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.

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.

Soundtracks are very nice. Animated scenes also are worth watching. Audiences can see the way Japanese people doing with their life. It seems to be mediation (Zen) in every activities. They focus on them deeply, not slow, not fast, just enough to feel living emotion, being present. I'm very appreciate that - the Japanese honor. By the way, i am not sure that spirit still exist in Japan now. One thing i take from this movie and another Japanese movies, manga, anime: they love summer and also the youth (in high school) very very much. It makes any songs about summer be very touching. Imagination brings me to Japan with summer wind, summer taste, summer beach and summer love.

Having seen Tales from Earthsea, I wasn't expecting much from this film, although it had garnered some positive feedback. Goro Miyazaki had already shown us that he didn't share his father's magical touch, creative ingenuity and ability to tell timeless stories. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Though to be fair, the story was written by Hayao Miyazaki so at least part of the film's quality can be attributed to him and not his son.

Still, Goro Miyazaki DID direct this film and with it he proves that he actually has some promise as a film artist. This is a delightful little film about young love, willingness to endure through hardship and the importance of trying even when it seems pointless. It's a story told well, with beautiful animation, identifiable and likable characters and many scenes that have stuck with me since then. The story of two young people in love and all the obstacles in their way is one that has been told countless times, but the version of this film is one of better ones I've seen. It's not flamboyant, neither is it too sweet or too clinical, rather it feels real. Sure it's a bit extraordinary, like a good story should be, but it still feels like I could learn something from it.

So yes, the story and the characters are the best part of this film, for which we have to thank pappa Miyazaki, but I liked the contributions of the son as well. The atmosphere, the mood of the film, the feeling of mid-century Japan, the way all the characters interacted with each other. As stated before, it all felt just extraordinary enough to catch our interest, but not too much so that it became unbelievable.

Though, in retrospect, I cannot say that I felt like I had seen something groundbreaking when I walked out of the theater. It is a fine movie by all accounts and Studio Ghibli can be proud to call it one of theirs, but it lacked that certain spark that all great films have. In that one singular aspect this film just wasn't all that extraordinary. It doesn't mean that you should see it, though, far from it. It's a film with heart, feeling and passion. It has cheer, humour and melodrama to spare and it will make you feel good, like a family film should.

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