I’m well aware of the amount of story summaries, spoilers, and background informations out there about The Wind Rises, so I wanted to discuss something a bit more different.

A lot has occurred during the last few years in Japan, with the most notable and society-changing incident that took place obviously being the Tohoku earthquake and tsunamis that wrecked Japan in March of 2011. Two (now almost three) years later, Japan is still dealing with the aftermath of this natural disaster— not only is Japan still rebuilding from the devastations of the quake, but the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima continues to worry the livelihood of the Japanese people. In addition to the natural disaster, the Japanese government under Prime Minister Abe is striving to pull Japan back up economically. Of course, the Abe regime’s actions and efforts aren’t without criticisms, as it is frequently condemned among the Japanese public.

In short, Japan is going through some tough, stormy times.

Ghibli’s Kaze Tachinu might be a historical fiction based on a designer of the fighter plane Mitsubishi A6M Zero— but as I watched the film, I couldn’t help but compare the Japanese society of today to that of the one illustrated on screen in front of me. Perhaps it’s the tumultuous times that Japan faced in the last few years that overlaps with the turbulence of Japan before it launched into WWII, but the events and scenes within the film forced me to compare the current Japanese society with the one that Jiro Horikoshi (the main character) lived in during a pre-WWII era.

So I came across this question and wanted to discuss it a little further after watching Miyazaki’s final masterpiece—what did Miyazaki want to say about the Japanese society today through this film? Hopefully I’ll be able to give a different perspective of this film without giving away the plot!

To Be “Japanese”

One thing that’s particularly interesting about this film is that it’s based on an actual historical figure, Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the infamous Zero fighter planes.

Throughout the film, Jiro meets people of different countries— the famed aircraft engineer and designer Caproni of Italy, the European engineers he meets during his travel to a German aircraft manufacturers, to name a few. I think this movie might be the first time Miyazaki illustrated interaction of characters of different nationalities so clearly to the audience— and perhaps intentionally to make the audience (in this case the Japanese ones) think of what it means to be Japanese.

Historically speaking, Japan appears to have always played the role of “catching up” to the West— for the longest time, Japan’s goal has been to modernize to join the ranks of US and the European states, and maybe even surpass them. Miyazaki’s film touches upon this notion in the film through Jiro’s interaction with the engineers of a leading German aircraft manufacturer.

But the highlight here isn’t that Japan lagged behind technologically in terms of aircraft manufacturing— it’s how Jiro interacts with his German counterparts. Jiro’s a collected individual, and seeing the way he interacts and negotiates to achieve an “equal playing field” with the German workers might have been Miyazaki’s desire to remind his Japanese audience to be proud of who they are. It’s not exactly imbuing them with nationalism persay, but perhaps Miyazaki wanted to remind his Japanese viewers that despite certain disadvantages to other states, their country holds a lot of good qualities as well, many of which are portrayed through Jiro’s personality and nature.

Slowing Down

There’s quite a lot of comparison between the “old” and the “new” in the film, during which Jiro was at the forefront of modernizing and making the “new” generation of Japanese airplanes. Jiro might have been placed in charge of designing a new, fast and durable fighter plane in the film— but throughout the film, he drops hints of his appreciation for slowness.

Jiro’s plane is lugged onto the testing field “old school” fashion— using oxen.

“Is “fast”, “modernity” and “convenience” the be-all and end-all?” I felt like Miyazaki was constantly throwing this question at me during the film. It’s an appropriate question for the Japanese society today, especially in the light of recent Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Sure, nuclear energy is convenient for a country like Japan that lacks energy resources— does it mean it should put its dependency and priority on it? This might just be one example, but I felt that Miyazaki was beckoning his audience to question this dependency on modernity, and instead consider the alternatives and remember how things were done in the past. There’s not only one way to do things— and perhaps Miyazaki wants his audience to recognize the implications of such conventional methods on the society today.

All You Need Is Love

Jiro and Nahoko share a kiss sporadically throughout the film.

My god, the PDA in this film.

I’m sure many of you are aware that this movie, aside from being about the aspirations of a budding aircraft engineer, also has romance. In the film, Jiro meets and falls in love with a beautiful yet ill-fated girl Nahoko. Despite her illness, the two lovers seek to cherish each other, treasuring every moment that they get to share together.

