Howl's Moving Castle is one of our most favorite movies. You should also try watching Arrietty, My Neighbour Totoro etc (from Ghibli studios) they are all really beautiful movies.
During Covid lockdowns I started learning Japanese and am so glad I did. I found many Japanese truth podcasters who are much better than any English ones I have watched!
I have watched some interviews with Miyazaki and what I like about him is that he hates any kind of technology. They do all their animations old fashioned way without AI etc. There was a clip where an American company was showing how AI can create anime characters and he just tore into them saying "Why would I want those soulless characters".
That said, best Ghibli movies (other than Howl's) is something where Miyazaki's "craziness" is tempered by other directors / writers. If given full reign, he goes pretty weird.
Whats why I didn't like the latest movie (which is much hyped in the West) - Boy and the Heron at all.
And it is so much purer because of that. There is something off about AI; it just lacks the essence of life in my opinion. You hit the nail on the head, they are souless..
Ha indeed; sometimes a creative genius must be reigned in but love the theme of transience and mutability.
There is something so unique about Japanese anime; when you mentioned Howl's brought me back to Japanese Literature translation class.
It was my senior year, I knew nothing about anime. I was a jock wrestler and found myself in class with hardcore Jap Lit/Anime students as needed a last minute lit credit to graduate. Was taught by a wonderful professor. I was so different but they embraced me; even got an A- in the class (but had to work my but off). It really was a reaching across the aisles moment as they looked at me as a foreigner at first but over time they respected the fact that I embraced the class, took it seriously and got so much from it. Great memories!
Never watched Cat Returns because I always thought it was a sequel to Totoro (dont ask me why), but recently found out its a whole different movie. So its on my watchlist.
I also love Ponyo, Poppy Hill, Whispers of the Wind, Marnie, Grave of the fireflies.
Outside Ghibli, I like Your Name - its a beautiful "family film anime"
Do you know Japanese? I learned it when I was in my 20’s but I kind of forgot because I didn’t have anybody to practice with. I know some like Arigato Gozaimashita which is thank you very polite, konbanwa.
I can read Japanese pretty well, understand podcasts etc, esp if there are subtitles, but very bad at talking - mainly because I don't get to practice.
I have started reading literature - very very slow and requires looking up every other word - but man, its incredible. I feel like a whole new world has been opened up to me.
I wish I can be like you, If you know how to read Japanese you are amazing. This language is not easy, however we can learn and do a lot of things in this life we have God’s DNA.
Yeah, I love the Kanji. I was always daunted by them, but I came across a site called wanikani, which lets you learn and practice the vocabulary, and I decided to learn 100 kanjis for fun during lockdowns when I was sick and in the bed.
It became very addictive and I kept going and going, pretty sure that I will start forgetting older ones as I learn new ones. Surprisingly, when I reached the point where I could read simple writings, I could keep reading things daily and keep my memory fresh.
I know what he meant, his kind of anime is great because it's a great "slice of life" and good-feels kind of anime, not the weird ones with a lot of sex appeal, sexual innuendos, sexual fetishes (including lolicons and waifus), androgynous people and off-the-wall nonsense.
There are still good anime outside of Studio Ghibli that I watch but yeah there are some questionable anime that I avoid because they're too weird and creepy.
My problem with "Anime" is the amount of shows with sexualisation of young girls. I am pretty sure there is a lot of Pedo Cabal influence behind this industry, but that doesn't mean all animes are bad. Just have to be very careful and when you see the red flags, ditch the show.
Howl's Moving Castle is one of our most favorite movies. You should also try watching Arrietty, My Neighbour Totoro etc (from Ghibli studios) they are all really beautiful movies.
During Covid lockdowns I started learning Japanese and am so glad I did. I found many Japanese truth podcasters who are much better than any English ones I have watched!
Can't believe its been so long since that first came out. Great movie. Such beauty in Anime; so much there that you don't see unless you are looking.
