From Up on Poppy Hill

Not all Japanese anime is the "pow" "bang" of giant robots fighting. We're familiar with whimsical -often "supernatural"- stories from Miyazaki and others, and also the strong environmental themes that pervade much of Miyazaki's work. Then there's the "shoujo" sub-genre -aimed at pre-teen to teenage girls- which tends to have female leads, romantic subplots, and resolutions involving personal growth. It seems to me "shoujo" substantially overlaps with anime that emphasize nostalgia and childhood. The Studio Ghibli anime "Only Yesterday" (_not_ distributed in the U.S. by Disney, and hence perhaps not as well known) was in many ways a pioneer in this subtype of anime.

"From Up on Poppy Hill", the most recent Studio Ghibli fare, is definitely a "shoujo". It's directed by a Miyazaki too ...but not "the" Miyazaki. Hayao Miyazaki is officially credited as the writer, and seems to have been intimately involved. But the actual director is his son Goro Miyazaki. Father and son share a strong preference for the traditional hand-drawn style of 2D animation over detailed and beautiful background paintings. I found the result quite charming. It's less "realistic" and "action-packed" than the 3D fare we usually see, but more imaginative. This story is much calmer and slower and less frenetic than our usual fare, something I found refreshing.

Despite the placid surface, the story is in fact quite intricate, even suspenseful. Although not "edge of your seat" manipulative, it definitely pulls you into the story and makes you continually wonder "what's next?".

Although released in Japan well over a year earlier, the English version was released in the U.S. only in March of 2013. The distributor for this release is "GKIDS", which is not a name I'm familiar with.

Disney made an "agreement" with Studio Ghibli nearly twenty years ago which suggests they have distribution rights over much of the globe for most Studio Ghibli products. (The agreement has been "amended" a number of times in private, and its exact terms are not known to me.) It's had two important results for U.S. audiences: First, there's now a strong tradition of "no cuts"- what Studio Ghibli animates is exactly what we see, with no "fiddling" in an editing room. And second, Disney has gotten us used to very high quality English soundtracks. In fact the quality is often so high that even anime connoisseurs who don't actually speak Japanese often prefer the English audio (rather than the Japanese audio with subtitles). The traditional rule of thumb "dubs suck" has been modified to "dubs suck, except animes handled by Disney".

Given that "agreement" and its recent history, one would expect Disney to distribute "From Up on Poppy Hill" in the U.S. too. But in fact, although Disney remains the international distributor in much of rest of the world, it is not involved in U.S. distribution of this film. Most likely Disney chose not to exercise its rights in the U.S., either because Goro Miyazaki's previous effort was critically panned, or because some of the themes of a typical "shoujo" -entirely unremarkable in Japan- are considered incompatible with Disney's image in the U.S. (Another possibility is the "agreement" covers works directed only by Hayao Miyazaki himself, not other Studio Ghibli directors. This seems unlikely to me ...although to be honest I really don't know for sure.)

But even though Disney wasn't involved this time, the tradition was respected. The English audio is _very_ high quality, even to the point of translating entire songs, not only for solo voices but even for a whole chorus. The voice acting is top notch, the sync is perfect, and considerable effort has been expended on translating idioms and slang from one culture to another.

My local theater, apparently scared either by the odd distribution or by Goro Miyazaki's previous reputation, scheduled it on their teeny tiny "art house" screen. But there were lots of viewers of all ages, and they seemed to like what they saw. It's definitely worth watching.

I always have been a big fan of Studio Ghibli and of anime. From Up on Poppy Hill is not quite one of Ghibli's finest like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Fireflies, Castle in the Sky and My Neighbour Totoro, but it is better than PomPoko and Tales from Earthsea(both are worth watching, but I only consider them decent movies). Even with the rushed ending and a twist that is a touch too cheesy, From Up on Poppy Hill is still a charming film. As to expect, the animation is fantastic, with the beautiful colours and ethereal backgrounds still evident. The music is also wonderful, it does have a pleasant lilt to it and at times reminds me of the score from Kiki's Delivery Service. The song Summer of Farewells is one of my favourite theme songs of any Ghibli. The story is one of the studio's most realistic, and it still has the heart and charm you'd expect from a Ghibli film, especially in the middle, if not quite the depth of Grave of the Fireflies for example. The script has a nice balance of humour and poignancy, it doesn't have My Neighbour Totoro's whimsy but again From Up on Poppy Hill didn't strike me as the kind of film Totoro was, and the characters are likable and engaging throughout. Overall, charming, heartfelt and very likable, Studio Ghibli may have done better but to me seeing as I have enjoyed and most of the time loved their films I don't take that as a bad thing. 8/10 Bethany Cox

After having seen Goro Miyazaki's Tales from Earthsea, I didn't have quite high expectations from this. Goro proved me wrong this time by creating a calm, sweet and tender anime. Hayao Miyazaki is the screenwriter and I was quite surprised that he moved away from his supernatural themes containing gods and flying castles, choosing to write something realistic. Yes, this "realistic" part is the heart of the entire film and it works so lovingly.

Ghibli once again captures the audience with beautiful animation and a captivating score. The film successfully re-creates the 60's world with meticulous details. Each and every character is energetic, whether he/she is the action or just the part of the action. As the film is about saving the school's clubhouse, we can "feel" that these teens really are trying to save it and you forget it's an animated film. Most of these characters are quite inspirational... The film is not epic or dazzling like teen oriented movies actually are. It's a simple nostalgic experience.

In conclusion, another simple and heart-felt film from Ghibli that you can enjoy with your friends and family. A good film for a relaxing weekend ;)

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Umi Matsuzaki is a teen girl living with her grandmother in the Port of Yokohama. Her father is a sailor and her mother is studying in America. She does chores for the boarders at the house. The 1964 Olympics has just been awarded to Tokyo. She is taken with male student Shun Kazama who along with others are trying to save an old building for the school's clubs.

This Studio Ghibli movie is a historical drama in the real world. It's an interesting transitional time in Japan. The characters are endearing. As for the big reveal, the teenage melodrama is handled with the safest of kiddie gloves. It's cute but it's not pushing that hard. The source material is probably coming from someone's childhood. There is a sense of a time and place. The story is not aggressive but very charming.

The newest Ghibli film (which is already out on video overseas but will not play theatrically in the U.S. until March of 2013) is the second from Hayao's son Goro, after the somewhat disastrous Tales from Earthsea. This one is definitely a success. It's a smaller Ghibli film, more along the lines of Only Yesterday, Whisper of the Heart and Ocean Waves. In fact, it's probably most closely related to Ocean Waves, in that it's about teenagers and their relationships. It's quite a bit better than that one, though. The story revolves around a group of teenagers in Yokohama trying to save their school clubhouse from demolition. The story takes place in the early 1960s, and their clubhouse is slated to be destroyed to make way for an Olympic stadium of some sort. The two main characters are Umi and Shun. Shun is one of the leaders at the clubhouse. Umi kind of falls for him and comes up with the idea to pretty up the clubhouse in order to impress the politicians, hoping they'll move onto another site. The story is very small and simple, but it's utterly charming. The artwork is truly stunning and the music (by Satoshi Takebe) is gorgeous. I doubt Disney will open this one wide, but they are planning on giving it a modest Oscar campaign so, unlike Arietty (which would have easily won the award last year), this should definitely get a nomination.