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Post by Bob Reyer on Mar 17, 2014 20:41:27 GMT -5
Dear Ladies of The Missfits, I just now finished "Kiki's Delivery Service", and I can't thank you enough for pointing me towards Mr. Miyazaki's work! I don't know if that would have been the consensus opinion for someone's first foray into Studio Ghibli, but I can't imagine anything being better than this magical film. I quite literally smiled throughout the entire thing, although at times it was in concert with tears of joy at the beauty of it, whether the art, the story, the music or the performances. Without artifice or heavy-handedness, the film delivered a powerful message through Kiki's powers returning through her need to do right by others, having become dormant after her pettiness towards Tombo's friends; a wonderful metaphor for the importance of keeping the good in oneself at the forefront. At some level, Mr. Miyazaki's work reminds me of Winsor McCay, the amazing creator of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" in the early 20th century... ...and whose 1911 short animated film of the character was one of the first cartoons, and as the story goes, Mr. McCay drew all the many thousands of cels personally!
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Post by megamaramon on Mar 17, 2014 21:15:06 GMT -5
Ah!! I'm so bummed I missed this one and I must apologize once more to my Missfits buddies for the fiasco last night. I listened as soon as it went up this morning and I must admit it was kind of fun to hear it without my voice. I'm brand new to Studio Ghibli, and anime in general, so I did a bit of homework to prepare for this topic. It was tricky to find some of the films and I'm not done watching them yet. Mara, I think it was you who brought up the age issue first in anime characters, specifically the girls. This helped me understand why I don't find myself as crazy about anime or much of Japanese pop culture as some, the sexualizing (is that a word?) of very young girls always made me uncomfortable and made the female characters unrelateable. One thing that I appreciate about the Studio Ghibli films I've seen so far is that this doesn't seem to be the case. No super tiny school girl uniforms, awkward old man/little girl sexual tension, just little girls or women experiencing real struggles, emotions and having normal sized bodies for their age. Also, as you also pointed out, every girl and boy do not need to have a romantic relationship in films, it's nice that these films don't focus on the females' desperate need for male attention. I was reading somewhere about why young women were the main protagonist in almost all of these movies. They are easy to identify with, less intimidating than adult women, and ok to express emotions through for men and boys. Additionally, if I'm throwing my observations in, they provide a contrast for most of the events of the movies. Adorable sweet girls in adult situations that force them to grow and mature through the events they experience.
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Post by IncredibleD on Mar 18, 2014 0:13:15 GMT -5
Great episode ladies. I thought it was a great topic, even though i'm not all that familiar with Studio Ghibli i did like to hear you talk about it, and it makes me want to check out at least Spirited Away, the Wind Rises and Princess Mononoke if i can find them(not the one with the raccoon balls though ) The only Studio Ghibli movie i ever saw was Howls Moving Castle, and while i really loved the animation i couldn't really get into the story.But i watched it about ten years ago so maybe i can appreciate it more if i would watch it again, if i can find the DVD somewhere in my house.
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Post by courtneyk on Mar 18, 2014 0:42:11 GMT -5
I also had not watched any Studio Ghibli but I'm renting Spirited Away now. I will probably check out Howl's Moving Castle too, although I've always been reluctant to watch the movie because I love the book so much.
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Post by lissapunch on Mar 18, 2014 6:29:37 GMT -5
@mara: I agree, the protagonists in these movies are great! I have no issue with relating to a young protagonist, hell I live that story. That's exactly why I was immediately drawn to Studio Ghibli, vs my usual uncomfortable feeling of "ick" in anime seeing girls under 16 with huge boobs, super long legs and extra tiny clothes making googly eyes at everyone. Or, maybe that's just the googly anime eyes?
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Post by guy66657 on Mar 18, 2014 9:16:36 GMT -5
Another great episode, girls! I love Studio Ghibli films but I have actually only seen snippets of Howl's Moving Castle. My cousins always rave about Miyakazi films, especially that one. I do have to say my favorite has to be My Neighbor Totoro, it has such a huge place in my heart probably being the first anime I have ever seen when I was super little. When I watched Princess Mononoke for the first time, I was so surprised to find out that it was from the same studio that made Totoro. I remember being all like "WHAT THE HELL, THAT GUYS HEAD JUST CAME OFF" and all the blood and gore, but still an amazing movie. Grave of the Fireflies I've only seen once because I really don't think that I could go through it again, it's just too emotionally draining. Seriously, if this movie doesn't make you cry, you have no soul. I still gotta go play Ni No Kuni though. Anyways, I can't wait to see what the next episode topics are gonna be about.