Miyazaki films aren’t known for overt displays of affection— if I think back, the first time I recognized obvious kissing being part of the film was in Howl’s Moving Castle, when Sophie kisses Howl and in Ponyo on the Cliff By the Sea, when Ponyo also kissed (more like pecked) Sosuke at the end of the film.

Regardless, The Wind Rises goes past the light pecks and kisses and really goes above and beyond to show Jiro and Nahoko’s love for one another— and if the film insisted on such blatant forms of PDA all throughout the movie, I knew it meant something significant.

Despite the volatility in their era, Jiro and Nahoko stuck to one another and supported each other— Miyazaki might have wanted to relay the same lesson to the Japanese society today, which also faces equally disturbing political and socioeconomic issues. As a country still rebuilding from a massive earthquake, there’s a lot that needs to be taken care of in Japan— perhaps through his film, Miyazaki is urging the Japanese to support one another, to cherish your loved ones, and to have each other’s backs in this time of struggle. The Japanese society is still in for a wild-ride, and the people can’t possibly stand it without the help of others. As simple as it might sound, helping other people- and being helped by them- can’t be any more relevant to the Japanese society than today.

All you need is love— and everything will fall in place. I felt like that message sat well in me at the end of this beautiful movie.

So, when this film comes to a theater (or download) near you, be sure to watch out for some of these things. What does this historical film say about society today? Certainly something, anyways. If you’ve seen the film let me know what you thought too (without giving away spoilers!)

Seen the movie already too? Think differently about what Miyazaki wanted to relay in his final work? Post on the comment below!

It’s jam packed with whimsy, charm, and nostalgia for what JRPGs used to be all about. Some games (*cough* Final Fantasy *cough*) have started to move towards style over substance, but Ni No Kuni gives hope for games that are still very substance driven – like JRPGs were back in the good ol’ days. So what makes Ni No Kuni so great, other than the fact that you can actually somewhat study Japanese with it (gasp!)?

What the Game’s All About

Ni No Kuni is a very traditional style RPG. You play as Oliver, a little kid from Motortown. Through a series of events, you find yourself partying up with a fairy known as Mr. Drippy and traveling to a parallel universe to save souls and subsequently, the world. The world is filled with amusing creatures and monsters, fairies, and talking cats. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Like most JRPGs, you have HP, MP, and lots of experience to gain and equipment to equip. You recruit party members and familiars to help you in battle, help townspeople out with odd jobs to advance the story, and fight monsters to advance your levels. If you’ve played an RPG before, you’ll know what to expect here. You travel around towns, an overworld map, dungeons, and locales.

For those of you totally unfamiliar with the game, here’s a review that does a good job letting you know what the game is all about.

What Sets it Apart

But playing a game like this, a game that feels more like a classic RPG than a modern innovation, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. This is a JRPG done right. Everything is absolutely top notch. It might not be incredibly innovative or fresh, but everything that is done here is done very well and the game shines as a result.

I believe Studio Ghibli’s influence on this is immediately clear as well. The animation and visuals are strikingly beautiful. Not only do you feel like you’re playing through an anime, you feel like you’re playing through a Studio Ghibli film. What could be better than that?

The soundtrack is no slouch either. All the music is very whimsical and fits in just great with the rest of the game. It was composed by the esteemd Joe Hisaishi and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Another great thing is that the game actually lets you have the original Japanese audio track as an option. I’ve heard great things about the English dub, but being able to play through with the original Japanese voices is a real treat.

The battle system is really fun, but it takes some time to really get rolling. In the beginning you just have Oliver and one familiar to control. It works, but it’s not exactly exciting. Eventually you recruit other party members and gain access to more familiars. This is when things really start to open up.

For Studying Japanese

Since the game includes the original Japanese language track, you can use that for your Japanese studies, depending on your level of Japanese. Also, Mr. Drippy (the little fairy that follows you around) speaks in Kansai dialect, so that’s just fantastic.

Anyway, one issue is that the English subtitles (which can’t be turned off, unfortunately) are not direct translations of the Japanese audio. This can be kind of goofy (or fun) when you’re playing along listening to the Japanese and reading the English and realizing that they don’t really match up. It’s kind of entertaining to pick these out and think about how you might have translated them in your head as you’re playing along, assuming you don’t get too distracted from the game itself, of course.

