Tsao- Spirited Away

Going down the list of movies on the syllabus that we'd eventually watch in this class at the beginning of the semester, the one movie that I recognized and was excited for was Miyazaki's very own, Spirited Away. This movie was my first Miyazaki film, and was the movie that lead me to fall in love with almost all of Miyazaki's films.

picture from here

This story is about a young girl named Chihiro, who adventures into the "spirit world" with her parents. They turn into pigs while indulging themselves with food that they did not pay for, and Chihiro ends up signing a contract with Yubaba, the witch who overlooks the bathhouse that Chihiro will be working in. With the help of Haku, a dragon-spirit trapped in the body of a boy, Chihiro is able to successfully infiltrate into the spirit world and work there until she can get her parents back.

Throughout the movie, one can really see the development and growth in Chihiro. She is very timid and scared of everything in the beginning of the movie, and thinks of only herself. It can be seen when she is complaining and whining in the car with her parents, that she wants things to go her way only. However, at the end of the movie, Chihiro is very brave, and loyal to Haku. She has learned the value of her friendship with Haku, and would do anything to save him. She realizes what's important and not important to her.

Another thing worth noting in this film is the issue of identity as seen plenty of times throughout our past anime movies. When Chihiro signs the contract with Yubaba, she agrees to start going by Sen. Haku reminds her that it is important to remember her name, who she is and where she came from. Eventually, Chihiro helps Haku remember where he comes from, and feels fulfilled knowing where he is from.

I wanted Chihiro and Haku together from the very first scene they were together, and to be honest, at the end of the movie, I was very satisfied that Chihiro was successful in helping Haku. Their love for each other is just so heartwarming. Still the best Miyazaki film, in my opinion.

Tsao- Nausicaa

picture source

Nausicaa is another one of Miyazaki's films that could fall on my list of favorites. It is a beautiful story about a young girl, Nausicaa, who has a natural love for nature and everything its got to offer- even the insects. Nausicaa is the only human in her village that loves the insects from the forests, and begs her father to not kill them and to save them since she was a little girl. She has a secret garden that harbours all of the "poisonous" plants and the pollen that they sprout, and she explains to her sensei that these plants are not poisonous. What makes them poisonous is the soil, which has been polluted by humans, and everyone has come to believe that the wastelands just have plants that are poisonous by nature.

There are many similarities between this movie and Princess Mononoke, except this movie is a lot more passive and has a much happier ending than Princess Mononoke does. San is much more violent than Nausicaa, but Nausicaa would, just like San, do anything to protect her own kind. Another similarity is that both antagonist/villains in both movies, lady Eboshi and Princess Kushana, come for similar intentions and end up threatening the fate of a perfectly healthy group of people. But in the end, someone with courage, and knowledge of what it really means to be able to coexist and live together with nature comes out to save both humanity and nature.

Nausicaa is loved by everybody and is a great heroine to her valley of the wind. The curse from princess mononoke can be seen in Nausicaa when Nausicaa's father was murdered by the soildiers. Her hatred and anger gave her power and blinded her , leading her to kill a room full of men within seconds. This hatred / curse is reoccurring in Miyazaki's movies, maybe to make the point that hatred can only drive us into a ditch. In these cases, "fighting fire with fire" is typically the method used, but definitely the route to disaster.

The happy ending in Nausicaa is so joyful and happy that it is almost impossible for anybody to not smile or jerk a tear as they watch and progress with the storyline. People do awful things, and as humans it leads to a bigger question: is what we are doing okay? Our generation of people have neglected the effects of our actions, and many of these are major contributors to global warming and other natural disasters that are increasing as time goes by. If our generation of kids does not take action to really look at how we are now, we will surely be paying the price in our near future.

Tsao- Howl's Moving Castle

picture from HERE

Howl's Moving Castle was another one of Miyazaki's that I really enjoyed. I genuinely chuckled out of pure enjoyment at certain points of the movie; The story was great and the movie was wonderfully directed.

This film had a lot of themes that could be easily pointed out. One of them involved the perception of beauty, and how "beauty comes from within". While Sophie was not considered beautiful compared to her sister, who got all the attention from men every day or her mother, who is married once again to someone rich, she was the most beautiful one on the inside. She was alone and to herself from the beginning of the movie because she had low self esteem, and did not feel she belonged much. She simply worked at the hat shop to fulfill the wishes of her father. Things take a sharp turn however, when Howl finds her in the alley with the soldiers. They were connected by fate from that moment that they met each other. Because of Howl, The Witch of the Waste put a curse on Sophie which turned her into an old gray-haired lady. Through this, she felt more comfortable with herself and who she was because her appearance didn't matter anymore. She could act as herself and from this learned that beauty comes from within.

