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So, at long last I decided to start collecting the long list of Myazaki (and Studio Ghibli in general) movies. As a kid, I watched and loved Future Boy Conan(and damn, the italian theme track was awesome) and I always wanted to watch more of Myazaki.

For now I purchased the Blu-ray of:

- Castle in the Sky
- Arriety
- Howl's Moving Castle
- Ponyo

I'll purchase more in a few months when other Miyazaki's works will be brought to the italian Blu-ray version (among others, Nausicaa and Totoro).
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I watched "Castle in the Sky" (1986) earlier today with my girlfriend and we both loved it. Such great drawings, great palette, of course quite similar to the earlier Conan. A good analysis of both sides of technology, nature, dedication to work and lots more. Also, (and I don't think it's only because of a translation choice) I particularly appreciated that the author took a "high road" with the way most of its characters speak: articulate wording, phrases, themes, something you don't easily spot in today's productions. Oh, nice soundtrack too! (great ending theme)

I'm really eager to watch more now, but I'll taste it slowly :)

What are your favourites and what do you think of these movies in general? Maybe you find some themes too repetitive after a while?

Maybe there should just be a stickied general movie discussion thread here so schild doesn't have to deal with threads that aren't devoted to one particular movie.

Fuckin, just, yea. I'm just dumping this in Gen Disc.

If you want to talk about a certain Ghibli movie, have at it.

These are all good movies though, and probably worthy of discussion. They transcend Trash Anime and approach the best stuff Disney ever made.

Edit: Also, your mispelling of Miyazaki made me twitch.

Arietty and Ponyo were sort of weak... but there was a bit of a return to form with "up on poppy hill". Nausicaa and Totoro are classics, the first being one of my favourites, though it is only a tiny slice of the world and story told in the manga (also by Miyazaki).

My favorite Ghibli should be easy to guess though I do enjoy most of them (I do not enjoy Grave of Fireflies).

No one "ENJOYS" Grave of the Fireflies. But fuck it isn't one of the best animated feature films ever made.

Indeed, Working as Intended. Pom Poko also takes a shift in mindset that was very close to being too far.

Grave of the fireflies isn't Miyazaki though. I also like "Castle of Cagliostro" which is Miyazaki pre-ghibli.

Kiki's was boring as fuck. Otherwise I've enjoyed all the ones I've seen*.

*Other than fuck the cat bus in Totoro forever, that shit is freaky.

Pre-Ghibli: If you are (very) young at heart, there's also Panda Go Panda, sort of a proto-Ghibli movie. Meant for younger kids. Marco 3000 Miles in Search of Mother, which I need to track down. Future Boy Conan. Cagliostro is of course wonderful. There's a scattering of other stuff from back then, but how much is actually Miyazaki is up for debate.

The Takahata stuff is all good as well. Grave of Fireflies, Ocean Waves, Only Yesterday.

One of my fave Ghibli movies is Whisper of the Heart. Made by Miyazaki's protege and heir apparent, who then died unexpectedly.

The sequel, The Cat Returns, is easily the worst Ghibli movie and also a ripoff of Catnapped. It's the only one I could take or leave.

The last true Miyazaki film was Ponyo. Earthsea and Poppy Hill were directed by his son. Arrietty by someone else. He was involved in all of them, though.

I would have trouble picking favorites. :)

Also, if you like Nausicaa, the manga is worth getting.

Finally, the art books are all spectacular.

I love Kiki's, despite the mid-movie lull.  Totoro is probably second on my list.  Cagliostro was just plain fun.

Nausicaa is great, and as Raph suggests, the manga is better.  Mononoko Hime and Spirited Away rank pretty highly for me, too.  Porco Rosso isn't one you see mentioned often, but is also good.


(Useless trivia no one cares about:  Answering "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" was my only "First!" reply to Raph on the old SWG boards and his Friday threads.)

Spirited Away is one of my favorite films ever. It is one of my the most beautiful god damn things ever.

+1  :awesome_for_real:

Kinda sad the shit Miyazaki has been taking in Japan for his latest movie. I enjoy his stuff even as someone who isn't in to anime at all, and a Miyazaki movie about the man that designed the Zero sound pretty fascinating.

If you're getting that info from that Chinese news source posted on Reddit a few days ago, take it with a large large grain of salt. I'm sure Japan has its share of nationalists, but nothing like the article linked from Reddit suggested.

I saw Nausicaa as a kid.  I couldn't understand the plot at all, but the visuals really stuck with me.  Decided to pick up the DVD a few years back, and it turns out the version I saw way back then was some horribly mangled western version anyway, so I wasn't missing much.  Although the new dub trades away Cam Clarke for Shia LaBeouf.  :heartbreak:

I didn't even know there was a manga, that'll be something for me to keep an eye out for, though it's unlikely I'll be able to find it locally.

"Warriors of the Wind" was the mangled western version. It's actually really surprising how many people have seen it, I guess it was one of the first dubbed movies or something. Apparently it played in theaters and on HBO.

Mononoke is the only other one I've seen dubbed, and the dub was quite good. Though apparently it does change the meaning of things a bit.

Read an article on the LA Times website.

But where is LA Times getting it's info from? It could be the same source.

FYI the article I meant was this one: http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1296325/miyazakis-newest-film-soars-despite-criticism
found on the reddit link here: http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1kdmuk/animation_legend_hayao_miyazaki_under_attack_in/

I'd recommend Spirited Away next.  Then My Neighbor Totoro.

You're more than welcome to ask them. Personally "Guy known mostly for making family-friendly animation makes comments criticizing Japanese WW2 and current military policy; Some people take offense and say bad things about him." isn't really a story I just can't believe without solid confirmation backed up by a number of reliable sources.

This new movie sounds really, really good.

Macek rearranged (or butchered depending upon PoV) most things he brought over, basically turning them into new stories with only a hint of the original.

Warriors of the wind got a broad retail and VHS release when anime was tiny handful of titles. It was pretty brutal though the quality still shone through. They'd basically cut out as much of the talk and story as they could to make it shorter and focus on the action. From memory it also generally ended up in the kids section because cartoons are obviously kids stuff.

I respect him for doing a reflective movie on militarism, he's probably one of the few who could and Japan could probably use it. Looking forward to it. Not really a new concept for him either, the Nausicaa manga is full of thoughts about how stupid war can be.

I like some of Ghibli's smaller films a lot, both from an interest in Japan and watching people consider normal human issues. Totoro has some but whisper of the heart, ocean waves and only yesterday are pretty good if you let yourself sink into it.

One of the most "naturalistic" of the Ghibli movies is actually Takahata's "My Neighbors the Yamadas." Nothing but short slice of life stuff. But a lot of people get turned off by the visual style, which is not the usual anime look.

Just got my copy of Poppy Hill, US edition, day before yesterday... the extras are pretty dull. :(

Shit, I'm screwed now. Any suggestions on how to get a hold of these living in the middle of nowhere?

Amazon has it, looks like.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Box Set (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1421550644/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1421550644&linkCode=as2&tag=atheoroffunfo-20)