Another unfortunate thing is that there’s no Japanese language subtitle option, but I think that having the Japanese audio track alone is impressive enough. All of the latest Tales games (also produced by Namco Bandai) don’t include the Japaenese audio track, so I always appreciate it when games like Ni No Kuni at least give you the option.

Granted, there are much better ways to study Japanese, but it’s nice that the game at least includes the Japanese audio. It’s better than nothing, you know?

The Future

These days I feel like we’re seeing less and less Japanese games like Ni No Kuni. Maybe that’s what makes them stand out so much more, but I really really enjoy them and I am always very excited when they make it over to America, eventually. Do I think that JRPGs will ever make a full return to games like this? Probably not. But it’s nice to know that people are still making games like these and when they do come out, they are very well received.

That being said, I’m guessing that we’ll see games like this one every once in a while, but sadly I doubt that we’ll ever see a true return to the golden age of JRPGs. But who knows? Maybe the next gen systems will surprise all of us and be jam packed with traditional JRPGs. Haha, I wish.

Anyway, I give Ni No Kuni a hearty recommendation. If I had to put a number on it, I’d give it a 9/10 just for the relatively slow start with the battle system. It’s right up there with the brilliant Tales titles I’ve played this generation.

So have any of you played Ni No Kuni? What do you think about the future of traditional style JRPGs? Do you think they’ll still be around for many years to come or do you think the influence of franchises like Final Fantasy will push them all towards “modernization”? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Or is it?

Will Hayao stay retired, or will he make a stunning return to film years later? With the way people have been receiving his son’s films so far (not so great to mixed), your guess is as good as mine. But more importantly, will Hayao’s final film leave us with fond memories of the man? Or will he be leaving us with a sour taste in our mouths?

Retiring? Really??

“Am I retiring? No… Yes I am! Oh ho ho~”

Okay, so Hayao “retired” a handful of times already, actually. Some people say he’s “retired” five times already, others say he just “retires” once every three years. But all of these weren’t actually official and some were just rumor or speculation.

Except for one time.

After the international success of Princess Mononoke (a great film to end your legacy on, by the way), Hayao officially left Ghibli and “retired”. Apparently the amount of work he did on Princess Mononoke was insane. He oversaw 144,000 animation cells and personally redrew about 80,000 of them. Holy crap. I can understand someone being worn out after something like that.

Anyway, after he officially left, he created another studio called Butaya/Nibariki. It was located very close to his old studio and was known as his “retirement place”. While there, he created a manga based on the exploits of Otto Carius, held weekly classes to teach young animators, hosted other activities, and made some animated short films.

In my opinion, this is a pretty awesome and respectable thing to do after retiring. Working on little side projects and teaching others all the great animation knowledge and know-how he possessed? Fantastic. However, he returned to film a mere four years later to direct Spirited Away.

Spirited Away was awesome too, so he probably could have re-retired again and it would have been a great bittersweet moment. But Hayao soldiered on and stepped in to take over Howl’s Moving Castle when the original director left the project. This film wasn’t as amazing as the previous two, but it was still pretty solid.

But this latest retirement announcement sounds like it could actually be legitimate. It seems that Hayao has been “training” his son Goro to take over the family business, but his son (in my eyes) is currently having one hell of a struggle to fill his father’s gigantic shoes. From Up On Poppy Hill was painfully boring. Even if Hayao doesn’t make a second return to film, hopefully he’ll be working with his son behind the scenes to improve the quality of his work.

“I have no idea what I’m doing.”

At 72 years old, Hayao is one of the most celebrated figures in animation. The Wind Rises is his 11th feature length film. Together with Isao Takahata, he founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 which has produced 18 feature films to date, so Hayao’s had a pretty fulfilling career. Studio Ghibli films are loved by many and several of them have topped the Japanese box office. Spirited Away even won an Academy Award for best animated feature over in the good ol’ US of A.

Hayao’s latest film does have the makings of a director’s swan song. The Wind Rises is described as Hayao’s first film made specifically for adults. It’s a very personal film, and it’s also stirring up a bit of debate among the political circles of Japan. Let’s get into that.

The Wind Rises

Hayao’s final film, The Wind Rises, tells the tale of a man named Jiro during World War II. Jiro is a brilliant but naïve engineer, and his character is based on the real designer of Japan’s Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane, Jiro Horikoshi. The story looks to explore love, responsibility, and death.

