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

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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.