CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

In 2004 I saw an amazing movie called Spirited Away. I knew Miyazaki had done others but I didn't know how to get my hands on them.
Around January 2006 Australian free-to-air tv screened several movies of his. They were Porco Rosso, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa, and Kiki's Delivery Service. I enjoyed all at different levels. Porco Rosso for it's humour and the era it was set in, Laputa for it's action and adventure, Nausicaa for it's action, adventure and epic story and Kiki's Delivery Service for it's innocence.

Just last week I saw Grave of the Fireflies, The Cat Returns, Whisper of the Heart and Princess Mononoke. They were all very good (but The Cat Returns a little less so). Grave of the Fireflies was probably the saddest and one of the most realistic and beautiful movies I've ever seen (one of my favs now), Whisper of the Heart was beautiful in it's innocence, humour and bittersweetness (a real surprise since I can't stand shojo anime usually).

After watching Princess Mononoke today I had mixed feelings. On one hand I've always loved an epic action adventure, on the other hand it didn't have the innocence of the others and dare I say it, I found it very fast paced (which I normally don't mind at all) and hard to understand at times (many of the dubbing voices were very bad also). That said I definetly thought it was worth watching and had some great animation but I just find it odd that it's not one of my favourites (being action, adventure and all that).
I think I'll give the Japanese audio a go to (the audio on all but Princess Mononoke was pretty good).

May I also mention that while on the Mission Trip in Japan on our day off some of us went to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. There was concept art and paintings galore, some history of animation and some rotating Totoro etc models with strobe lighting, amongst many other things. I even saw some of the concepts of the Earthsea anime coming out soon. It looked good. If you ever get the chance, go! I'd only seen a few of his movies and the Museum was fantastic!

I've yet to see his other movies (directed by him and otherwise) but I plan too.

Please share your comments on the movies and anything else.

Definately, Miyazaki is a master at what he does.

If you ever get the chance to see the title Only Yesterday do so. It is another bittersweet feature (even moreso than Whispers Of The Heart) about a woman who takes some time off from her job and ends up reflecting on her years as an adolesent. When it was shown here in the States it was in subtitled format only and has yet to be released on DVD. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be one day.

That said, Whispers and Only Yesterday are my top two favorite Ghibli titles.

Thanks. Actually Only Yesterday is to be released on DVD in October here in Australia, so it probably wouldn't be long until you guys get it. I just can't get over how good 'Whispers' is! I usually gag at romance movies and wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole, but this, this is something special - it has the Midas... excuse me 'Miyazaki' touch!

I loved Only Yesterday when it aired in January over here on Turner Classic Movies.Interesting enough it was the only movie that was not dubbed.Overall
it was an enjoyable romp.One of the reasons I probably liked it the most was that the main character was of my own generation,though a year or so older than me.
I liked the part where she and the guy she liked got to talking about being kids and the one show and that little girl kept looking at them really confused.That was a nice reminder of what nostalgia is like.
I also liked Whisper of the Heart,that was a nice combination of reality and fantasy.

Just for some news: according to ANN, Gendo Senki already made 905 million en for it's opening weekend in theatres. So to convert, I basically move the decimal over 2 points (not exact or anything, but you get the idea^^). So it's like... 9 million dollars and stuff. I so wanna see it^^ Apparently Japanese critics have the movie quite a boo (what do movie critics know anyhow?) yet it top their box office^^ The irony!

OH! And Miyazaki senior, IS planning a new movie! *nods* That's what nausicaa.net says^^ Teh wootage!

I think so far my favorite Miyazaki film is Howl's Moving Castle. Princess Mononoke was okay, but I didn't like Spirited Away. I haven't seen any of the others yet, but I'd like to eventually.

Howl's Moving Castle was very good, yes. What didn't you enjoy about Spirited Away?

Honestly, I enjoyed the non-Miyazaki Ghibli flicks worlds more than the ones he did.

Honestly, I enjoyed the non-Miyazaki Ghibli flicks worlds more than the ones he did.

That makes me wonder, did Miyazaki do "Castle in the Sky?" If not, then I'll have to be agreeing with you.

Yes, Miyazaki did do Laputa: Castle in the Sky. You have to remember that even those movies he didn't direct he did play a big part in creating (some more than others).

Ah. Oh well. Still, I find Laputa to be one of my favorites, partially due to the avoidance of all the... "wierdness" I found in some of the others (namely "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke").

Laputa is very cool. But I think the 'wierdness' of his many other movies is a high point for me. The man has great imagination. Also if you have read any Japanese mythology some of that is pretty whacked. He gets some inspiration from those.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of "wierd" things out there I like, but something about those movies in particular just kinda annoyed me, I suppose. I mean, the only part I really enjoyed in Princess Mononoke I really enjoyed was the beginning scene (with the hog creature).

I LOVE HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE! +_+ But I never kept track of which of HIS movies I watched or which were just Studio Ghibli.

All I know is that Grave of the Fireflies, Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns aren't 'directly' by him.

I seem to be one of the few that doesn't really like Miyazaki Films. A lot of it goes by too quickly, the plots are mediocre, the some of the characters are quite poor.

I suppose out of all of them, I'd pick Spirited Away to be my favorite, but that's not saying much.

Anyway, I perfer Satoshi Kon over Miyazaki anyway.

Go too quickly? Are we talking Miyazaki here? How are the plots mediocre and how are the characters poor? Ryan, I'm not saying you have to agree with me but give me a little basis for your reasoning.
By the way, who is Satoshi Kon?

Satoshi Kon is the director of Paranoia Agent, Mellenium Actress and Perfect Blue.