From what I can tell, it’s certainly not going to be as lighthearted as what we’ve come to expect from Hayao’s films. This one looks to be more akin to the likes of Ghibli’s most famous heart-string puller, Grave of the Fireflies.

Even so, the film still seems to maintain a bit of that classic Ghibli whimsical feel. This should add a nice contrast to all of the terrible sorrowful feelings that look to be so prevalent in this film. The sad things will probably be made even more sad and striking due to the dichotomy between them and the occasional fantastical whimsy.

The film takes us along on Jiro’s journey from a child fascinated by planes to a man creating one of the most feared aircrafts of the war. Jiro’s love for planes and flight is depicted as simple and pure. Jiro doesn’t care about the war effort, he just wants to make a great plane that he can be proud of. But by the end of the film, Jiro starts to question everything.

The Reception Thus Far

Hayao has traditionally been somewhat of a pacifist, so some fans were a bit confused as to why he would choose a film like this to go out on. Some people think that it was strange for Hayao to choose the manufacturer of a vehicle of destruction as the star for his film, but Hayao doesn’t see it that way.

Hayao was drawn to the story because it featured one of Japan’s eccentric geniuses and this appealed to him. Plus Hayao has always been fascinated with planes and flight himself. In an interview, he stated that “It was wrong from the beginning to go to war, but it’s useless to blame Jiro for it.”

“Pipe down, Hayao.”

The film has also sparked some political debate. Hayao recently published an article saying that he was disgusted by the government’s plans to expand Japan’s army. He was also taken aback by the government’s apparent ignorance of history. Though not mentioned specifically by name, most believe these statements were directed at Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

Japanese conservatives have pretty much told Hayao to keep his opinions to himself and stay out of politics.

“I’m watching you.”

As for the film itself, some feel that its slow moving style and lack of visual flair make it boring. Overall, though, it’s received favorable reviews and is a box office success. I can understand the slow moving complaints though. I feel that way about a decent amount of Japanese movies, but if Japanese critics are the ones calling this movie slow moving, it must be really slow moving.

I wouldn’t say I’m getting my hopes up too high for this film though. My two favorite films of his were Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, and I don’t think he (or Ghibli for that matter) have come close to matching them since. I do really hope my expectations are exceeded though.

Now I’m not saying that I’m not looking forward to The Wind Rises. I just don’t want to set my expectations too high only to be disappointed. I feel like the film will be a good one, I’m just not sure if it’ll be blowing me out of the water with how good it is. But I really want this film to surprise me and make me glad that it’s the last film he left us with. The trailer makes it seem like the film could be really moving and powerful, and I sincerely hope that it is.

Hayao’s Future

“Sayo~nara~”

I think it would be absolutely fantastic if Hayao returns to Butaya and does what he was doing the last time he retired. His son could still use a lot of training and improvement and I’m sure many other animators could benefit from his vast pool of animation knowledge too.

And just because he’s retiring from film doesn’t mean that he won’t be creating anything. Last time he made a manga and some animated shorts. Who knows what he’ll come up with this time? I know I’m certainly looking forward to finding out.

So, do you think The Wind Rises will be a good one to end his career on (if he really does retire for good)? What do you think he’ll get into over at Butaya? Think he’ll stay retired for good this time? Either way, Hayao Miyazaki has had a brilliant career and he certainly deserves all the respect in the world.

Bonus Wallpapers!

[2560x1600] ∙ [1280x800]

Sites Referenced:
The Economist
The Guardian
Kotaku

In Japan, I worked for an investment company as a financial planner and broker. While working there, I shuddered and trembled upon witnessing the so-called “ジブリの呪い” (giburi no noroi), aka “Ghibli’s Curse” aka “The Curse Of Ghibli.”

I had no idea until I started working as a financial planner that this curse even existed, holding itself over the stock and currency market. However, as soon as I joined the financial industry, the curse occurred. After a Ghibli movie was aired on TV one Friday night, bad things happened to the market. Very evil and curse-like things (dun dun dunn).

You see, Nippon Television Network Corp airs a movie every Friday night. That spot is called “金曜ロードショー” (kinyou roadshow/ Friday Roadshow). Occasionally on this show they air a Ghibli movie. When this happens, bad stuff happen to the Japanese stock market or currency market soon after.

