MML Traffic #28 for week 4 - November

Inoue has an official English website at http://www.iblard.com/english/. It's a beautiful page. I recommend everyone to take a look. You can see paintings that were used in Whisper, or the paintings that became basis for the scenes in Whisper.

For the cel coloring, it used the ordinary cel paints. But Ghibli uses far more kinds of paints than usual anime, and it often asked the paint maker to develop new colors so that exactly right color would be available for the film."

2) For someone who loves these 3 movies (Totoro, Kiki, and Whisper) what other movie(s) would you recommend? I have myself seen PM but feel it is too intense for my children - they have shown in the past a tendency not to enjoy movies of that level of intensity.

Andrew Osmond added, "two films quite close to Totoro, in different ways, are Bambi and ET. Worth watching again if you haven't seen them for a while. Another film worth mentioning is the live-action Fly Away Home. . . and if you haven't seen Iron Giant. . . it'd probably be worth trying any other Nippon Animation serials based on children's classics that you happen to turn up."

Michael Kerpan suggested, "John Sayles' _The Secret Of Roan Inish_ is a beautiful, charming (live action) film which has wonderful child stars. . . It also moves at a relatively slow pace. It's just been released (finally) on DVD. . . Yasujiro Ozu's _Good Morning_ ( or _Ohayo_). . . Sort of like a Leave It To Beaver episode as directed by one of the world's greatest directors. Also just out on DVD. . . also Ozu's earlier _I Was Born But..._, a silent from the 30s . . . Available only as a rental VHS video (unless you want to pay $90 to buy it)."

"I Can Hear the Sea/Ocean Waves" cropped up, and Tom Tanida commented on the film, "It does not quite measure up to Whisper of the Heart- especially in terms of background art, lighting effects, etc. . . but it still has the solid character-humanist intensive story you'd expect. But definitely if I use the test of picking a random scene and starting the film from there, it is good enough that I don't want to stop it, like all the other films. :-)"

3) The first thing my 13 year old did was what I normally do - she turned to me and asked "What happened next?"

Larry also remarked, "They also got a kick at seeing what we felt were 'homages' to the other movies we had seen by Studio G" A listing of in-jokes is located in the FAQ.

Ryoko filled in some more info, "The blimp was in the original manga. The author of the manga (Aoi HIIRAGI) is an avid Miyazaki fan, and it was there because of it.

Shizuku's father also looks like Miyazaki-San. Staff members thought that the father in the original manga did look like Miyazaki-San, and made him look more so. . .

the sequence in which Shizuku chases after Moon is like the sequence in which Mei chases after Chibi and Chu Totoros (the again, they were both like Alice). While drawing the storyboards, Miyazaki-San was saying, "This is no good. This looks like Totoro...." but he couldn't help it. :)"

3. Who Ya Gonna Call?

In a repeat of a situation a few months back, Dillon wanted to figure out how to screen "Princess Mononoke" at his college. Michael Johnson followed up and reiterated the following points:

Lesson to be learned (again) here:

* If you want to show a theatrical print (a.k.a. film reels) of _Princess Mononoke_, contact Miramax.

* If you want to show the video/DVD, contact Buena Vista Home Entertainment, NOT Miramax.

Yes, it is strange, but just because Miramax released the film in theaters doesn't automatically mean that Miramax has the home video distribution responsibility too. Michael has the contact information, but can't make it public. Anyone wanting to contact BVHE or Miramax should contact Michael so he can forward the request.

4. Conan and Realism

The thread started when David Mankins commented in the above thread, "(though I think _FBC_ is pretty weak)." Andrew Osmond questioned why and David replied, "Let me amend it: "pretty weak for what we've grown used to from Miyazaki". . . I think my objections to Conan comes down to: Conan too often gets out of troublesome situations through superhuman feats (or, in his case, often feet). . . There's no reason for him to be superhuman (indeed, there's a lot of reason for him to be malnourished and suffering from deprivation), but superhuman he seems to be. . . Perhaps this is a superficial objection. If one sets these occasional "lapses" aside, there's a lot to be said for the different worlds that Conan takes us to and the way the different characters develop."

Harvey posted, "First, its set in the beginning that Conan is a kid with special (even superhuman) abilities. . . Though it was never explained, I assumed that he was a product of the post-apocalyptical world and for lack of a better term, a mutant. . . 2nd, although FBC has its share of serious dramatic moments, alot of it was also meant to be very fantastical and even "cartoonish". . . I think it is because it was a children's show, yet contain at its heart an incredibly sophisticated and imaginative story that to me, makes FBC one of Miyazaki's underappreciated masterworks"

Andrew added, "I personally find such licence less irritating than (e.g.) the superdeformity gags in many anime shows. As for how Conan got his strength, we can only presume his communal family on Remnant Island spoiled him rotten..."

Scott Ryan took a different tack, "Miyazaki does a marvelous job of lulling the audience into a sense of reality with great characterization, detailed backgrounds, and fascinating vehicles, then throws in curves. . . If the artist has no intention of breaking the bounds of reality, why go to the trouble of making an animated movie?"

David Athay agreed, "I never thought I say this when describing Miyazaki's work but..."it is just a cartoon." True there are magnificent statements in some of his works but not every work is out to make some huge point of galactic importance."

David M answered Scott with, "The artistry and the control involved? I remember well some critic (Janet Maslin, I think) writing last year of Ashitaka that many of today's brat-pack leading actors could learn a thing or two about acting from him. . . I suppose it's no coincidence that _Mimi_ is probably my favorite Ghibli film, and I occasionally kvetch here about the cartoonishness of _Conan_ or the superhuman perfection of Nausicaa.)"

5. Grave - Great Expectation

Antti Sakari Niemelä wrote about anticipating "Grave of the Fireflies", "All that COULD build up a huge expectation on what the anime will be like - once I get my hands on the dvd - and I'm just...I don't know - speechless?. . . Is Grave of the fireflies a really profound animation? How does it make you feel to watch it or think of it?"

Scott Ryan cautioned about building up expectations, "Too much anticipation can lead to serious disappointment. (I call it the Phantom Menace syndrome.) I recommend just letting the movie speak on its own terms and do your best to avoid being biased by too much commentary beforehand."

Robin Casady added, "It is not very high on my list of Ghibli films. Visually, it is very well done. Emotionally, it was sad, but I had mixed feelings about the characters.

If you are expecting a deeply profound film I think you will be disappointed."

MrSpiffy echoed the other comments, "I think that Grave of the Fireflies is a simple movie that paints a portrait of human survival, love, tragedy, and the brutality and reality of what war really is.

Nothing more.

Genuine expressions of life and death through drawn pictures is hard to come by, and this movie is a great example of it. . . Don't expect anything out of it, and try to pretend that you know nothing of the plot or story. Only by viewing things in a neutral light can we see what things really are."

Quickies

    Shun Chan spotted "Princess Mononoke" on the BVHE site listed as a March 2001 sell-through. Ryoko Toyama noted that no Mononoke Hime stamps were to be found in the "20th Century Design Stamp Series". Ryoko also reported that Studio Ghibli is starting a new project. David Ghodsi confirmed that the "My Neighbors the Yamadas" DVD doesn't contain the "Ghiblies" short.

Conclusion

    It looks like the next issue is coming December 9th. Might be the 10th since I have a final on the 9th.

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