| 1. | (9 posts) | All Things Porco Rosso |
| 2. | (12 posts) | Disney/Tokuma and Plushies - But Mainly Plushies |
| 3. | (20 posts) | Nausicaa Manga Thoughts |
We looked at 76 posts by 39 different contributors.
Some good threads this week.
Shoot, Alex Lipschultz stole my thread title! He also wrote, "I recently saw Porco Rosso for the first time, and absolutely loved it! Does anyone have any idea of where I may find a poster for this fabulous film?. . . I'm interested in your opinions about how Porco Rosso compares with Miyazaki's other works, care to start a discussion about it?"
People love discussions! Chris Kuan started things off with, "I have reached the age (30) where the theme of lost innocence starts to become more relevant personally. I kinda identify with Marco in the sense that several of my family and friends are young ladies (perhaps not quite as old as Fio), and I can identify with Marco's wish to protect Fio from the outside world, sometimes overprotecting her. . . There is a lack of menace about the film (even the Mamma Aiuto gang is played for laughs), neat flying (of course!) and an absolutely fantastic set of closing credits. It is a nostalgia for times that never were, or rather, how they *should* have been.
"Totoro" and "Kiki" by comparison are really about the kids, rather than the adults. "Totoro" is about kids in a kid's world, "Kiki" is about kids in a more adult world, and "Porco" is more about adults in a childlike world. I suppose "Mononoke" is more about adults in an adults world, albeit a fantastic one and less realistic than, say, the works of Oshii."
Adrián Buzzetti Belmar added, "I had saw that picture (in spanish doubbed version, HBO, a very good doubbing) for about 15 times (I'm an otaku, it's all right, ne? ^_^). . . I writed down an article to a friend's fanzine. I layed my opinion about that picture there and it could be resumed in these few words: "Porco Rosso is an elegy to an coward that escapes from his duty being a hero". It sound quite hard, isn't it? But I think there is the life of Marco flying instead of marrying Gina. Fortunately there are some Fios going around the world that changes tha fate of such cowards into heroes out and into their hearts. Don't we need every time a Fio?"
Lorraine Poole chipped in with, "It's very bittersweet to my mind and has the same themes as 'Kiki' in that it involves a loss of innocence and the process of growing up. In 'Kiki', there are the lessons of being an individual and keeping close to your heart and who you are. In 'Porco Rosso', the loss of innocence is the time when the skies were free to be explored as you would and the world was a gentler place. Marco rediscovers who he is through the innocence and trust of a young girl - another theme which crops up many times in Miyazaki movies"
Julio Bruna wrote, "For what I think of it, it's the one who introduce me to Miyazaki. It is less serious in the presentation than "Mononoke" or "Nausicaa". I don't know if I'm clear, the film present serious things (war,death), but it's presented less seriously, it's not in front of the story. . . I've got some italian origin, world war two and fascism are good part of Europe story, plus I must be one of those "stupid" romantic people, who really like story like this one :)."
Stefano o Edoardo Marone has an even closer connection to the film, "once my father lived in a house on the Naviglio Grande of Milan... the channel where Porco makes that wonderful escape... every thing is perfect (except the spaghetti and the old womens in black... wrong part of Italy and wrong time, but soo italian ;)). . . Maybe, being italian I can see something more: all the funny things, are a sort of prologue to the tragedies that IIWW set in Italy, to the all the people you see in the movie. Once I cried watching Porco."
Martin Kaegi found an on-line poster shop, "www2.comco.ne.jp/~applet/
It's a great on-line store for Japanese movie posters. They have a large Miyazaki collection which also includes Porco Rosso, IIRC.
Plus they ship FedEX worldwide (OK, it's a little expensive). And: The site is in English!"
From rights to plushies. Confused? Read on. . . Lee Johnson wrote, "The Disney-Co have just shelled out $350m to keep the rights to the winnie the pooh franchise? Does that put the Disney-Tokuma deal into perspective?"
Chris Wallace replied, "the Walt Disney Corporation has a very large amount of merchanside based on "Winnie the Pooh", as well as an animated television series, a dozen or more "OAVS" (to coin a Japanese term), as well as an animated theatrical feature. The merchandising alone is probably worth hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. The entire collection of Studio Ghibli films will, at best, bring in a few tens of millions (based on current sales projections).
Of course, we all know if Studio Ghibli had given Disney the plush Teto doll license, Japan would be out of her recession by now. *grin*"
Rodney Smith isn't giving up his Teto doll. Chris' last comments sparked a flurry of "where can I get plushies?" posts.
