Can someone explain why the Ghibli films are so popular?
I’ve been on a Ghibli binge this week because my wife can’t believe that I’ve never watched any of their films so we’ve watched 1 a day. I wasn’t intentionally avoiding them, they just didn’t seem interesting based on the few clips I’ve seen. Having watched a few, my opinion is unchanged. I enjoyed them, I just don’t ‘get’ the craze.
While the films are generally beautifully animated, I simply couldn’t get into the stories nor understand why they’re so highly acclaimed. I say this as an anime fan and a fairly typical otaku.
The stories don’t really have a proper conclusion, it’s often a pattern of a thing happened, let’s undo the thing, life goes on.
The Japanese voice acting is often quite bad as Miyazaki seems to have a very thing against using professional voice actors.
If you're an Otaku it's not too surprising you don't like Ghibli. Ghibli is quite atypical and the reason it got popular is because it's not like the standard anime, that people used to look down on, in the 80s and forward until maybe 2015 when it got normalized.
>The stories don’t really have a proper conclusion, it’s often a pattern of a thing happened, let’s undo the thing, life goes on.
One could say this about Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and even Evangelion too.
I personally think that Ghibli is popular because it gives a sense of nostalgia, a beautiful depiction of nature and it feels alive because the care that goes in to the background and background characters movement.
It feel less like a theater, a story crafted to entertain, and more just like a snapshot of life of someone/something that will go on after the movie ends.
Also as for music. If you watched the American version, they've actually changed many scenes and added additional music. Disney said that American populace couldn't watch a scene where no music is present for happens for more than 3 min so they had to add some extra music. [1]
> If you're an Otaku it's not too surprising you don't like Ghibli.
That’s definitely something I felt the whole time. They’re anime for non-anime fans.
Story-wise, Gits and Akira do have a kind of logical story progression. I don’t understand Eva too. Cool visuals though.
Let’s take Princess Mononoke as an example. The Main Character goes west in search for something, discovers a Japanese Industrial Revolution underway led by some lady Eboshi. Eboshi and tall shoes guy kill a god, causing massive death and destruction, but they returned the god’s head at the end and suddenly everything is forgiven. Mononoke’s adopted mom is dead, several tribes of boars are dead, thousands of people are dead, the industrious village is destroyed and large numbers of their inhabitants sent to die in an ambush by their own boss but it’s all OK, because the people that started it ended it by returning something they stole. What?
As for Princess mononoke it's a bit hard to write down everything. It's Miyazakis magnus opus. (not spirited away. That was explicitly to woo western audience with oriental mysticism)
It's a story of conflict and mistakes. Do you watch a history movie about WW1 and also get perplexed "and then they did WW2, What?". As said, it's not a story about linear start-end like theater. It's a snapshot of a historical event.
And the idea is not industrial revolution. The idea is that tatara village is a sanctuary for the outcast. The place is for prostitutes and slaves that fled. Eboshi, is presented as this opportunistic woman but also simultaneously presented as a savior that even accommodate lepers. During the story, the village is also attacked by Samurais; the outer world "lords" that shunned the outcasts, and now that they're successful, come to ask for tithe. Something the village shuns by shooting at the emissary. This leads to war. The Eboshi is desperate and contact the Buddhist monk and get a formar letter from the emperor to hunt for the god, to gain legitimacy and protection.
The nature, Shishigami, doesn't care. They explicitly say that in the end. It's the process of nature and doesn't choose sides. and really, for everyone to move on, in a harsh world, is to be "OK" with what happened. This is more realistic than some story of tragedy or revenge that have an "end of history" synonymous as "the end of the story". Life goes on.
Miyazaki have been anti industrial, pro nature all his life. But, he also admits that industry is helping humans. The tatara village is just that. They are "evil" from mononoke and forest spirits point of view, but they're the down trodden, desperate that finally built a place for them.
The point of the movie is that Ashitaka, the outsider, that comes from a dying tribe in Japan peninsula, realize that his deadly curse is not caused by monochrome "evil, selfish people" or "revengeful nature". But that everyone (except the samurai and monks) have their reasons for the actions, and that lead to conflict. That in the end, would lead to destruction and the only way to live is to coexist.
The story of coexistence START at the end of the movie. Which is ofc underwhelming to watcher if you want a definitive answer of "will it work? Is this happy ever after? Who won? Whose story is this". The anser is "we don't know, we don't know, and the story is the event that transpired".
Most ghibli stories (that are actually written by Miyazaki) follow similar patterns. History continues
Miyazaki's films are often more similar to the traditional four-part Kishōtenketsu[0] story structure rather than the more common three-act or Hero's Journey style. If you're not used to that structure you can find it boring or difficult to immerse yourself in. I love a lot of Miyazaki films and I think My Neighbour Totoro[1] is one of the finest movies ever created, but I can't just throw them on like I can most movies; if I'm not in the right mood for them I'll just get bored.
For a practical advice, I'd suggest watching either The Wind Rises (if you want strictly Miyazaki) or Only Yesterday (if any Ghibli is fine) next. Neither will have the strict conclusion that you are looking for, but they both are more "adult" films that are similar to Western dramas so you might find your brain is more accepting of that. At the very least you might find them more relatable than his other films and their child protagonists; I think The Wind Rises should speak well to any tech worker these days.
For less useful advice: it wasn't until I had an apartment high enough that I could see the skyline over the trees did I begin to understand why artists painted clouds the colors they did[2]. All art is holding a mirror up to nature, sometimes you gotta touch grass before you can get it.
[1] Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosso are my favourite Ghibli films, but Totoro I think is the greatest children's movie of all time and one of the few films capable of reminding someone what being a child is really like. I never got into Spirited Away or Howls Moving Castle though.
I believe this is primarily due to the distinct humanistic perspective found in Studio Ghibli animations. For the average anime enthusiast, entertainment value often takes precedence over other factors; however, Ghibli works are regarded as possessing greater intellectual depth and literary quality. Their themes often revolve around childhood innocence, societal shifts, environmental protection, and are replete with metaphors for the real world. This offers ample room for interpretation, allowing the films to resonate with a diverse audience—whether through their imaginative visual storytelling or their unique spiritual essence.
I’ve been on a Ghibli binge this week because my wife can’t believe that I’ve never watched any of their films so we’ve watched 1 a day. I wasn’t intentionally avoiding them, they just didn’t seem interesting based on the few clips I’ve seen. Having watched a few, my opinion is unchanged. I enjoyed them, I just don’t ‘get’ the craze.
While the films are generally beautifully animated, I simply couldn’t get into the stories nor understand why they’re so highly acclaimed. I say this as an anime fan and a fairly typical otaku.
The stories don’t really have a proper conclusion, it’s often a pattern of a thing happened, let’s undo the thing, life goes on.
The Japanese voice acting is often quite bad as Miyazaki seems to have a very thing against using professional voice actors.
The music’s cool though.
- Nausica
- Raputa
- Totoro
- Mononoke
- Spirited away
- Howl