Sometimes it’s related to 米国雇用統計 (beikoku koyoutoukei / US jobs numbers), which is also called 米国非農業部門雇用者数 (beikoku hinougyoubumon koyoushasuu / US nonfarm payroll dates). Other times it has to do with bad reports. No matter what the trigger may be, Japanese traders, investors, and other related workers are acutely aware of this eerie “curse” and will pay attention to the TV schedules for just this reason.

Running The Numbers

It’s been a while since I quit my job so I don’t remember exactly, but I feel like I remember how on these days other countries’ currencies would go down or the Nikkei (Japanese stock market) would drop. I wanted to make sure that I could show this to you guys so I ran the numbers and made a diagram from February 22, 2008 until August 2, 2013. Please take a look below. There you can see that with 28 out of 35 of these days, either the US currency went down or the Nikkei went down. Isn’t that insane? I thought so, at least the first time I learned about this.

So, that’s what happened over last four year eight months. You can see that the Ghibli Curse has taken place an eerily and head scratching amount of times. Of course this could be a coincidence that just lines up with the poor economy, but there is a reason why people believe in this curse, so something must be going on, even if it is completely by chance.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL recently picked up Ghibli’s Curse as a topic, as well. They interviewed some traders in Tokyo, so I’m going to introduce some parts of the article.

“Yen watchers expect the worst when a Ghibli flick airs at the same time that nonfarm payroll data is released in the U.S. (That is at 8:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C., and 9:30 at night in Tokyo.) In eight of the past nine such convergences, the data came in weak. In seven of those cases, the dollar tanked versus the yen and Japanese stocks fell.

On July 8, 2011, during a showing of “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” a Ghibli film about a young witch and her cat, the payroll numbers came in 86% below expectations and the dollar fell 1.2%. The following Monday, Japan’s benchmark index fell 0.7%.

“I always factor into my trading that when a Ghibli movie airs on a Friday, the dollar-yen market could get volatile,” says Yukio Nakamura, a senior manager at a French insurance company in Tokyo, who dabbles in foreign exchange on the side.

“I don’t watch Ghibli movies on TV myself, but I’m always checking the broadcast schedule as a kind of risk hedge.”

So it’s not just me! I’m not crazy, right? Now are you getting scared of Ghibli? Apparently some people who support the conspiracy have even thought that NTV is timing the broadcast deliberately to coincide with the bad news. Against this argument, a spokeswoman for NTV didn’t really mention a lot but said, “We decline to comment. Actually these questions do not merit commenting on.”

Do you believe that this Ghibli’s curse is all a setup? Personally, I want to believe it for fun, but there also is some reasoning behind why this might happen. The movies usually start at 9pm Japan time, on Friday where Japan’s market is already closed for the weekdays. The market in Europe still continues during the movie and the New York market opens afterward. Plus, Current Employment Statistics (CES) in the US is revealed at 9:30pm Japan time on the first Friday of every month. So, bad things tend to happen on Friday nights. Hence, I’d believe the curse more if it continued even if the movie spot changed from Friday to another weekday.

A Destructive Coincidence

This is not directly market related, but there is another mysterious phenomenon on Friday movie night related to Ghibli that I’d like to introduce you guys. It’s actually not for all Ghibli films but for “天空の城ラピュタ (tenkuu-no-shiro-Laputa/Laputa: Castle in the Sky)” and while it’s being aired, Japanese Netizens spam “バルス (barusu/Balus or Balse)!” on either 2-channel or twitter as many times as possible, for some reason.

‘Balus!’ is the magic spell of destruction, which Pazu and Sheeta cast at the climax of the movie. It’s said that spamming ‘Balus’ in sync during Laputa broadcast was started by 2-channelers in 2003.

According to the Twitter Japan official account, the word ‘Balus’ was tweeted 25,088 times-per-second at 11:22pm JST on December 9th, 2011 during the 13th Japanese television broadcast of Laputa. That established a new word record of the number of tweets per second.

However, this record was defeated easily by the 14th airing of Laputa on August 2, 2013. It’s almost like a festival event on the Internet. In order to let more people enjoy this event, ニコニコ動画 (Niko-Niko-Douga) and the Japanese SNS site Mixi launched special web pages for users to spam ‘Balus’ and even Yahoo Japan enabled a ‘Balus’ button on its top page.

