Watched during my Spring of Animation.
While Castle in the Sky may have been the beginning for Studio Ghibli officially, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is an honorary inclusion to the studio's catalogue, and a hell of an inclusion at that. Castle was charming, and I enjoyed it, but it didn't set me up with the expectation that this film would hit me so hard, even with its acclaimed reputation. There was a lot about that film that…
Watched during my Spring of Animation.
The one rewatch in the lineup of Ghibli films that I picked, but so much time has gone by that I remembered basically nothing anyway. It's a refreshing minimizing of scale; no impending war, or apocalyptic threats; just the simple difficulties of growing up, fitting in, finding your purpose, burning out, and the unique hardships of harnessing your creativity. How simple kindness and the acceptance of vulnerability can help us overcome these hardships, with…
Watched during my Summer of J-Horror III.
Another great entry. It's pretty much the same situation as File 02, but the plot and character lines feel a lot more engaging and thought out. Probably most resembles Shiraishi's other major works of all of these episodes so far, with the scope of the incident steadily rising out of control, and some of his signature tentacle entities making an appearance. It can get a little repetitive in spots, but the bonkers stuff makes it more than worth it.
Watched during my Summer of J-Horror III.
A lot more coherent than the previous episode, and fun to see Shiraishi tackle something more uh..."grounded" if you can call it that haha. Awesome creature design, lots of cool reveals, fun storyline. My favorite of these so far for sure.
Yeah, I just burst into tears at the sight of two animated bears hugging in a theater packed full of children.
