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Tea Master Tall
Totoro
Registration Date: 04.01.07
Location: United States
Posts: 730 |
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| Ghibli Films: Adventure for a Lifetime? |       |
I know I've watched these films over, but I feel like over time you find interest in certain movies. Like when I was younger, Princess Mononoke, Naussicca, and Laputa were among my favorites. Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle came afterward. Right now, I'm more interested in movies like Kiki and Whisper of the Heart, which are more coming of age films. I think this is because Ghibli creates movies for certain audiences, though they can be enjoyed by all ages, as well. And so, I will probably enjoy movies like Porco Rosso and Totoro even more when I'm older, even though I already do now. So, that being said I was wondering if anyone else wanted to share what "had been" their favorite Ghibli's at certain times, or just reflect on how these movies have affected them over the course of their lives so far. And what ghibli applies most to your current situation, right now?
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 11.17.2012, 04:11 PM |
   
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Mush
Baron
Registration Date: 07.30.07
Location: South of Canada
Posts: 1810 |
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I'd like to reply more thoroughly later, but I agree with this lots. Actually, the first time I saw Whisper, I didn't even 'get it' at all. I kind of dismissed it as a cheesy teen romance lacking even a proper source of conflict between characters. Only later did I find that I could actually relate a lot to Shizuku, and understand what the movie is about, and appreciate it properly.
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| 11.17.2012, 06:46 PM |
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husky51
The Old Guy
Registration Date: 03.17.08
Location: Southern California
Posts: 12799 |
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For my part in this discussion, It has been so long since I first saw a Ghibli movie that I cannot remember my feelings towards the movie, other than I liked it. I simply cannot remember any more other than that. I cannot even remember the movie I was watching when it dawned on me that these were all by the same studio. It was just an awareness that slowly came over me through a period of time. I am sure that it was helped along when I found this website, but it goes back much further that that, I know.
I remember watching Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service and a couple of others (names escape me at the moment) on TV. I just happened to come across them and liked them. I was, as many of you know by now, (lol) in Japan in the mid-60's and these films reminded me somewhat of the Japan I remembered from that time. Totoro, Only Yesterday and Pom Poko are but three that are in this category. I remember that I liked them very much when I saw them. They gave me a warm feeling of how much fun I had while there and riding the trains and buses and meeting people in the different little towns I visited.
Contrary to what some believe, I did not spend ALL of my time in the bars and 'other' places while there. I really enjoyed going out into the countryside on the trains and getting off and wandering around the town and meeting people.
I was not a stranger to anime. I saw my first way back when when I saw "Alakazam the Great" in a drive-in theater as a kid. I have always loved comics and cartoons and anime seemed to fit right in, although I didn't get into the actual anime thing until much, much later. I now have over 100 anime movies, series, etc DVDs and quite a few manga. I have donated quite a few of them to my local library for their collection. I try to keep only those that strike a chord with me, if you know what I mean. Ones that I will watch over and over again. I am not one known for doing that, so it has to be good IMO for me to make it a 'keeper'. I have even bought DVDs merely to fill in a series at the library.
I have some of the 'slasher, blood and guts' genre like Akira, Bleach, Paprika, etc, but my favorites are the humorous ones like Fruits Basket, Chobits, etc. There is humor, but also an underlying serious story. Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns are examples of the 'coming of age' movies that I like. I can relate to them thru my own kids growing up thru the years. Quite different, but the same as well.
All being said and done, my love for Ghibli movies goes on. I love the work done by all of the different artists and directors (Miyazaki #1) and I look forward to more from them in the future.
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| 11.19.2012, 08:31 PM |
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Wikidkid101
Totoro
Registration Date: 10.27.11
Location: A Small Island somewhere in the world
Posts: 523 |
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Like you Tea my interests have moved from different films over the years. As most know on here my all time favourite is and always will be Howls Moving Castle. However I go through phases of prefering different ghibli movies, like now I am very much into Only Yesterday, Like the main character I am at a point in my life where I have to decide where to go, what direction to take, and I am looking at my past thinking have I made the right decisions, am I making the right decisions. I mean at this moment I am struggling to come to terms whether University is what I want to do. So I have interests in this film as I can relate to the themes and characters more. I think thats what it boils down to what we can relate to at that point in our lives. For example when I was studying for my A-Levels, I, like you now was into the coming of age films, cause thats what point in my life I was at. I was taking steps for my future, I was turning 18 and in the eye of the Law becoming 'A man', an adult. I always have a special place for what I know as the cute Ghibli films such as Totoro and Ponyo, but thats just me. I dont think they have anything in them I can particularly relate to but they have a special place none the less.
