Hayao Miyazaki Compares iPad Use To Masturbation

[Crazy Penguin]

Am I the only one who liked The Cat Returns?

Umm, just to make things clear, I really liked it. Fun kitty film.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

Then we'd be the only two, then. I read your earlier comment, but seemed to forget about it. Sorry.

Also, it's not technically Ghibli, but I was curious if anyone ever saw Panda! Go Panda! (or Panda Kopanda if you want the literal Japanese name)? It was an early Miyazaki work, and apparently a lot of the ideas from Totoro came from there.

[G.Silver]

I also liked it. And I'm not just saying that so I can score with some 14 year old girls.

[Senbei]

Actually, I liked it too. It's been a while since I saw it, but I remember it just being straight-up fun, which is a thing that I like.

Haven't seen the Panda thing, but I did get to see some of the episodes Miyazaki directed of a show called Sherlock Hound. I've also seen the Lupin episode he directed that has a reference to a Fleischer Bros. Superman cartoon of all things.

[Ritz]

The one thing that really got me with Pom Poko is how it was said that some of the raccoons became real estate brokers themselves upon integrating with human society. I mean, all the bullshit they've had to put up with, and they actually had the nerve to participate in the urbanization for profit? It was the most rotten turn of events I'd ever heard from a children's flick.

Saw Porco Rosso a week ago. A+.

[Arcade]

You know what? I think Mr Hayao Miyazaki is right!

[Arcade]

The only Miyazaki movie I've watched is Spirited Away, which I thought was excellent. I've been trying to decide which of his movies to watch next, but it sounds like everyone's kind of divided on the rest of his stuff.

Princess Monomoke on japanese with english subs!

If you know spanish, the version that they made in Spain is not bad...

[Ritz]

And if you know English, that version isn't too bad, either! Wait a minute-

[Yami CJMErl]

I once saw this older (pre-Ghibli) anime series that I'm pretty sure Miyazaki directed or something like that--it definitely had his art style in it. It was called Future Boy Conan. Pretty good stuff, I thought.

[G.Silver]

Oh man, that's a show I need to see again. A friend of mine in college had the whole thing on VHS fansubs and I recall loving it, though that's about it--when I try to think of anything that happened in it my memory just pulls up scenes from the very similar Nadia/Blue Water instead.

[Arcade]

I once saw this older (pre-Ghibli) anime series that I'm pretty sure Miyazaki directed or something like that--it definitely had his art style in it. It was called Future Boy Conan. Pretty good stuff, I thought.

It was the first anime I liked, too bad it has the happy ending every series from its time had. Still I would love to see it again, its only 26 episodes long after all.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Fun Fact: Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies were originally shown together as a double feature. IIRC audiences loved the first movie and hated the second movie shown no matter which was shown first.

[Delphine]

Why on Earth would they show those two together? Talk about dissonance. Totoro: Happy Fun Nostalgia Yay! Fireflies: EVERYTHING ABOUT THE WORLD IS WRONG.

[Green Gibbon!]

For years I've wondered which one they showed first. I can imagine families walking out after seeing Fireflies first (probably not a very entertaining movie for young children), but on the other hand, it seems like it'd be a complete drag after waching Totoro.


I think I read somewhere that the main reason they did it as a double feature is because they couldn't sell Totoro by itself, but Fireflies could at least be billed as a historical film.

[G.Silver]

I read that pretty much everywhere, it was so incredulous I had to go look it up. Apparently the double feature did not do well. Hindsight is 20/20 but you'd think they would have focus tested it to get some idea how people would respond? I can't imagine how anyone thought this was a good idea.

[Crowbar]

I wouldn't think you'd even need focus testing.

Do the japanese not have a term for "mood whiplash"?

[Arcade]

Actually, the idea was that one movie would compensate the money loss the other caused, I think it wasnt a double feature, I think they just premiered them at the same time... yeah I think that was it.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

Actually, the idea was that one movie would compensate the money loss the other caused, I think it wasnt a double feature, I think they just premiered them at the same time... yeah I think that was it.

Wrong. I read in the official Princess Mononoke artbook that Studio Ghibli planned to make both films and release them together as a double feature. Do your homework first before posting.

[Pepperidge]

Relatively off-topic, but I would like to point out that Madhouse's latest anime movie, Summer Wars, is better than half of Studio Ghibli's catalogue, including a lot of Miyazaki's movies. Seriously. You all need to watch it, like, now. I'm going to be very upset if it doesn't get nominated for best animated picture this year.

You can find the trailer on YouTube, but it isn't really representative of the film. Just go watch it.

[Crowbar]

Summer Wars is indeed pretty awesome.

I rage thinking about how outright wrong that way of cooling a computer was, though. The rest I can suspend my disbelief for, but goddamn! Putting it in a sealed room?? With just blocks of ice dotted around? Retarded!

[Senbei]

Depending on the success of Ghibli's next two movies, we might be getting a new Porco Rosso! In this interview, Miyazaki keeps calling it "a tragic story of a boy," and says it'll be set during the Spanish Civil War. He's also kind of dismissive of it in that super-polite Japanese way, calling the film his hobby, so it sounds like Ghibli can only afford to make it if the bamboo cutter and the Borrowers movies do well.

[Arcade]

Nothing is better than Chihiro, and you are hearing this from a guy that watched the Macross movie in japanese...

I think the problem with Studio Ghibli movies is that that all the popular ones seems to be love stories where they use the "boy meets girl" plot.

[Radrappy]

Seeing as how this is a general anime topic, Satoshi Kon(Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress) died today at 47. What really sucks is that he was in the middle of a new film.

http://yume-robo.com/

[Crowbar]

RIP. :( I still need to see Paprika. Tokyo Godfathers and Perfect Blue were amazing, and Millenium Actress was excellent too. I also really liked his segment in Memories.

Actually, he did Paranoia Agent, as well, didn't he? I haven't seen that yet, either.

[Protodude]

Definitely some sad news, he was one of the few consistently good and creative directors in anime, and Millennium Actress is easily my favorite anime movie. I wonder how far along he was in his newest movie? If they have all the storyboards planned out they could easily finish it I guess. Even though his two newest works, Paranoia Agent and Paprika, were my least favorites of his they were still very enjoyable, and I have no doubt his newest movie would have turned out great.

Going back to Miyazaki for sec, I finished the Nausicaa manga last Sunday, and man what a load of fuck that was around the end! I mean that in the best way possible really, it's now one of my favorite manga and probably my favorite work of his, but the way the story does a complete 180 around the end.....it could have turned out horrible but it turned out great, and I commend him for doing that.