The Studio Ghibli Thread

[Franklint]

Hello again everyone.

Some of you may remember me, some of you may not. I used to be a member on the old System Crash boards (domdunc.proboards21.com). I completely forgot about the new forum that Glitch Gamer kindly created for us, and then the original forum was abandoned, and I was left high and dry. I finally remembered System Crash and so found out that Glitch Gamer had created another forum, this one.

I hope to become an active member of this community, but in reality this will probably not happen as much as I had hoped, as I am not a very good glitcher and I have insane amounts of stuff going on in my life at the moment.

But now to this thread.

Call me nerdy if you want, but I am obsessed with Studio Ghibli. If any of you haven't seen any of their films, go out and watch one. Now.

My favourite would have to be Spirited Away, with Howl's Moving Castle coming in second. Then probably Laputa - Castle In The Sky and Nausicäa Of The Valley Of The Wind, in that order.

These films seriously are marvels. The storylines, animation styles and character work are all top-notch. However, I am not saying that you will like them. You may not.

If you like or dislike certain Studio Ghibli films, or have thoughts about the films or the company, please share them here.

Cheers,
Franklint

[DavidJCobb]

I've only seen Howl's Moving Castle, but it was A W E S O M E ! ! !

Very incredible movie, amazing plot, amazing animation... It looked so real, yet so anime-ish, all at the same time, it looked incredible... It was just so awesome... I'd watch it again any day of the week. (well, except Mondays and Tuesdays at 9 because I can't miss 24 or House and haven't figured out how to use my TiVo...)

[Franklint]

Thanks for your reply David (Fellow Mod-ster)!

I'm glad you found Howl's Moving Castle enjoyable. It makes me feel less nerdy. :-)

All of what you said I agree with. Great plots (This one was actually based on a book of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones), amazing animation. Ghibli seems to have found a great balance. When you actually concentrate on the video itself, it is made obvious to you that the movement of the characters is actually quite choppy, but it looks smooth in most situations. I know what you mean about the real-yet-anime look.

Haha. Glad you're so enthusiastic.

In all honesty, I recommend you see Spirited Away. Hire it out or something. If you liked Howl's Moving Castle I reckon you'd like Spirited Away. I'd also be interested in hearing your thoughts on that film.

Cheers,
Will

[Franklint]

Okay, some updates.

I have now seen Grave of the Fireflies and Porco Rosso. I'm also about two thirds through My Neighbor Totoro.

Grave of the Fireflies is intensely sad. I was moved and shocked for about 2-3 days after I saw it. It's really intense, but also fantastic. It has no fantasy in it like most of the titles, but is instead set in World War II in Japan, and follows a 16-18 year old boy and his little sister as they try to make a life for themselves. Nothing goes right for them really.

Porco Rosso is just good fun, and centres around a pilot who got turned into a pig. It's a while since I saw it, but he thwarts the evil-doers, gets the girl, and everyone's happy.

My Neighbor Totoro is just delightful. Satsuki, Mei and their father move into a new house in the country so they can be near the girls' mother while she's in hospital. The girls come across the forest spirits who guard over... well, the forest. And then they go on happy adventures together, with lots of awesome fantasy stuff happening, as well as some amazing scenery. The Cat Bus is awesome. It's a huge cat which is hollow so you can get in it. As I say, I'm about an hour into it and it goes for an hour and a half.

Watch some of these films!

Cheers,
Franklint

[The Red Shadow]

I've seen a few Studio Ghibli movies as I really love Miyazaki's work. I've seen Howl's Moving Castle, Castle In The Sky, Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service. They're all fantastic. I eagerly await more work from them, but in the meantime I recently picked up Princess Mononoke and I can't wait to watch it.

[Franklint]

The Red Shadow, welcome to System Crash. In case you haven't read the threads, the site is being expanded to encompass other areas of videogaming. So stay tuned.

Also good to see another Ghibli/Miyazaki fan.

Cheers,
Franklint