I hope this is the sort of thing you meant.
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| 11.20.2012, 05:29 PM |
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Guaporense
Kodama
Registration Date: 04.02.13
Location:
Posts: 23 |
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Since I discovered Ghibli films less than two years ago in my earlier 20's I cannot say whether I would have liked one or another more depending on the moment of my life.
The first Ghibli movie I watched was their most famous movie outside of Japan, Spirited Away. After watching it I though: this is certainly one of the greatest movies ever made. When thinking about it I remembered that Spirited Away compared very favorably with other classic movies that I had watched near the time I watched S.A., such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Alien. These co-called classic movies failed to really affect me while Spirited Away really got into my heart.
So, after watching S.A. I instantly started to search for other Ghibli movies to watch. Over a relatively small period of time I had watched all Miyazaki's movies, being the first time I was addicted to the work of a director.
Now, I find difficult to say which are the films that I liked the most, but all Miyazaki's work from 1984 to 2001 and Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies and Only Yesterday are firmly entrenched among my top favorite movies.
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| 04.02.2013, 11:49 PM |
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hopexx5
Totoro
Registration Date: 01.17.11
Location: UK
Posts: 698 |
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My favorite Studio Ghibli films have remained largely the same over the years, Princess Mononoke and Spirited away constantly fighting over the top spot while others like Howls Moving Castle and Arrietty remaining fairly undisputed.
Relating to some of the films is something I find quite difficult, I am as unique as anyone else but my interests are vague and never really mainstream.
However I do find myself having strong relate able links to Whisper of the heart and Princess mononoke among others.
When I grow up a bit perhaps my interests will shift slightly, but I can see myself remaining with my core favorites for some time to come.
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| 04.03.2013, 12:05 PM |
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Guaporense
Kodama
Registration Date: 04.02.13
Location:
Posts: 23 |
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Interestingly, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are not considered to be among Miyazaki's best in Japan, while I was under the strong impression after watching these two masterpieces that they are probably his two best movies. Now while I find it impossible to say which is Miyazaki's best movie I think that I can safely say that my top 4 are Totoro, Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.
In a poll of anime critics, the highest ranking Miyazaki films were Lupin, Nausicaa and Totoro, in that order. Other polls yield similar results: film critics in general, in Kinema Jumpo top 200 Japanese movies of all time, critics didn't cite Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke but Nausicaa and Totoro got into the top 40 japanese movies of all time (Nausicaa managed to beat classics such as Mizoguchi's Ugetsu and Ozu's Late Spring).
That's maybe because Princess Mononoke is essentially a remake of Nausicaa while Spirited Away is similar to Totoro in tone, though less pure in it's sense of childlike wonder and innocence.
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| 04.03.2013, 05:31 PM |
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Roarkiller
Your Daddy-O
Registration Date: 06.03.03
Location: Home, resting...
Posts: 6077 |
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Amazing how they never mentioned GoTF though.
I can see how Nausicaa got into that list. For its time, that Movie was simply amazing. It's how Akira or GiTS is to SciFi at that time.
Totoro... well, it's popular. Maybe they took into consideration its popularity, its timeless nature, and so on.
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quote:
Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.
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| 04.04.2013, 01:56 AM |
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Guaporense
Kodama
Registration Date: 04.02.13
Location:
Posts: 23 |
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quote:
Originally posted by Roarkiller
Amazing how they never mentioned GoTF though.
What is "GoTF"?
quote:
I can see how Nausicaa got into that list. For its time, that Movie was simply amazing. It's how Akira or GiTS is to SciFi at that time.
Nausicaa is easily one of the greatest movies ever made.
