Hello, haven’t been here in a while. For the past few months, I have been collating many different movies to write about. Also, after this I will be writing about another movie which i watched, Your Name. We have 9 movies to talk about so let’s get started
Also, I will not be including the story as I watched these quite a while ago, just the summary on Netflix. If you are looking for the more popular movies, look to part 1. Again, these are my opinions and I can see how at least two of these movies I have unpopular opinions on but we’ll see
Ponyo. The goldfish princess.
This was the first movie we watched after Castle In The Sky. Hard to follow up as it was a pretty good movie. However, we pressed on. This movie follows a boy named Sasuke who forges a friendship with a goldfish princess named Ponyo, basically Ponyo wants to become human but the bad guy/his father says no. Ok it’s hard to explain, watching the movie will help
In my opinion, this movie was great. It gave the vibes of Kiki’s Delivery Service. Lighthearted with a small bit of drama. There were some pretty funny and cute moments in the movie which overall made it pretty fun to watch! If you liked Kiki’s Delivery Service, you will like this and another movie at the very bottom
Tales From Earthsea. Interesting……
Well. This movie has very mixed reception from a lot of people but I found it not bad. It’s in the middle of my list is all I can say. This movie follows an archmage guiding the main protagonist on a journey to find the source of evil and save the woman that they like. Interesting plot however.
All in all, this movie didn’t shock me or anything. *Almost* every Studio Ghibli movie is always pretty great and this one is no different. Not one of the best but not one of the worse. This movie is worth a watch and its up to you to decide which side you are on.
Arietty. Short but meaningful
This movie is pretty nice in my opinion. I found it very nice to watch and it got me hooked. Also, I may or may not have cried over a sugar cube at the end. You heard me right, a goddamn sugar cube. I am not proud about that lol. This movie follows a family of tiny people called borrowers. They live under humans houses and *borrow* their stuff to live off of. They try not to get noticed but Arietty eventually does when she tries to steal a sugar cube ( see where I’m going ) the human, who’s name is Sho. Tries giving back the cube but she refuses. Eventually they become friends, Sho has heart problems, they almost get exterminated. And at the end of the movie when Arietty moves out, Sho gives her said sugar cube, it’s sad when you understand more
Sorry for that long monologue, I said I wasn’t gonna recap the story but I kinda felt like it for some reason. This is actually one of the shorter movies, slightly longer than Totoro but not longer than anything else. However, I felt as though they tell a great story and if they can make me cry over a sugar cube, they must have done pretty well at developing the story.
The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya. Really sad
This movie was fantastic. There is a song in it that legit makes me feel like crying everytime I hear it. The animation style is different from the other movies but do not let that put you off. After a while, the animation gets absolutely stunning and the plot line is one of the best. This movie is actually made after a folklore called the tale of the bamboo cutter, basically, he finds a infant in a golden bamboo stalk, names her princess, and her life becomes revolved around beauty and being perfect after being taken away from her house near the bamboo forest and her friends. It is then revealed she is not from earth and is from the moon and she needs to leave. Her adoptive parents are sad and they try to protect her, but ultimately she goes back to heaven. Depressing.
Like I said, this movie is in my opinion one of the best. It is so touching and sad sometimes. The animation is beautiful and the storyline is soooooo good. Oh, and there’s a song in there which as I for mentioned, made me cry, A LOT
When Marnie Was There. New age Studio Ghibli
This movie was made in 2014. Not very long ago compared to the others. The movies animation was stellar, especially a marsh house in the movie. When the protagonist Anna is sent to a village to get some fresh air during summer break after a Asthma attack at school. She uncovers some secrets about a marsh house there and her deceased grandmother Marnie.
Like I said, this movies animation is above the studios standard. The marsh house in the movie looks so cool and the story is also great as always. Despite all of the popular movies belonging to the older days, that doesn’t mean that the newer ones aren’t good too.
From Up On Poppy Hill
This is another one of the lighthearted stories, it follows a highschool girl named Umi who meets a boy named Shun, a member of the school’s newspaper club, they decide to clean up the school’s clubhouse but the principal wants to demolish it for reconstruction. They must make him reconsider his decision.
This movie is another one for the Kiki lovers, a lighthearted but nice movie. It felt good to sit down and enjoy as they redecorate and try to save their clubhouse. No drama and no violence, just a nice story
The Cat Returns. Loved by others but not me
Unpopular opinion. I don’t like this movie. More on that later on. This movie follows a character named Haru who rescue a cat who is actually a prince and the father the Cat King asked her to marry the son. She came to Baron for help and Baron ended up saving her in the end and bringing her back to her life. Fun fact: Baron is a side character in another movie called Whisper Of The Heart.
There are a few reasons why I dislike this movie. 1) There are some weird things going on. For example, in one part of the movie, a cat legit makes a portal outta nowhere. In another, there’s this statue of a bird that turns into a real bird, why? Magic I guess 2) Maybe it’s just not meant for me, you can go give it a try but maybe I just don’t like it. IDK
Nausicaa of the valley of the wind. Kinda violent
This movie is one of the ones that we watched not so long ago. Taking place in a future post apocalyptic world where giant insects are a thing, a young princess gets caught in the crossfire of another nation trying to destroy said giant insects, it’s a pretty good movie with not bad visuals and great characters .
Over all, this movie is actually pretty high on my list. I think that is has a great plot and amazing characters that we can follow. There is blood involved in it so be careful if you are sensitive to that stuff
The Wind Rises. Planes!
Backpedaling a bit, we watched this movie before Nausicaa of the valley of the wind and found that it was pretty interesting. This movie follows a young Jiro who aspires to create aeroplanes. He actually turns out to be the creator of a fighter plane used by the Japanese in WW2. We follow his career as we watch him create planes for a company and come up with new innovative ideas.
Overall, this movie is not bad. One of the ones that sits in the middle neither good nor bad. Every Studio Ghibli movie is entertaining to watch and this is not an exception. Great animation and storyline as always!
Whisper Of The Heart. Better than Kiki?
So, this was the movie that we ended up watching two days before me writing this and lemme just say. I think this movie is better than Kiki’s Delivery Service, there are some amazing moments in this movie that make me laugh and some that just make me stand in awe of the animation. Another thing to note. This movies soundtrack is actually Country Roads and the movie ends up making a Japanese version of that song that sounds just as amazing. The characters are all hilarious and one of it’s minor characters is actually baron in the form of a statue!
Like I said, the movie is laid back and it is great fun to watch, me and my family had a great bunch of laughs and we all had fun. Definitely one of the best Studio Ghibli movies in my opinion, up there with My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Endscreen……
And that is the actually 10 movies that I had to go through. I think out of the ten I would recommend Whisper Of The Heart most. I loved that one. Welp, now that I’m done here, imma move on to writing about the best anime movie in my opinion. Your Name