Howl plays a very handsome, mysterious character. Although I didn't really understand the contract between him and Calcifer in the beginning, and why Howl chose to (or had to) make that contract with him, we learn that Howl has been waiting for Sophie this whole time to help him break the curse and get his heart back. He eventually falls in love with Sophie, and stops running away from things that he needed to face because he felt the need to protect Sophie. My favorite character in the movie would have to be Calcifer and Turnip Head, because of Calcifer's wittiness and Turnip Head's sweetness.

The Witch of the Waste has been drained her powers and turned into a harmless old grandma, but Sophie takes her in anyways even though she proposed a previous threat. This shows her kind heart and maybe why she was the chosen one to break the curse in everyone.

Though Howl eventually turns into a monster, that does not stop Sophie from loving him because he is still the same Howl on the inside. This is a repeating motif in the movie: Beauty lies from within. At the end, we see Markl and Heen and the whole family flying away happily on a new castle, and this scene just makes me feel a heartwarming feeling on the inside. This movie's concepts were not hard to grasp, which makes it appropriate for both children and adults, considering the original story was a children's story.

Tsao- Princess Mononoke

Picture here

Princess Mononoke is one of the movies that I liked more on the list of anime that we have watched in class. It is such a good portrayal of some problems that we have even in today's world in regard to nature v. technology. This movie reminded me a lot of Dr. Seuss's book and movie, The Lorax. The Lorax was a little creature that lived inside a tree, until the industrialization revolution took place and cut down all of his trees so that they could use it to make other goods with it. However, The Lorax did contain much hatred and vengeance since in that story, the industries and greedy businessmen naturally learned the consequences of taking down the forest at their own cost when their future fell at their own expense.

In Princess Mononoke, however, the message was sent across through the idea of Vengeance and Hatred. Hatred drives a lot of motivation, and at times can give people a power that they did not know they had inside of them. The Wolf clan and San hate Lady Eboshi (and all humans in general), The boars also hate humans, and humans hate between themselves when their interests are conflicted as seen with the citizens of Iron Town and the samurais. This hate will be a neverending cycle if nothing is changed, and even when one side is able to defeat the other side, this hatred will just keep spreading and haunting, like the curse on Ashitaka.

A point that I want to point out is the scene of the Boars all rushing into the war with one goal in mind: to kill the humans and win the war, on behalf of their forest. They were very rash in doing so and the comment of them heading into something without thinking of it, and not stopping until the end was made in the movie when San talks to her mother about going to help the boars (after realizing it was a trap). I feel that a connection can be made with the Japanese army, in the sense that they will fight to their death even if they know they may die, for their one loyal purpose. So this scene may be pointing out that aspect of Japanese culture

Yet another  wonderful work of art from Miyazaki, for all of his movies are very sentimental and portray a very strong message. San was raised in the forest, and loves her home and her family as if she was a wolf herself. This may rise in some identity issues, but one cannot blame her for having a hard time living with and as a human. On a side note, the forest spirit;s ability to take and grant life also shows an importance of balance in our system of nature. A good movie!

Tsao- Ah! My Goddess

picture from HERE

Ah! My Goddess is a film about the supernatural, divine world and the human’s world intertwining, bringing about new problems for both humans and gods. In the movie, Belldandy, a first class goddess trained by Celastine comes to earth to grant Keiichi a wish, and ends up falling in love with him. Because of their love, Belldandy has stayed on earth for the past two springs, and she plans on staying for another spring. Her sisters Urd and Skuld came down to earth to live with her since she has stayed here for so long.

Belldandy and Keiichi share a bond that is special and cannot be taken away so easily. Celestine takes away Belldandy’s memory of Keiichi with a virus, and this virus has infected both her and the whole Heaven’s computer system. With this virus, Celestin plans to destroy the Judgment Gate as well as the current earth, so that a new one will be created that has no suffering. Celestine’s intentions are not bad ones; he wants equality between Gods and humans, and to remove all suffering from humans- he wants happiness for the humans. However, by destroying earth with his methods he is taking away humans’ free-will and their right to choice. Humans should be able to make choices on their own and decide for themselves whether or not they want to love and be a part of suffering.