Chris answered a pricing question, "As Totoro items (including plushies) are still in production, I notice that they usually are quite cheap. I have seen the large (~10") Jiji dolls run in the eighties at Expo, and I paid around $50 or so for the Porco Rosso and Pom Pooko large plushies I purchased at the San Diego Comic Con last year."
Michael Johnson posted links to some pictures of plushies he took while in Hiroshima.
Mia D'Avanza wrote, "I paid about $30-35.00 US for my appx. 11-inch plush Totoro, and I consider that expensive. . . As a poor college student, my opinion may not be the most helpful. But if I had $1000.00 to buy that 4-foot Totoro that I have seen, well, I would do that even if it meant not eating for a while....... if you see a homeless woman desperately clutching a giant stuffed Totoro, you'll know who it is!"
Paul Schilling is now on Mia's hit list after writing, "Believe me, he's definitely worth every penny! (thank you, stock options!)
What I want to find is that 5-foot Catbus ^_^"
Bruce Jones commented, "I believe we all would be significantly more wealthy if it were not for ghibli and their damn Totoros. CURSE YOU TOTORO!!!"
The Longest Thread in quite sometime started when Alex Lipschultz posted, "I've never been a big fan of comics, something about the general pace (or lack thereof) just doesn't sit right with me. However, I hear that the Nausicaa manga is simply fantastic. Before I shell out my cash on the collection by Viz, I want to know more about the structure of the manga. Would you say that it is more like a novel, or that of a traditional comic book? Also, is Viz's adaptation any good, or is it a bastardization of Miyazaki's original work (a la the dreadful "Warriors of the Wind")?"
I reposted my links of cheap places to buy the boxset and passed along an interview with Toren Smith (the translator).
David Mankins posted, "The _Nausicaa_ manga is a novel, with a novel's pacing. It's emphatically not a comic book, though it *does* tell part of its story through drawn images. . . the biggest problem with the Nausicaa manga itself is that it is sui generis --- there's nothing else like it. When you finish it, you're left wanting more, and it's very hard to find anything that comes anywhere close. . . My biggest gripe about the books is that they're so small. When the manga was originally published, the pages were about notebook paper size, the Viz perfect collection shrinks them down to 8.6 x 6 inches."
Iron Mouse (long time no quote) wrote, "I've had the manga for a long time, but I can't stop singing praises about it, nor can I stress it's "completeness" enough. For a story that was drawn over a period of 13 years, on and off, it shows a surprising consistency and inter-locking of themes and subplots that has more to do with intense writing over a short period rather than over a long period. Not to mention Miyazaki-sensei's beliefs changed over that time. . . I won't compare Nausicaa with "traditional" comic-books... but I MUST say that it's *pacing* and *style* has very little in common with 80's American super-hero punch-em-ups or the independent comics. It has equally little to do with the pacing and style of Japanese manga. His *style* has much more to do with European-style comics (I can't think of any on the top of my head) - it may look cluttered initially, but after a while you stop caring about that. . . The pacing, especially for such a complex and deep story, beats most manga I've read with a big monkey stick."
Chris Collette added, "I agree. With the limited exposure I've had to different comic genres, I must say Nausicaa most closely resembles the style of Don Rosa or the late Carl Barks. I know that may sound absolutely bizarre and somewhat amusing (Barks and Rosa specialized in writing and drawing Disney comics, mainly Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck), but all three writers are masters of putting adventures and storytelling onto paper. . . I guess in the end, it's like nothing you've ever seen or read. :) "
Julio Bruna found some good points to the Viz PC editions, "Despite the little size of the VIZ edition, the quality paper and the printing are excellent. Pages are really thin, and paper is pleasant to touch. The printing is very dark, which make the drawings a better look. I've got the french edition too, bigger, but I prefer the look of the VIZ."
Chris also posted, "while it may not be as long pagewise as many other manga, Nausicaa is extremely dense in detail, both with artwork and text. It takes me several hours to chug through one volume of Nausicaa, where as I can go through a single 200-page volume of X in about 10 minutes."
Good news on Susan Napier from Marc Hairston. Chris McDonald passed along Tokuma's (sorry) economic health status. Peter & Lorraine Poole say hello to the MML. Chris Kuan's mysterious Ghibli CD.
Thursday is the release date for this month's issues. Next week is Finals Week, but I'm on top of it, really!