And guess what? These all efforts caused 142,199 tweets per second, which is over five times more than the last record and four times more than the existing 2013 record of 33,388 “あけおめ” (akeome -abbreviation of akemashite-omedetou-gozaimasu / A Happy New Year) tweets, according to Twitter JP.

Is it just a coincidence that people tweet the name of the spell for destruction on such a “cursey” day? (Probably). Are you convinced that the Ghibli Curse is real? Me? Well…I am wondering if I am indeed, cursed…because I wrote this entry more slowly (のろい/noroi) than I usually do.

Did anyone get it? Yup, “curse” in Japanese is 呪い and pronounced “noroi” just like the word 鈍い which means “sluggish” or “slow.”

Even if you don’t believe in curses, I hope that you at least enjoyed reading about these Ghibli superstitions! If not, hopefully anyone can enjoy this “Nikkei” Choral Ensemble video doing Ghibli tunes, at the very least (because 日系 sounds like 日経!).

So now you know that I love Ghibli films just as much as you guys, but here’s my question: How many of you have ever been scared of Studio Ghibli? How many of you have heard of Totoro’s urban legend and / or Ghibli’s Curse? Regardless of whether or not you know about them (or believe in them), I personally have literally shuddered and trembled because of them. Ready for some ghost stories? C’mere, gather around my camp fire to stay awhile and listen…

“My Neighbor Totoro”

One of my favorite Ghibli films, 隣のトトロ (Tonari no Totoro / My Neighbor Totoro), has a deep and dark secret. Before we get into that, though, let’s take a look at its fun, friendly plot! Many of you guys probably know of it already, but let me introduce it to you anyways. The story is about two young girls, Satsuki and her little sister, Mei. They move into a house in the countryside with their father to be closer to their mother, who is sick and hospitalized. Then, they discover magical creatures called Totoros inhabiting the nearby forest. They become friends with the Totoros and have magical adventures.

Just to be sure, I’d like to explain that Totoro is not a Japanese traditional character but rather a creation of Hayao Miyazaki. They look like a mixture of several animals: 梟 (fukuro / owls), 猫 (neko / cats), and 狸 (tanuki / raccoon dogs). They are so cute and one of my favorite characters in all Ghibli films. These cuddly creatures seem to be called many names varying from “a giant furry thing” to “a rabbit like spirit.”

One day, though, I found out that the name “Totoro” comes from when Mei mispronounces the word トロール (tororu), the Japanese word for “troll.” It seems so clear watching the movie now, but as a kid I didn’t realize this because the Totoro is so cute! Of course, I was shocked and thought, “TROLL???” My image for trolls wasn’t cute at all. Instead, they were large, stupid, hairy, long-nosed, horned, and creepy bug-eyed creatures.

But, if Totoro is a troll, at least in the eyes of a child, what else could it be? Maybe the child didn’t know better, so she called it a “troll” when it was something else. But what else? Some people out there think that the Totoros are 死神 (shinigami), aka “Gods Of Death.” Considering how often Hayao Miyazaki puts hidden meanings into his Ghibli films, I think it is possible. If you keep reading, you’ll see why other people think this, too.

The Sayama Incident

It has been said that My Neighbor Totoro is actually based on a famous murder case called “The Sayama Incident.” This case occurred on May 1, 1963 in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, when a man kidnapped, raped, and killed a 16-year-old high school girl. Although a suspect was arrested and imprisoned for 31 years, he claimed that he was arrested, wrongfully convicted, and the police failed to catch the real murderer when they had the chance. He also claimed official discrimination against Japan’s 部落民 (burakumin), a social minority in Japanese society. He was paroled and released from prison in 1994, but he still remains guilty and continues to seek a fair trial for the chance to clear his name.

Let’s get back to the connection between the Sayama incident and My Neighbor Totoro, though. Why do people think that this film is related to the Sayama Incident? Why do they think that Totoro represents the God of Death? Here are a few theories:

The Month Of May

The first clue for this conspiracy theory is that both of the sisters’ names related to “May,” the month that the Sayama incident occurred in. The older sister’s name “Satsuki” means “May” in Japanese and the younger sister’s name “Mei” is pronounced just like the English word “May.”