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Post by rgsc on Mar 20, 2014 12:36:31 GMT -5
Great episode! Immediately after finishing listening I went and ordered Kiki's Delivery Service & Ponyo and put Tototro & a couple of others on hold at my local library. I have been building my video collection for my daughter (she's 2) and I was looking to delve deeper into the Studio Ghibli films. We have Arietty, which she seemed to like, but I wasn't sure what to check out next . Your discussion was great and helped me steer towards the ones that might be appropriate for her now and which ones to wait on. Thanks!
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Post by RiddleMeChris on Mar 21, 2014 18:41:29 GMT -5
When I was a teenager I went to the movies on day to kill time. I didn't go with anything specific in mind to see. I just figured I'd show up and see whatevers about to play. Browsing the marquee I saw that something called "Princess Mononoke" was about to begin in a few minutes. I knew nothing about it, I just bought a ticket and went in. It wasn't until the film began that I even knew it was an anime. Half an hour into the film I realized I had stumbled upon an awesome secret. By the end of the film I was convinced it was the best movie I'd ever seen. I was stunned that the movie hadn't been marketed at all. No one knew about it. I found it by complete chance. It was over a year before I was finally able to find a VHS copy of it to by (this was a long time ago, folks). I've been an avid Studio Ghibli fan ever since. I recently bought a stuffed Totoro that has become my constant companion whenever I'm in my pajamas. I've lately taken to clutching it against my chest while watching Studio Ghibli movies. I'm, uh, I'm a fan...
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Post by willow27 on Mar 22, 2014 8:38:00 GMT -5
I loved hearing about the lesser known (at least for me) works from Studio Ghibli. I even got my little brother to listen to the podcast. He seemed to enjoy it (and he's an angsty teen who enjoys nothing most of the time so successes!). We're going to do a marathon during the summer. I'm definitely thinking of introducing these films to my 11 y.o. niece.
As always can't wait until the next episode.
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Post by CaptainSuperior on Mar 22, 2014 12:38:01 GMT -5
Dear Ladies of The Missfits, I just now finished "Kiki's Delivery Service", and I can't thank you enough for pointing me towards Mr. Miyazaki's work! I don't know if that would have been the consensus opinion for someone's first foray into Studio Ghibli, but I can't imagine anything being better than this magical film. I quite literally smiled throughout the entire thing, although at times it was in concert with tears of joy at the beauty of it, whether the art, the story, the music or the performances. Without artifice or heavy-handedness, the film delivered a powerful message through Kiki's powers returning through her need to do right by others, having become dormant after her pettiness towards Tombo's friends; a wonderful metaphor for the importance of keeping the good in oneself at the forefront. At some level, Mr. Miyazaki's work reminds me of Winsor McCay, the amazing creator of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" in the early 20th century... ...and whose 1911 short animated film of the character was one of the first cartoons, and as the story goes, Mr. McCay drew all the many thousands of cels personally! Hey Bob, did you know there was an animated movie done for Little Nemo? This was probably one of my favorite movies as a kid. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo:_Adventures_in_Slumberland
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Post by Bob Reyer on Mar 22, 2014 13:43:24 GMT -5
Captain Superior said: Hey Bob, did you know there was an animated movie done for Little Nemo? This was probably one of my favorite movies as a kid.
As a matter of fact, Cap'n, I own a copy of the Echo Bridge "restored" DVD! It is a quite charming little film, and one that deserves a wider audience!
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Post by Tony on Mar 25, 2014 5:15:06 GMT -5
Ghibli = magic. I genuinely do not know what i'd do without
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Post by Mighty Milton on Mar 25, 2014 20:08:46 GMT -5
Castle in the Sky is my all-time favorite Ghibli movie
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Post by Tony on Mar 26, 2014 18:29:30 GMT -5
Castle in the Sky is my all-time favorite Ghibli movie I love that movie; I feel like it gets unfairly overlooked in favor of the post-Mononoke-era films. I'd love to see Ghibli (or Disney or whomever) put it out in theaters for a little rerelease run at some point. It's easily a Top 5, for me.
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Post by tomoe on Mar 28, 2014 0:30:04 GMT -5
I have a soft spot in my heart for Only Yesterday.
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