The Ghibli Novice: Porco Rosso

1992 brought us the sixth (or seventh if you count Nausicaa) Ghibli film, Porco Rosso, again from the imagination of Hayao Miyazaki, based on a three-part manga he'd produced earlier (and which may have inspired Disney's TaleSpin).

The film takes place after World War I and follows Italian pilot Marco Rossolini, who has somehow been cursed to have the head of a pig, getting him the nickname "Porco Rosso."

Porco is seen as a hero by many local groups, but the air pirates frankly hate him. As for himself, he wants to just live his life, fly and work. He's accepted that he's a pig and is sure he'll probably be that way the rest of his life. However, his childhood friend Gina is friendly to him and hopes that one day, he can break the curse.

When the Italian Fascist party puts out a warrant for his arrest, Porco goes to get his plane rebuilt by a mechanic who puts his granddaughter Fio to work on it. She winds up joining Porco in his rebuilt plane as he has to leave in a hurry. But soon, Porco winds up in a duel with a hotshot pilot. Who's going to win?

This was a fun adventure story, but Porco's curse brings up an element. We get to see a flashback to during the war when he saw his fellow pilots going to the afterlife, but he was left alone. It's not clear if this is when he was cursed. In fact, it's not clear how he got cursed or if he'll ever have it reversed. The fact that this isn't directly addressed is basically saying that this isn't about what Porco looks like: it's about who he is. There's one bit where he's questioning if women can do as good a job as men, being classically sexist, but the women working on his plane actually make it better than ever.

So, that was a fun ride.

The Ghibli Novice: Only Yesterday

Unfortunately, the next Ghibli movie, Grave of the Fireflies, isn't on HBO Max, so I'll have to skip that one for now. The next one was unusual for what we've seen from Ghibli so far.

Released in 1991, Only Yesterday follows a young woman named Taeko who's taking a vacation from her life in the city for some time in the country, where she works on an organic farm. Throughout the film, Taeko remembers episodes from her childhood, these episodes being depicted in full animation. They reveal a lifetime of someone wanting to find her own way, but is constantly reeled in by her family. Now she's out on her own, so does she return to the stable life she's known, or go for something new she wants to try?

Only Yesterday could justifiably be called "an animated chick flick," but hey, it's a good animated chick flick with some beautiful animation and a good story. It's just a major change from the other Ghibli films I've checked out so far. It's not sci-fi or fantasy. There's no nice little adventure.

It's also the first Ghibli film I watched not directed by Hayao Miyazaki, but by Isao Takahata, who also directed Grave of the Fireflies. It's based on a manga by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. A final bit of trivia is that it took twenty-five years for it to get an English dub, most likely due to English distributors being unsure of how to handle such a different Ghibli movie.

The Ghibli Novice: Castle in the Sky

Well, now for the first proper Studio Ghibli film, again from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

Castle in the Sky is set in a steampunk late eighteenth century with airships being quite common.

In fact, the film opens on just such an airship as an orphan girl named Sheeta falls from it when it's attacked by pirates. However, her fall slows and she lands in a mining town where she's befriended by a boy named Pazu who helps her hide from pirates and government agents.

It turns out Sheeta is actually descended from people who used to live in a kingdom on an island floating in the sky called Laputa, held aloft by a special ore that is part of a pendant Sheeta wears, which allowed her safe descent to earth.

When Sheeta is ultimately captured by the agents, Pazu joins with the pirates to rescue her and discover the secrets of Laputa.

Castle in the Sky is a rollicking good time. It's an adventure story with some good action, great pacing and a lot of humor. Plus there's robots, some sci-fi and a little bit of magic as well at heart. This was a good one to check out.

The Ghibli Novice: My Neighbor Totoro

1988 brought one of Studio Ghibli's classic titles: My Neighbor Totoro. This was their second film after the studio was founded.

The film opens with a small family moving into a new country home. It's near to a hospital where the mother is currently staying, recovering from a severe illness.

Almost immediately, they spot some strange and wonderful things happening at their home with soot spirits appearing to the two daughters, Satsuki and Mei.

Mei explores the forest near their home and finds a large furry creature who makes a roar that sounds like "Totoro," and she takes this to be his name. However, she's unable to show her family Totoro or his home later.

Later, Satsuki meets Totoro while she and Mei are waiting for a bus and after she offers him an umbrella to shield him from the rain, he smiles and dances and boards the "catbus," which is an animal that appears to be a giant cat with twelve legs that operates as a bus.

Later, Mei decides to take some vegetables to her mother and gets lost, making Satsuki and the neighbors worry about her. Perhaps it's a job for Totoro, but can Satsuki find him?

My Neighbor Totoro is one of those movies that demands to be visually appreciated. While there's a good bit of dialogue, the parts that are its best are the ones that don't need any. It's a very sweet film about finding the magic in nature and two sisters growing together.

The Ghibli Novice: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind isn't exactly a Studio Ghibli film. It was actually produced and released before the studio was founded, but many of the same artists and creative talent worked on it. It's sort of a proto-Ghibli film and is distributed alongside the others.

The film is based on director Hayao Miyazaki's manga of the same name, which had begun two years before the film debuted in 1984 and continued to run for ten more years, telling a different story. Rather a smart move as this gives readers and viewers different experiences.

This post-apocalyptic piece begins a thousand years after the Seven Days of Fire, a war that destroyed human civilization. Three human communities are touched on in the film: the Valley of the Wind, a small kingdom that receives clean air from the ocean; Pejite, an ally; and the warlike Tolmekia.

Nausicaä, princess of the Valley, is exploring and studying the nearby Toxic Jungle, so named for its poisonous plants. She eventually discovers that the poison comes from the soil, not the plants themselves.

Meanwhile, a Pejite aircraft crashes near the Valley with a warning of danger from the Toxic Jungle's gigantic insects. Meanwhile, Tolmekia plans to burn the jungle.

With an epic story of battle, Nausicaä has a pro-environment conservation and anti-pollution message that asks viewers to think twice and look deeper into what they think they know. It was pulled off very well with gorgeous animation.

The Ghibli Novice: Kiki's Delivery Service

Sometime back, I asked friends to ask me about movies and I'd tell you if I had seen them or not. Among the list of things I hadn't seen was the catalog of Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation studio specializing in traditional animation. The films are noted for good design and fluid motion.

With the launch of HBO Max, who offer the catalog, I decided it was time to check it out. Kiki's Delivery Service was not their first film, but I watched it first as I'd been curious about it, plus a number of friends highlighted it as a favorite.

Kiki is a young witch. For her, magic exists in a matter of fact fashion: she can fly on a broom and talk to her cat Jiji. This is really the extent of her magic powers we see in the film.

The film begins as Kiki leaves her family at age thirteen to begin a life in a city. While the people are surprised to see a witch flying around, they don't seem to be afraid of her. When a woman leaves a pacifier for her baby at a bakery, Kiki delivers it to return it. The owner of the bakery suggests Kiki begin a delivery service on her broom and offers her room and board if she minds the bakery every now and then.

During Kiki's time in the city, she makes several friends, including a boy named Tombo who she develops feelings for. One day, she finds herself unable to speak to Jiji and unable to fly her broom. What is blocking Kiki's magic?

The story is about Kiki maturing. In the beginning, she is very reactive. It is not her idea to begin the delivery service, it's suggested to her. Her service of course is a reaction to what people want. Towards the end of the film, we see her acting proactively. It's a deceptively simple story that actually has a lot of character development going on.

Anyway, yeah, I found it a good movie. It does a lot of things you don't expect to see in other animated films like taking longer on visual scenes, which are wonderfully designed and animated.