Sayama City

The model of the house from the film is located in 狭山丘陵 (Sayama Kyuryo), which means “Sayama Hills,” and the movie’s location was inspired by Tokorozawa-city, which is next to Sayama City where the incident took place. This all explains why it’s called “My Neighbor,” right? But, the town in the film is in Sayama. Here’s the first clue:

On the box behind the old lady it says “Sayama Tea.” Hmm, suspicious, but not damning. Here’s another clue:

The hospital in the film, 七国病院 (shichikoku byouin) had a real-life counterpart in Sayama, called the 八国病院 (hachikoku byouin). Only one number apart. Coincidence? Probably not. This hospital was supposedly located in the same place as portrayed movie.

Suicide

The girl who was killed in Sayama had an older sister who loved her little sister so much that she committed suicide after her death. It’s said that the older sister was seeing big raccoon or cat-like ghosts before she killed herself, due to so much stress. The Totoros could have been inspired by this. It could be interpreted that Satsuki did the same in the film, though we’ll talk about that in just a second.

Soot Sprites (Susuwatari)

Early in the film the girls see these things, which apparently in Japanese folklore mean you’re about to die. Not a good sign. They also appear later, when Satsuki tries to join her sister in death (whoops, spoilers, okeep reading).

Seeing The Totoros

If you can see the Totoros (aka the God of Death), it means that you’re either dead or almost dead. Kanta, the old lady’s grandson couldn’t see the Totoros even though he was a kid (supposedly kids can see the magic things, though in this case he couldn’t). Yet, the two girls could see them. Remember when Mei goes missing and her slipper is found in the pond? Supposedly Mei actually drowned here. Ruh roh. Actually, though, the slipper is not hers (if you compare slipper pics). So, could this be a representation of something? Or, does it debunk all of these conspiracies? I’m sure you’ll have an opinion on the matter.

Knocking On Death’s Door

So, in this theory, Mei is dead. Satsuki goes to look for her, and opens death’s door, going inside. She’s so wrought with grief that she joins her sister in death, which emulates the girl’s suicide in the Sayama Incident. Remember the susuwatari? They come back during this sequence. Death is not far away… she’s running right into it!

When she’s crossed over to the other side, the Totoro then helps Satsuki to find her sister in dead-land, and then they later go visit their mother. Strangely, nobody notices they were there except for their mother, who is dying. “I felt Satsuki and Mei just laughed near the tree,” the mother said.

This suggests they came to say goodbye before heading off to heaven in their Cat Bus. Speaking of cat buses…

Neko Bus

Some people think the Neko (Cat) Bus is a 1-way trip to heaven (or maybe hell). While I don’t know about this, one of the stops on the Neko Bus is “grave road,” so that sounds pretty must like dead people ride it to me.

Shadows

In the ending scene, Mei and Satsuki don’t have shadows. Only dead people don’t have shadows (for some unknown reason).

There is a lot more of this, but this set of gifs summarizes most of the points. Gifs make everything more understandable, right? Prepare for your childhood to be torn straight from your hearts.

This conspiracy theory has been around for a long time, actually. It got really heated on the internet, and then finally Ghibli had to make an official statement. In 2007, they did just that, denying that the urban legend was true.

“No need to be alarmed. There is absolutely no truth or configuration that Totoros are the Gods of Death or that Mei is dead in My neighbor Totoro.” – said Studio Ghibli

Still, when I was reading this everything made sense and it caused me to shudder and tremble when I thought about it. Who thought a children’s movie could have such scary undertones! So, who’s telling the truth? It seems like there’s a lot here that makes sense. But, people will read into just about anything too much from time to time. Were you convinced either way? Or do you think it’s just a silly story that someone made up. I think that Miyazaki likes to put hidden meanings in his films so… who knows.

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Bonus Wallpapers

[2560x1600] • [1280x800] • [1280x800 Animated] • [700x438 Animated]

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Sources: sukekomashi gaijin

Just recently I learned that the studio’s latest work, From Up on Poppy Hill, will also be making it abroad. But how does it stack up to what we’ve come to expect from Studio Ghibli? How is Hayao Miyazaki’s son, Goro, handling being a director? Is it a good thing that these movies make it outside Japan? Let’s find out.

