Miyazaki - a bit boring?

vashdaman said:
To me these films are like the best kind of childrens story or fairytale. Because while they may be aimed at children, no matter how old you get, they always seem to have that same effect of wonder on you. Very few animations actually capture what children are really like better than Miyazaki's.
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I wish they had that effect on me! I accept that they are crafted that way (I've been dragged to the Ghibli museum and would have to be blind not to observe how much love and attention to detail is poured in) but something about the presentation leaves any warm feelings lost in translation for me.

I wasn't very good at being a child myself, back in the day - very introverted and just reading books aimed at adults all the time. Maybe that's why something which is meant to speak to my inner child falls on such deaf ears. Whereas the opening sequence of Paprika sucks me into a cheeky, spirited, whimsical world immediately with a slightly less innocently childish approach.

R
 
I have not disdain but sympathy for the poor souls not enchanted by Miyazaki's films. How dead inside must you be? Even though I'm a cynical, miserable, world-weary bastard, I'm always uplifted by Miyazaki's sense of whimsy and deft characterization. That his films are never cloying or cheesy despite how young his characters tend to be and the positive messages they convey speaks volumes about his talent.

That said, Kondo's Whisper of the Heart is even betterer innit.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
I have not disdain but sympathy for the poor souls not enchanted by Miyazaki's films. How dead inside must you be? Even though I'm a cynical, miserable, world-weary bastard, I'm always uplifted by Miyazaki's sense of whimsy and deft characterization. That his films are never cloying or cheesy despite how young his characters tend to be and the positive messages they convey speaks volumes about his talent.

That said, Kondo's Whisper of the Heart is even betterer innit.
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I wouldn't say dead inside, I just find other things more uplifting. Different emotions evoke different responses.
 
Sweet thing, just so we're not crossing wires here, you're saying Miyazaki's works are deep and misunderstood because he touches on themes without fully exploring them; using the 'animations for kids' argument as an excuse for not doing so?

If that's what you're trying to tell me, you're far too illogical for me. Rather than agreeing to disagree, I'd rather find a man to agree with...


I'd describe a person who can sit through Totoro, Kiki's or Patlabor 2 without yawning/needing a break once a dull ****, to be perfectly honest - no offense. You have to have the mind of a child, woman (Roy aside) or be a bit boring to appreciate Miyazaki.

fabricatedlunatic said:
That said, Kondo's Whisper of the Heart is even betterer innit.
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And as I revealed to you with my insight into anime movies, Junkers betters Whispers.
 
Genkina Hito said:
Back to the topic at hand...

From what I have seen from this conversation it seems like people are missing the simple beauty of these films. Leave aside the high quality visuals and focus on the delicate layers of change that each character goes through.

Just because you can’t see an external conflict or nobody shines a lantern on some pop-psychology doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on. What I took from the movies was that there was an internal conflict or maturation with each of the characters. I think this applies to all of Miyazaki’s films.

I think a common theme is the rite of passage and the choices and events that shape them.

The heroines are forced to grow up. They do so, not by relying on men but by buckling down and working towards what they believe in which is a much more positive thing to see a female do in a medium where they are oh so very easily turned into nothing more than T&A or soppy nobodies.
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I LIKE such things in anime. But I am going to argue that Isao Takahata does them better than Miyazaki.
 
VivisQueen said:
I wan screw you now, aion. and good to have you back - i missed you lot xxx
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As I informed you prior to promising to read your reviews and then finding myself far too lazy to read endless paragraphs not from my own finger, not unless you show me a picture. Plus, I think I might be somehow racist due to how my penis only appreciating certain colours... or 2D drawings. Idk.


OT: I need to re-watch both Howl's and Spirited, simply to remember why I hated them enough to go with 4/10 and 5/10 respectively. My usage of numbers usually matches my personality; me being a nice and understanding guy, and all.

Just for the sake of randomness, here are my Ghibli ratings so that everyone knows what to watch and what not to watch, for Allah blessed me with good taste:

Grave of the Fireflies: 9/10
Ocean Waves: 9/10
Princess Mononoke: 9/10
Only Yesterday: 8/10
Whisper of the Heart: 8/10
Earthsea: 7/10
Laputa: 7/10
Nausicaa: 7/10
The Castle of Cagliostro: 7/10
Kiki's Delivery Service: 6/10
My Neighbor Totoro: 6/10
Pom Poko: 6/10
Ponyo: 6/10
Porco Rosso: 6/10
Spirited Away: 5/10
Howl's Castle: 4/10
 
That-Bastard-Bad-Guy-Aion said:
I'd describe a person who can sit through Totoro, Kiki's or Patlabor 2 without yawning/needing a break once a fantastically intelligent person indeed, to be perfectly honest - no offense. You have to have a soul and some level of intelligence and comprehension (which I don't) to appreciate Miyazaki.
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I couldn't agree with you more dear fellow. :eek:

Wow, I thought we'd never get past your posturing.
 
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, sweetness. Copying my method of attack will not earn you my friendship...

Castle of C-something was decent entertainment but lacked the depth someone as mature as myself needs to derive a respectable amount of enjoyment out of the experience. Some guy called Lupin breaks in; a cop chases him; there's action. Methinks you need to be an oldish fart/have been into anime back in the day to truly love it. I just like it and no more.

