Spirited Away

[The Ghost of Bondo]

This movie won Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards this year.  It is the highest grossing Japanese film ever.  And it is now out on DVD.  That means everyone can and should rent it ASAP.  I just finished watching it and it is simply amazing.  It currently stands as the best movie of last year (mind you I do have many to go, but I don't anticipate them being better because they are normal films that I can't see being as magical).

[0 Kilz:M:]

I *gasp* must agree with Bondo...I took my daughter to see this movie in the theater and it is well worth it. It may be a bit long but the animation is sweet. I myself will probably buy this movie.

[kami]

I saw this movie 3 years ago. In Japan, in Japanese. I have to see it again, I don't think I got everything when I saw it Still I got enough to figure out that it was a good movie.

[jn.loudnotes]

Forgive me, but I'm going to break the bubble.  I saw it and thought it was really good for an animated flick.  But other than being a clever story, it didn't seem that amazing.  Parts were a little too weird for my taste.  But why all the fuss?  I've even seen Disney fairy tale films that were as well done.

[The Ghost of Bondo]

A lot of the stuff isn't obvious.

SPOILER (below)   --fixed by loudnotes

You know the big stink spirit that turns out to be a river spirit one they yank all the shit out of him.  That is a message about river pollution.  There are all sorts of little touches like that woven in.  If you do get the DVD I suggest you watch the "Art of Spirited Away" special feature.[/color]

[Mr. Lothario]

     Loud, a lot of the depth of it comes from little touches, like the one Bondo mentioned (BTW, you need to get better at demarcating spoilers), or allusions to Japanese myths.

     Anybody who liked Spirited Away should watch some of Studio Ghibli's other movies, especially those directed by Miyazaki. Miyazaki has been responsible for about 60% of Studio Ghibli's output over the past twenty years, including Spirited Away. I recommend the movie Porco Rosso. Even non-anime fans would probably enjoy that one, since it doesn't require an understanding of Japanese culture to appreciate (it's set near Italy in the period between the World Wars). My Neighbor Totoro is also an excellent Miyazaki/Ghibli film, and it was also the studio's first big hit.

[The Ghost of Bondo]

That was actually the first thing I did after I finished watching, I imdb'd him and marked all the movies available on DVD to add to my Netflix Quere.

Hehe, one of his movies has the American title, Kiki's Dilivery Service...Kiki is my girlfriend's nickname

As for my spoiler warning Loth.  I figure people reading in the American style would see the spoiler warning prior to the stuff below it and be able to skip it...I mean, if I add like 20 lines before the spoiler people are just as likely to see it in going to the next post.  Newsgroups are easier to put spoilers because people just go to a new message if they don't want to be spoiled.

[jn.loudnotes]

Ok it's illegible now  

I completely missed that touch. . .hmm.  I guess I tend to watch movies more for entertainment and less for depth.  What are some other things you noticed?

By the way - if you like animated propaganda - read or watch Dr. Seuss's "The Bread and Butter Battle"  Great movie/book.

I've seen Totoro. . .that was the first anime film I saw. . .I suppose it was deep too - I definitely missed that too  

[The Ghost of Bondo]

By the way - if you like animated propaganda - read or watch Dr. Seuss's "The Bread and Butter Battle"  Great movie/book.

Lol, I was reading that book to a third grader I was tutoring and I was thinking in the back of my head, what anti-Cold War wackiness is this?  I found it rather humourous actually since I know he wasn't thinking anything other than, that sounds funny and those pictures are funny.

I had to read The Giver this year for a class, I read it back when it was published when I was in like 6th grade.  There is talk about "The Stirrings" when he dreams about asking this girl to take off her clothes and get into a tub and let him sponger her.  I was laughing my ass off wondering how I could ever have been so innocent as to miss what was meant by that, it wasn't exactly subtle.

Anyway, for more of the things about Spirited Away...

*SPOILER*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
No Face was lonely and wanted to find a true friend, someone who didn't like him for his ability to make gold.

This may not be as hidden but the whole concept is based on Shinto beliefs.

There were some of the more obvious ones...the greed of the parents is what gets turns them into pigs...her change from snotty brat to heroine on account of work ethic, love, and morality.

Despite the witch being so mean, she is still loving to her (somewhat bratty child).  The child through spending time with the girl and seeing her bravery, overcame his own spoiled behavior.

Those are the ones I can think of now.

[cookievier]

i saw spirited away twice the other day, i loved it. definitely a stimulating and engrossing film........




do i sound like ebert???  

[kami]

Despite my Japanese roots I never really had a real interest of anime movies, with one exception, Miyazaki's movies, they're all really great, I really recommend the movies Loth mentioned. I've seen them all but in Japanes, even though my Jap is fuxxored (I suck, I know), I still think they're amazing. And as Bondo said, there's a lot of Shinto beliefs, I like that (have ever since I prayed in a Shinto temple when I was a kid)

[Mr. Lothario]

     Thanks for the repair, Loud.   Bondo, my problem with the form SPOILER: (carriage return, carriage return) text of spoiler is that I read fast enough that by the time my brain has finished parsing the warning about a spoiler, I'm already halfway through the spoiler itself. Your second spoiler warning worked fine, though.

     Anyhow, I just recalled another anime that more people should be exposed to. It's a 13-episode series titled Now and Then, Here and There. It is excellent. So intense. I normally watch about two to three hours of anime a night, one episode after another in the same series. With NTHT, I was having to take breaks between episodes. Intense as hell, but in the best possible way. Get Direct Connect from VersionTracker. With DC and some anime hubs, you can get NTHT in a few days to a week (NTHT is hard to find. Most series take no more than a night to get). While you're at it, get the Studio Ghibli films.  

[The Ghost of Bondo]

Spirited Away is quite tame for anime in that it is visually not overwhelming (flashing and such).  I have trouble with both animation and movies that have a hectic speed to them, I tend to get motion sickness.  That is a negative towards that.

I also don't have great desire to watch serial anime because it just takes too much effort to catch up on.  I like the self contained ones.

BTW, I'm amazed no one had mentioned Princess Mononoke yet.

One anime that I'm planning on looking into is .hack via the video game.  The game (for PS2) is a single player off line, MMORPG, if that makes any sense.  And it comes with a DVD with four episodes of the anime.  There are four parts to .hack that will be released one per quarter (the first came out in Feb) each will have a game and a DVD.  There is also an external .hack movie I think.

[Mr. Lothario]

     Princess Mononoke underwhelmed me. It had the stunning visuals, but the story just left me cold. I don't understand your objection to series as being "too hard to catch up on", when you can get all the episodes at once and watch it from the beginning.

[The Ghost of Bondo]

Don't most series use more than one DVD?  With my rental place you have to get each DVD seperately which is a pain in the ass since you don't have them all at once.

[Mr. Lothario]

     Ah, I see where our communication discontinuity is occurring. I download my series. I spend a few days downloading every episode of a series, then I watch them all over the course of a few days to a week, burning and deleting as I go. Then I rinse and repeat. It's worked well, and I have access to series that aren't available in America.

[The Ghost of Bondo]

Apparently I'm too law-abiding so my mind doesn't go to such things

[Snipes]

I myself have not seen it, but from over 5 people in this thread saying that it was a very good movie, I think I might rent it somtimes..

[cookie]

if you want to see a good anime, watch vampire hunter d   it was the midnight showing at this little theater i go to... and it was excellent, especially because the theater was so sinister looking.

[Mr. Lothario]

     D is certainly a classic. It was a trendsetter for a fair bit of modern anime. It's hardly in the same league with the true greats, though. It's good, very good, but not great.