Is anyone else intending on seeing From Up On Poppy Hill in the cinema? I went with a friend tonight!

In my opinion it was visually beautiful, nostalgic and charming. I practically skipped out of the building and hummed all of the way home

Vast improvement over Gorou's last work, definitely, although I didn't see it in the cinema. We didn't get it last year.. or Earthsea for that matter.

He needs to work on the facial expressions though. A few times it was like watching robots.

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quote:

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Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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if it is shown in a theater, then yes I will...

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Yeah, Goro has definitely improved x 10! It had the same innocence and charm as Whisper of the Heart, which is a favourite of mine.

I get what you mean about the facial expressions, I noticed that in a couple of scenes.

I have just found it is showing in a local Indepedant cinema 14th September, if anyone lives in Hertfordshire.

It's my birthday 22nd September, so I will go 14th as my early birthday present, hoping my friends will come. I am super excited for this.

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I haven't even seen it yet...

I honestly didn't think I would, but I heard online about a independent cinema in a town near me, I though worth a shot.

Try searching all independent cinemas near you

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Your best bet is your local picturehouse chain cinema (if you're in the UK) - the arty ones that show foreign films.

Let me know what you think of it Spidey!

We don't have a picturehouse near us, there isn't much in Hertfordshire. I will do, getting so excited haha

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Saw "From Up On Poppy Hill" yesterday. I absolutely adored it, a very nice little film, nothing groundbreaking but a very feelgood story. As Roar commented above its very encouraging to see a big step up in Goro's directing skills.

I had to take Japan in the 60s seen through Ghibli's rose-tinted spectacles of course where everyone is smiling and happy with their world with a pinch of salt but even so the view into 60s Japanese society was a treat. I had no idea Japan had even participated in the Korean War.

Its a little bit of a shame that so many of Ghibli's leading girls and boys look like their faces are cast from the same mould. I felt like I was seeing scenes from Laputa, Whisper, Kiki and a couple of others during the story. Some different facial shapes would be a good idea to introduce.

With the schoolboys wearing caps and the long school skirts for the girls I also felt a little like we were looking into an animated version of those pictures we were discussing some time ago with the 4 girls, one of whom dies.

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Some day I'm gonna hunt down the entire series of that art series.

I don't remember any familiar scenes though. Any examples?

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quote:

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Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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Just the general mood that Poppy Hill gives feels similar to those pictures. The boy school uniforms with the military jackets and caps, girl's uniforms with knee length skirts instead of the micro skirts you see in toay's anime, the mother wearing kimono, the old wooden buildings, the period cars. It all had that same nice nostalgic mood to it. I think Poppy Hill gets as close to the atmosphere of those pics than any other animation I've seen.

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

About the similarity of the characters - this is something I've thought in the past. Because Ghibli films generally have the same art style, which involves quite simple faces, the main characters do often look very similar. Sometimes it's only really their other features that distinguish them.

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San is clearly an outlier then

Personally I don't think the girls are drawn that similarly. Boys perhaps, but the only two girls I can think of who looks similar (besides the witch twins and minors) is Shizuku's sister Shiho and Lin.

Chihiro, San, Therru, Sophie and the Totoro sisters are too different. Nausicaa could fit into that category considering her common hairstyle an facial features, and I can accept Kiki and Sheeta (short hair) to be somewhat similar.

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quote:

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Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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Uh, why is San an outlier? Look at her face. It's the "Ghibli heroine" face. Sheeta, Satsuki, Kiki, Fio, Shizuku, and Nausicaa all have it. Their hair and clothes (and, in Sophie's case, eye color) make them readily distinguishable, but in terms of actual facial structure, they are almost identical. Even Ashitaka has the Ghibli heroine face, just slightly sterner-looking and with thicker eyebrows. This isn't a criticism of Miyazaki's art style; he just focuses on other things. I think he's even admitted in interviews that his character designs don't vary much.

Chihiro actually IS an outlier. Her face is rounder, her chin is less defined, her nose is higher, and her eyes are smaller than the rest of the bunch. But still, compare the amount of variation in Miyazaki's characters to the amount in Naoki Urasawa's. Now THAT guy can draw faces. The cast of 20th Century Boys probably exceeds a hundred characters and no two look alike (except the twins).

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I realise now my post earlier wasn't particularly clear, but I did mean specifically that faces are rather samey. It's things like hair and clothes that show difference in the characters, rather than their faces.

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Now that it has been mentioned, there is a sameness to the facial features, but I look at the characters as a whole, not just the faces (unless it's a close-up, etc)...

@Roar, witch twins???

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San has an awful lot of, um, make-up to be similar. Also, those eyes.

@husky: Yubaba and Zeniba.

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quote:

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Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Roarkiller
San has an awful lot of, um, make-up to be similar. Also, those eyes.

@husky: Yubaba and Zeniba.

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I was thinking of the child leads of Ghibli, not the adults. Then again some of the fathers are also similar such as Satsuki and Meis, Kiki's and the male lead in Kaze.

As someone said you could almost cut out the faces and directly transpose Sheeta, Kiki, Fio and the Poppy Hill girl (whose name escapes me right now.

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