“We send a reporter to the scene, he asks the transit police if he can go into the tunnel, they say no, he says okay, I go on the air every eight minutes and say, ‘Still no news on that disabled train.'”
Pulled from the Shelves: From Up on Poppy Hill
The great animation director Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement this past week. He’ll be sorely missed, but if Ghibli continues to make animated films as lovely as From Up on Poppy Hill, the studio is in good hands.
From Up on Poppy Hill is directed by Miyazaki’s son, Goro Miyazaki. The father wrote the screenplay based on a shojo manga from the early 80s. Ghibli films are known for their leading ladies. Choosing a shojo manga heroine is natural. Although, this is the first time one can say that Ghibli is doing a moe film.
Moe? Yes. It’s got plenty of tropes from anime of the last few years: twin tails, seifuku, school clubs, school setting. For a second, From Up on Poppy Hill feels almost like any anime lately. That doesn’t really detract from it. I’m only noticing because of the amount of anime I’ve been watching.
The plot revolves around young love. The heroine falls for the charismatic editor of the school newspaper. She helps him in saving the old club house building from being demolished. They are meant to be together but certain family ties stand in their way.
It’s a simple film. Girl meets boy. Girl falls for boy. Boy falls for girl. They both are in love. Plain and simple.
I bought the Blu-Ray/DVD combo and I have both discs in both TVs ready to be watched. The English dub is completely different than the original Japanese. Goro Miyazaki trusts his viewers to understand what’s showing on the screen. The English dub doesn’t; it opens with a voice over from the heroine setting the scene fro the rest of movie. The Japanese version opens with just the soundtrack playing following the heroine as she wakes up, prepares breakfast, and gets ready for the day. We are meant to infer what’s happening, let the story unfold, and figure out the setting. That’s trust by showing and not telling.
Animation is not a genre. It’s a technic. This film could easily have been live action. I’m glad that Ghibli did it animated. Animation isn’t just for kids. Plenty of stories can be animated. I wish more directors chose it. Thank you Hayao Miyazaki.
4 of 5 stars.
