty minutes later tonight. If you are curious:
Then we watched Whisper of the Heart, which is all kinds of awesome. It's a deceptively simple story about a Japanese schoolgirl who reads books, follows a cat on the train, and tries to decide what she wants to do with her life. (Budding romance via library book! Meticulously crafted visuals of everyday life in modern Japan! Heroine who is totally unaware that she could possibly be described as "spunky" and hence is not in the least annoying!)
I thnk either Spirited Away or Princes Mononoke next. (Although I also have Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa.) Oh, Studio Ghibli! You are the anti-Disney and I love you for it!