I have watched some interviews with Miyazaki and what I like about him is that he hates any kind of technology. They do all their animations old fashioned way without AI etc. There was a clip where an American company was showing how AI can create anime characters and he just tore into them saying "Why would I want those soulless characters".
That said, best Ghibli movies (other than Howl's) is something where Miyazaki's "craziness" is tempered by other directors / writers. If given full reign, he goes pretty weird.
Whats why I didn't like the latest movie (which is much hyped in the West) - Boy and the Heron at all.
And it is so much purer because of that. There is something off about AI; it just lacks the essence of life in my opinion. You hit the nail on the head, they are souless.. Ha indeed; sometimes a creative genius must be reigned in but love the theme of transience and mutability.
There is something so unique about Japanese anime; when you mentioned Howl's brought me back to Japanese Literature translation class. It was my senior year, I knew nothing about anime. I was a jock wrestler and found myself in class with hardcore Jap Lit/Anime students as needed a last minute lit credit to graduate. Was taught by a wonderful professor. I was so different but they embraced me; even got an A- in the class (but had to work my but off). It really was a reaching across the aisles moment as they looked at me as a foreigner at first but over time they respected the fact that I embraced the class, took it seriously and got so much from it. Great memories!
I highly recommend Steins;Gate, starts slow but about midway they forget what brakes are.
Never watched Cat Returns because I always thought it was a sequel to Totoro (dont ask me why), but recently found out its a whole different movie. So its on my watchlist.
I also love Ponyo, Poppy Hill, Whispers of the Wind, Marnie, Grave of the fireflies.
Outside Ghibli, I like Your Name - its a beautiful "family film anime"
Do you know Japanese? I learned it when I was in my 20’s but I kind of forgot because I didn’t have anybody to practice with. I know some like Arigato Gozaimashita which is thank you very polite, konbanwa.
I can read Japanese pretty well, understand podcasts etc, esp if there are subtitles, but very bad at talking - mainly because I don't get to practice.
I have started reading literature - very very slow and requires looking up every other word - but man, its incredible. I feel like a whole new world has been opened up to me.
I wish I can be like you, If you know how to read Japanese you are amazing. This language is not easy, however we can learn and do a lot of things in this life we have God’s DNA.
Yeah, I love the Kanji. I was always daunted by them, but I came across a site called wanikani, which lets you learn and practice the vocabulary, and I decided to learn 100 kanjis for fun during lockdowns when I was sick and in the bed.
It became very addictive and I kept going and going, pretty sure that I will start forgetting older ones as I learn new ones. Surprisingly, when I reached the point where I could read simple writings, I could keep reading things daily and keep my memory fresh.
My next goal is to learn Russian.
But Hayao Miyazaki said "Anime is a mistake"!
I know what he meant, his kind of anime is great because it's a great "slice of life" and good-feels kind of anime, not the weird ones with a lot of sex appeal, sexual innuendos, sexual fetishes (including lolicons and waifus), androgynous people and off-the-wall nonsense.
There are still good anime outside of Studio Ghibli that I watch but yeah there are some questionable anime that I avoid because they're too weird and creepy.
My problem with "Anime" is the amount of shows with sexualisation of young girls. I am pretty sure there is a lot of Pedo Cabal influence behind this industry, but that doesn't mean all animes are bad. Just have to be very careful and when you see the red flags, ditch the show.
It's Sony. Sony own most of the major anime studios, they also own most of the manga printer distributers in the West.
I did a dig a long time ago, and that was the conclusion. Everything lead back to Sony. I think they are also behind the anime streaming service Crunchyroll. https://www.sonypictures.com/corp/press_releases/2021/0809/sonysfunimationglobalgroupcompletesacquisitionofcrunchyrollfromatt
Funimation is a Sony owned company that is behind most popular anime shows.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/producer/102/Funimation
So yes, it's probably the Pedo Cabal.
u/#mikeyep