Celestine’s definition of happiness may not be the same for everyone. Ah! My Goddess in comparison to the movie we watched in class with prisoner Alex has some similarities, in which Celestine from the anime and the doctors from the movie both want to achieve a “better” state for the victims, but are using the wrong methods to achieve the results. By brainwashing Alex and forcing him to be sick whenever he watches television or hears Beethoven’s music, they are taking away his free-will and decision-making, just like Celestin is taking away the human’s rights for free-will. 

Memory plays a role in this film, as seen in Cowboy Bebop as well, where when one loses their memory, they have trouble determining who they really are and what their purpose is. When Belldandy loses her memory, she loses the part of herself and her happiness that she shared with Keiichi, causing her conflict when she sees Keiichi is no longer as happy as he used to be.

Tsao- Grave of the Fireflies

picture source

In watching the Grave of the Fireflies, I think we can all agree on it being the film that brought everyone to tears. This anime takes place during the end of World War II, a time of alert where American bombers would fly by dropping bombs on neighborhoods and cities, burning large numbers of citizens. Fourteen year old Seita takes his little sister, Setsuko to hide in an old abandoned bomb shelter during an attack. Their mother, hiding in another shelter, was under attack of a bomb while they were hiding and got burned severely. Their mother has heart problems, and dies from the burns soon after Seito sees her. With nowhere else to go, the siblings leave to live with their aunt in another village. Because the aunt is so reluctant and unreasonably mean to them two, they soon decide to move out and live in the abandoned bomb shelter that they found.

Many elements add to the emotional appeal of the film. Setsuko portrays the many innocent souls that were hurt during the war; the audience is quick to fall in love with her naïve, adorable, and relationship with her brother. The touching scenes of Seito providing care to his only surviving family member and most loved sister help to develop the strong relationship that the siblings have. The fireflies, an important symbol in Japanese culture, represent both the souls of living things and mono no aware- that nothing lasts and the sense of beauty in things (since fireflies have such a short life span). The essence of the fireflies is seen in a couple scenes: when Setsuko uses them for light in the cave, burying the dead fireflies and questioning why death must be a part of life (in relation to their mother’s death), the fireflies as symbols of hope, etc. Another aspect worth mentioning in the movie is the tin of fruit drops.

The fruit drops are comforting to both Seito and Setsuko (especially Setsuko), and remind both the kids of a homey, safe, state. With the fruit drops, Setsuko is reassured and willing to keep fighting on with her brother. Eventually, the ashes are also kept in the fruit box tin, showing how important they are to him.

A story with such touching, remarkable emotions in it is a definite watch- one can really get a good sense of how war victims felt during the whole deal. Worth a watch for everyone! 

Tsao- Harp of Burma

Picture here

In the Harp of Burma, the story revolves around a young soldier named Yasuhiko Mizushima, who was sent to the mountains after the Japanese army has surrendered to the opposing side to ask for peace from the army in the mountains. Upon leaving his army, he remains missing and does not return to his comrades. We then discover that on his journey home from the mountains, he experiences a conflict within himself when he sees a land full of dead Japanese soldiers left to decay. On one hand he wants to desperately go back to his comrades and return home together, but on another he feels it is his responsible to bury his dead brothers and let them rest in peace.

From Letters of Iwo Jima it can be seen that dying with dignity is a big issue in Japanese culture. The soldiers in the cave killed themselves before the Americans could get to them even if they didn’t want to die, because suicide if it was in honor of their emperor and Japan itself was considered a noble and heroic act. This taboo is not seen much in western films because the idea of a hero in American cultures is portrayed as more of an “invincible” type of character rather than one who takes their own lives.

Throughout the movie, the personal conflict of doing what they feel is their destiny/duty to do, or what they actually want to do (giving a proper burial for the dead soldiers or going home with his comrades) can be clearly seen. As like in the previous anime we have watched, this topic is also touched on in Akira, Cowboy Bebop, and Perfect Blue. Mizushima feels that it is his destiny to help bury his brothers (of Japan) even if it means giving up returning home with his troop. Music is also an issue worth talking about in this movie; the soldiers would sing together when they felt no sense of hope because singing would bring them to a better state. It is important then, to understand that this art is universal and plays a role in lifting spirits. Mizushima’s harp is a part of his identity, and throughout the movie he is recognized by the sound of his harp even when his body is not present in the scene.