![]() Takahata's Ghibliįilms are episodic in nature, they tend to have a "this happened, then this happened, then this happened" structure arranged under a loosely conceived over-arching plot. Miyazaki builds driving narrative engines he uses plot in a way dissimilar from best of Hollywood blockbusters, thrill-rides as it were. In general, Takahata has a tendency to be a more adventurous and experimental than Miyazaki with far less of a concern for plot. ![]() That isn't to imply that Pom Poko bears no relationship to the totality of Takahata's work. ![]() He wanted to animate the tale so much, he jammed it into a film in which After all, how else could have Miyazaki forced Takahata to follow up the acclaimed Grave of the Fireflies not with a story of his own preference, but a tossed-off idea totally out of line with the rest of Takahata's work? The young Heike and his famous story appear in a brief cryptic scene shoehorned into Pom Poko, more or less proving that Takahata's passion for the project is more than rumor. But after Nausicaa Valley of the Wind's success that led to the formation of Studio Ghibli, MiyazakiĬlearly ran the show. Takahata did start out collaborating with Miyazaki while at a level of success and notoriety slightly above his colleague, having directed the well-regarded Horus in 1968 before they joined forces in the t.v. Takahata his due and placing him on an equal plane with Miyazaki - stories like the genesis of Pom Poko make it a little tough to believe that's exactly the case. As I mentioned in the intro, Studio Ghibli has recently been insistent on giving The story goes Takahata want to make a film of the classic "The Tale of Heike" about a noble novice samurai set in the 12th century, but Miyazaki pushed him to make a film of the story that had popped into his head one day about tanukis battling real estate developers. In fact, Takahata has said on multiple occasions that Pom Poko is his film least close to his heart. Police officers to death with their massive nuts. It wasn't exactly in his wheelhouse to make a movie about mythical raccoon creatures who morph into forms ranging from teapots to human beings to faceless demons or beat The experimental My Neighbors the Yamadas is a gentle visually stylized consideration of mundane domesticity. Only Yesterday concerns a young office worker looking back at her life and regretting her mistakes in love and career. Over the course of the film, the girl slowly starves to death. ![]() While frequently championed as one of the greatest achievements in the history of animation, Grave of the Fireflies nonetheless can be difficult to endure - it's based on an autobiographical book about a boy and his young sisterīraving war-torn Japan. The film is fairly off-model for director Isao Takahata, who tended towards a kind of stylized realism with his three other Ghibli films My Neighbors the Yamadas, Only Yesterday and Grave of the Fireflies. Have been both more intelligible and more awesome. I think we can agree that simply calling it "Magic Raccoon War!" would The phrase is an onomatopoeia that represents the sound these tanukis make when the puff up their bellies and bang on them like a bass drum. The only part that doesn't make sense is the "pom poko" tag that was used as the U.S. Tanuki War Pom Poko." It's about some tanukis (the aforementioned shape-shifting, profoundly testicled magical raccoons) at war during the era ruled over by Emperor Heisei. So, wait, what? What is Pom Poko about? Well, it's all there in the full Japanese title which translates as "Heisei-era If you watch Pom Poko, you will laugh and marvel at raccoon testicles. Yes, the testicles themselves are magic: they expand, transform, warp into fake bridges, hang-gliders, assault weapons and ornate boats packed with treasure. Speaking of weird fundamentally Japanese perviness, here's a film about magical raccoon testicles. Studio Ghibli at the JBFC, Part 1 (page 2)
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