From Up on Poppy Hill

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-vfzhfq5JA']

Set in Japan of the 1960s, Poppy Hill tells the story of a high school girl living in a boarding house. She meets a guy from the school’s newspaper club and they decide to renovate the school’s clubhouse to prevent it from being torn down. That’s the big story, but there’s also some family confusion as well as some goofy romance going on, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

Overall, the story is pretty bland and totally unexciting. I know the whole theme is supposed to be about knowing what to hold onto from the past and what to let go of and how to move forward and blah blah blah whatever, but you don’t need a whole hour and a half to get that message across. This movie made me sleepy.

Anyway, I thought this movie was terrible. I’m sorry. It was just so incredibly slow and boring. I didn’t identify with any of the characters and I just couldn’t make myself really care about anything that was going on. The animation was fine, and I enjoyed the music, but I think I would have enjoyed the music a lot more if they made Imaginary Flying Machines covers for all of the tracks.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfKHyVWuOIQ']

I think I’ve decided what I’m going to blame this movie being bad on. Hayao Miyazaki’s son, Goro. While Hayao was involved in this film’s screenplay, Goro was the director. Goro directed one other film so far, Tales from Earthsea, and even Hayao thought that movie was terrible. Well, probably. Here’s a quote from Cracked.com on the matter.

Instead of retiring his name on a high note, director Hayao Miyazaki passed the torch to his son, Goro, who has stepped up with all the competency of a child conducting a board meeting at “bring your developmentally challenged son to work” day.

Now, I didn’t see Tales from Earthsea, but that’s because I heard how bad it was so I had no desire to watch it. It got a 42% on RottenTomatoes.com. 42%! Hayao’s “worst” movie got 82%! Yeesh.

Goro, Goro, Goro…

I sincerely hope that Goro and crew get their act together. I can’t say exactly how much of this all is Goro’s fault, but whatever the deal is, I hope they get it sorted sooner than later. Especially if they’re sending these films over to America. They should be sending the cream of the crop, stuff like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away! Y’know, the good stuff!

I mean, we’ve written about Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki before, and I’ve had nothing but good things to say about them. Some films were better than others, but even the ones I didn’t really enjoy I could understand why others might like them. From Up on Poppy Hill is not one of those movies. I can’t even imagine the pain I would experience from watching Tales from Earthsea, both physical and emotional.

“What is that son of mine doing? He’ll never be as good as me! Oh ho ho~”

Let’s just hope that Goro is finding his footing. Poppy Hill might be better than Earthsea, but not by much. Maybe Hayao will smack him around a bit and knock some sense into the boy. The last thing we want is Goro tarnishing the Miyazaki name, and so far he’s heading down that dark and dreary road.

Is it Good that Poppy Hill is Coming to America?

Well, it’s good but it’s also bad. Poppy Hill is being brought over by a group called GKIDS internationally and StudioCanal in the UK. I think this also says a lot about the quality of the film.

The good Studio Ghibli films that made it abroad that people remember (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo) were all distributed by Disney. Disney made the mistake of picking up Tales from Earthsea and by the looks of it, they learned their lesson. Apparently Disney didn’t want anything to do with Poppy Hill. After seeing the movie myself, I do not blame them at all.

The good thing about this being released internationally is that I think it’s always good when Japan gets some international acclaim and people have a chance to experience these movies that they might not have otherwise been able to. Especially when it comes on the big screen because that’s an experience you just cannot recreate at home.

“Here, eat this to get rid of the bad taste Poppy Hill left in your mouth.”

However, this movie is so bad that it’s not going to get people excited to bring other movies by Goro/Ghibli out for the world to see. But I mean, hey, I’m just one guy – maybe everyone else will love the movie. Great. But I really doubt it.

And for those brave souls interested, here’s where Poppy Hill is going to be released initially in America.

March 15

• New York – FC Center
• New York – Film Society of Lincoln Center

March 22

• Los Angeles – The Landmark

March 29

• Chicago – Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema
• San Francisco – Embarcadero Center Cinema
• Palo Alto – CineArts @ Palo Alto Square
• Berkeley – Shattuck Cinemas
• Boston – Kendall Square Cinema
• Seattle – Harvard Exit Theatre
• Minneapolis – Uptown Theater
• San Diego – Landmark’s Hillcrest Cinemas
• Long Island – Cinema Arts Centre

So tell me, have you seen Tales from Earthsea or From Up on Poppy Hill? Do you want to? What do you think about how Goro is handling things? Share your thoughts in the comments!