Akira and GiTS are, comparatively weaker films. Though they are still quite good but Nausicaa rises way above, bringing the art of animation to a whole new level, a level that has never been surpassed and equalled only a few times.
quote:
Totoro... well, it's popular. Maybe they took into consideration its popularity, its timeless nature, and so on.
Totoro is a work of impressive grace, originality and beauty, it is also one of the greatest movies ever made. I think it should have been higher on that list, though I haven't watched all the movies there.
Here are the top 200 Japanese films according to a poll of film critics organized by Kinema Junpo film magazine:
http://letterboxd.com/mongoosecmr/list/k...japanese-films/
And a top 200 according to votes by magazine readers:
http://mubi.com/lists/japanese-movies-al...kinejun-readers
Interesting that Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away didn't make the critics list and were placed much lower in the readers list.
They also made a top anime films list, voted by anime critics (yes, there is such thing as anime critic in japan, apparently):
http://letterboxd.com/sharkbait/list/kin...en-anime-films/
Interestingly, The Castle of Cagliostro was considered Miyazaki's best movie on these two lists. I personally didn't think it was anything absurdly special when I saw it, a very good movie but nothing that special.
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| 04.05.2013, 03:00 PM |
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Heidi80
Ohmu
Registration Date: 02.03.11
Location:
Posts: 254 |
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quote:
Originally posted by Guaporense
quote:
Originally posted by Roarkiller
Amazing how they never mentioned GoTF though.
What is "GoTF"?
I assume it's Grave of the fireflies.
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| 04.08.2013, 06:54 AM |
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Roarkiller
Your Daddy-O
Registration Date: 06.03.03
Location: Home, resting...
Posts: 6077 |
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quote:
Originally posted by Guaporense
Nausicaa is easily one of the greatest movies ever made.
Akira and GiTS are, comparatively weaker films. Though they are still quite good but Nausicaa rises way above, bringing the art of animation to a whole new level, a level that has never been surpassed and equalled only a few times.
I beg to differ. I wouldn't even consider Nausicaa as among the top three Ghibli movies.
While I can't say for Akira, Ghost in the Shell is one of the most groundbreaking movies in scifi of its time. There's a reason why so many scifi movies are inspired by either of the two movies.
Also, I'll just mention this as an FYI: I love Ghibli, but it doesn't mean I see them as the best animation studio; that vote goes to Production IG. Nor does my top movie vote goes to a Ghibli movie; that goes to Jin-Roh, also from Production IG.
Back to topic, the first Ghibli movie I saw was Spirited Away. From there I watched all the others, and my immediate favourite is Whisper of the Heart, just because I'm a sucker for romance films (lol) followed by Spirited Away for its feel-good factor.
But if I had to vote for the best Ghibli film, it'd be Castle in the Sky, followed by Grave of the Fireflies.
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I am who I am.
I am Roarkiller.
No one else is me.
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quote:
Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.
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| 04.08.2013, 12:37 PM |
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Wikidkid101
Totoro
Registration Date: 10.27.11
Location: A Small Island somewhere in the world
Posts: 523 |
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I sort of agree with Roar about Studio Ghibli being the best, I am not saying it isn't good, I would never be that ignorant, however there are a lot of other animation houses out there.
However I never really liked Jin Roh, I couldn't connect to it, but I think it is very independent on the individual, I could see where the film was coming from, and i don't know whether i was in the right mood to watch the film when I did and maybe that is the reason why i didn't like the film very much.
Either way I suppose what I am trying to get at is that...
1) everyone can have an opinion
2) Ghibli although good can in some areas be outdone (but i suppose that boils down to the different animation styles)
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| 04.10.2013, 03:54 PM |
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emo-sea
Susuwatari
Registration Date: 04.23.13
Location: Spain
Posts: 3 |
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Princess Mononoke is still my favorite movie because of the themes in it but i came to appreciate other movies as Only Yesterday that maybe a couple of years ago I wouldn´t have found the interst in it. But there a other movies like Kiki´s Delivery Service that i only watch to " kill some time " and find it maybe too childish.
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| 04.23.2013, 04:07 PM |
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husky51
The Old Guy
Registration Date: 03.17.08
Location: Southern California
Posts: 12799 |
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| 04.23.2013, 05:32 PM |
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