By the by, if you people want to see how an anime movie can have a fantasy setting AND good characterization, as well as be worthy of respect by adults such as myself, this is the film you need to be watching: http://myanimelist.net/anime/1130/Windaria

(Note the low rating because it isn't a Ghibli film.)

It's kinda-sorta the Now and Then, Here and There of the anime movie world. (Cheerful stuff, in short.)
 
Castle of Cagliostro was made years before Ghibli existed you silly people. But if we're counting it on the basis that Miyazaki directed then it's my favourite of the lot. It's quite clearly the best film ever animated, though one needs a degree of taste and sophistication to fully appreciate it.
 
That-Bastard-Bad-Guy-Aion said:
VivisQueen said:
I wan screw you now, aion. and good to have you back - i missed you lot xxx
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As I informed you prior to promising to read your reviews and then finding myself far too lazy to read endless paragraphs not from my own finger, not unless you show me a picture. Plus, I think I might be somehow racist due to how my penis only appreciating certain colours... or 2D drawings. Idk.


OT: I need to re-watch both Howl's and Spirited, simply to remember why I hated them enough to go with 4/10 and 5/10 respectively. My usage of numbers usually matches my personality; me being a nice and understanding guy, and all.

Just for the sake of randomness, here are my Ghibli ratings so that everyone knows what to watch and what not to watch, for Allah blessed me with good taste:

Grave of the Fireflies: 9/10
Ocean Waves: 9/10
Princess Mononoke: 9/10
Only Yesterday: 8/10
Whisper of the Heart: 8/10
Earthsea: 7/10
Laputa: 7/10
Nausicaa: 7/10
The Castle of Cagliostro: 7/10
Kiki's Delivery Service: 6/10
My Neighbor Totoro: 6/10
Pom Poko: 6/10
Ponyo: 6/10
Porco Rosso: 6/10
Spirited Away: 5/10
Howl's Castle: 4/10
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Well you are clearly somewhat of a fan of Miyazaki, as you gave four of his films a 7/10 or over.

Also I'm sorry to bring it up again as I'm sure I've already stated my opinions of this film more than enough already, I really woudn't say anything but when the same person rates Earthsea*shudder* a 7/10 and Spirited away a 5/10 something has clearly gone very, very wrong.
 
Earthsea and Laputa are on opposite sides of the same coin, and by that I mean Earthsea had a great first half while Laputa had a great last stretch.

You may or may not have realized this, but I'm only human; meaning my ability to be objective is hampered by my natural likes and dislikes. And, in this instance, my love of JRPGs influenced me; making me LOVE the medieval towns, swords & sorcery and whatnot in Earthsea. Throw in some beautiful scenery shots, a master-student, shounen-esque relationship AND a romance subplot and it's kind of hard for me to not 7/10 it. The last half was pretty terrible, I freely admit, but not quite to the point that I could ignore a JRPG-esque story with a dark edge; slavery even being a subplot in the story.

Me 7/10ing instead of 6/10ing Earthsea and me 8/10ing Shin Angyo Onshi instead of 7/10ing are down to my love of medieval action with some twisted occurrences. I'm not a machine, and those ratings highlight that fact.

...In any event, if you're going to be anal with me, Vash, I feel the need to tell you that I can't help but look down on an individual who questions me... not knowing that capitalizing names, towns and titles are must-does. Tut-tut.
 
Hmm, sorry if I came of a bit anal it was really a more light hearted comment, I do understand different prefferences and whatnot.

As for earthsea, well I suppose if you love all those things you listed it might not have disappointed so much. But as for me(a fan of the books) I had higher expectations for a Ghibli Earthsea film than simply a cool looking film with a JRPG plot, in fact a JRPG story is last thing I wanted, not that I actually really ever thought of that film as having a JRPG story, I just saw it as a poorly done interpretation

I suppose it really all just came down to what you expected from it.
 
I forgive you.

Yeah; I did read that Ghibli butchered the source material. But the same is true of Howl's Castle - a movie hated by fans of the novel(s?), if my memory is working correctly.

It's ALWAYS best to watch an adaptation BEFORE reading the source material. If I'd read Monte Cristo before watching Gankutsuou, I sure as well wouldn't have 10/10'd it due to Dantes' character only being half the character he was in the novel.

You'd be surprised how opinions can be warped by faithfulness to the original work. Narutards argued (and still do, in all probability) with passion over how the first anime was **** in comparison to the manga... even though it pretty much followed it faithfully, until the filler hell.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
Castle of Cagliostro is quite clearly the best film ever animated
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I'd go along with that. I generally like Miyazaki's work, but Cagliostro is the only film of his that I love. The story is simple, but the film is so perfectly executed and beautiful to look at that I honestly can't fault it. If that makes me a geezer, so be it.
 
That-Bastard-Bad-Guy-Aion said:
Castle of C-something was decent entertainment but lacked the depth someone as mature as myself needs to derive a respectable amount of enjoyment out of the experience. Some guy called Lupin breaks in; a cop chases him; there's action. Methinks you need to be an oldish fart/have been into anime back in the day to truly love it. I just like it and no more.
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Cagliostro is a slapstick comedy. It's 'depth' will depend on whether it delivers fun, zany, well-animated adventure through the actions of charming characters. And, well, that's EXACTLY what it delivers.

I understand that Lupin is ordinarily a misogynistic lech but Miyazaki actually manages to turn him into something bordering on suave (that scene in the princess' bedroom was heartwarming). But all right, you did at least like, which means your sense of taste is not a complete disaster.
 
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