I'M NOT CRAZY!!

Finally! The next Studio Ghibli film has been released to America in theaters! I just went to see it today with my friends from the Anime and Manga club and all of us enjoyed it.

The Secret World of Arrietty is based on a novel series by Mary Norton called The Borrowers. In these novels, it follows the adventures of a group of small people about 10 cm tall who live in the floorboards of a human household. They survive off of going in the house at night and taking small items like sugar cubes and cookies so they can eat. Y'know, things humans won't miss if they're gone. Borrowers aren't meant to be seen by "human beans" as it sparks their curiosity negatively.

We begin with a 12-year-old boy named Sho (Shawn in English dub) who goes to live in the house his mother grew up in while he awaits for a heart operation. He's been told stories of Borrowers who have been believed to be seen by his grandparents much to the extent where they built a dollhouse just for the Borrowers with working lights and a stove.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Arrietty lives in the floors of this house with her father and mother, Pod and Homily. She gets to experience her first borrowing with her father, but it turns for what seems to be the worse when Sho sees them. Arrietty's parents are sent into a panic and suggest moving out, yet Sho doesn't want to hurt them. Sho and Arrietty become the most unlikely pair of friends even as Sho's caretaker Haru (Hara in English) becomes suspicious of Sho's actions and the stories of the Borrowers.

When we went to the theater, I saw a lot of families with their kids so this is a very kid friendly movie. Yet if you enjoy Miyazaki's masterpieces, add this to your "must watch" list. The characters are funny and amazing while the artwork is breathtakingly beautiful. Everything's drawn to scale from a Borrower's point of view down to the details of the insects; it is just amazing! The friendship of Sho and Arrietty and how it develops really touches you and teaches that no friendship is ever too small and I really appreciate that a movie like this is being released in theaters because it's not everyday you get an animated (anime so no one goes Nazi on me) film these days. Another masterpiece by the great Hayao Miyazaki himself.

Definitely a movie you have to see if you're not doing anything this weekend or to purchase as a DVD if you wish to see it in its original Japanese format.

I wanna be a human too!

And thus my ongoing reviewing continues with another anime film from Studio Ghibli called Ponyo.

Ponyo is based of Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale The Little Mermaid with of course a Japanese twist.

Originally named Brunhilde (no clue why...), our title character is a goldfish who lives in an underwater castle with her father and wizard, Fujimoto, and her many little sisters. One day she sneaks away from her father to explore the human world. She is discovered by a 5-year-old boy named Sosuke who keeps her in a green bucket of water and gives her the name Ponyo and promises to love and protect her forever. Sosuke immediately notices that Ponyo isn't like any other fish; she can heal cuts instantly, has a love for ham and can talk!

Believing his daughter was kidnapped, Fujimoto takes back Ponyo, much to her dislike as she has a sudden interest to become a human like Sosuke. But as she tries to escape, she accidentally messes around with a huge amount of magic which makes the ocean overpowering with tsunamis and storms that throw the world out of its natural balance.

The plot itself is really simple to a story everyone knows so I guess you can say it's predictable. But c'mon, Sosuke and Ponyo are the most adorable 5-year-olds in the universe! For Miyazaki, everything is bright and colorful throughout the whole entire film. I guess this was intended more for a younger audience but even though I'm a teenager I really enjoy this film a lot. The characters are cute and the animation is beautiful, including the underwater life that is shown. Another amazing film.

I DON'T COOK! I'M A SCARY AND POWERFUL FIRE DEMON!

The title is a quote from the next anime movie I'm reviewing. This is Howl's Moving Castle.

Another Studio Ghibli film, based off a fantasy novel made in 1986 by British author Diana Wynne Jones.

We follow Sophie Hatter, a young woman who doesn't see herself as pretty and spends most of her time making hats while her co-workers love to go out and have fun. While going out to visit her little sister, she comes across a young wizard who saves her after a mysterious attack by black blobs.

Later that night, a woman visits her shop, only to be the infamous Witch of the Waste and curse her, transforming 18-year-old Sophie into a 90-year-old woman. Trying to look for a way to lift the curse, Sophie leaves her home going into the Land of the Wastes. Along the way, she meets a cursed scarecrow with a turnip for a head (naming it Turnip-head) who finds her a place to stay: The mobile "castle" of the infamous wizard Howl who she later discovers is the same person who saved her earlier in the movie.

Upon entering the castle, Sophie meets the fire demon who helps move the castle, Calcifer (voiced by Billy Crystal in English [Mike from Monster's Inc]). He lets her stay as cleaning lady under the condition to help him break the spell between him and Howl; in return, Calcifer will break the curse on Sophie. As she lives with Howl and his 8-year-old apprentice Markl, she embarks on an adventure grander than she's ever dreamed even as the country plunges into a war.

Now if anyone's actually read the original book, the film doesn't follow the novel's original plot. While Jones didn't have any input in the movie, she enjoyed it and knew it was going to be different. Mixed with Hayao Miyazaki's style of animation, it displays a beautiful presentation of a world of magic combined with warfare similar to that of the World Wars. It's very bright and colorful but also has its dark moments too. The cast of characters are dynamic while facing their own conflicts. Another success by Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.