Ponyo theme song

Ahhhh, the gold fish princess is SO CUDDLY AND CUTE!!

Miyazaki's gonna recreate the magic of My neighbour the Totoros!

崖の上のポニョ

News from Ghibli World

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Credit: photo from Ghibli World

Summary: Hayao Miyazaki announced the next Ghibli film '崖の上のポニョ'(Gake no ue no Ponyo, or Ponyo on a cliff) to be released in 2008. It's a story about a 5 year old boy Sosuke modelled around Hayao's son Goro and a goldfish princess named ponyo. The setting is based on 鞆の浦 (tomo no ura), a little town on the bay. Producer Suzuki said 70-80% of the story revolves around sea. They adopted watercolor and pastel like medium for the movie.

The story's interesting and the medium is also refreshing. I adore the watercolor approach in 'my neighbor the yamadas'. I have a feeling the movie's gonna be a whole new concept and Ghibli always does a brilliant job in landscapes.Remember the sea in Spirited Away or the enchanted forest in Princess Mononoke?

In previous interviews I read from Nausicaa.net, it's rumored that Miyazaki includes at least one の (no) in the title, like a spell that ensures the movie's gonna succeed. Princess moNONOke, Sen to Chihiro NO Kamikakushi(Spirited Away), Tonari NO Totoro (My neighbor Totoro), Majo NO Takkyuubin (Kiki's delivery service), Hauru NO Ugoku Shiro (Howl's moving castle), Kaze NO Tani NO Naushika (Nausicaa the valley of wind)...haha, funny old man.

Maybe his son should rename 'Gedo Senki' as 'Gedo no Senki', just a thought...

Gedo Senki wins Raspberry Award

Original News from Ghibli.world

I haven't yet seen the movie but well... not the least did I expect it to win the worst film + director ever!

21th of January, GEDO SENKI "WINNER" BUNSHUN RASPBERRY AWARD "WORST FILM 2006": Of course with all the great movies made by Studio Ghibli we’re often blessed with good Ghibli news. However, this time it’s not the case. Logboy, from the excellent film website Twitch, pointed me to a news item on Hoga Central about Japan's annual Bunshun Raspberry Awards. For those not familiar with these awards, they are given to the worst movies in the year selected by 32 movie critics in Japan. Unfortunately, Gedo Senki "won" the award for worst movie, as well as Goro Miyazaki "winning" the award for worst director.

Aleksandr Petrov exhibit in Ghibli museum

Ghibli museum will be hosting an Aleksandr Petrov exhibition, with his latest film 'My love'. Aleksandr Petrov!! I was really excited to be reminded again of his masterpiece 'The old man and the sea'. The animation consists of finger painted glass frames in oil. Can you imagine drawing tens of hundreds of oil paintings?? and the old animator did it all by himself. The pictures look fleshy and dreamy. He's a real romantic who knows how to capture the dream states.

wiki entry

Tales of Earthsea Production Complete

Nausicaa News:
May 23, 2006 Animation Complete on "Tales from Earthsea"
The May 23 Production Diary announced the completion of animation on the film.

History of production:

Sep 06, 2005: animation production began
Jan 20, 2006: 149 cuts (12%)
Jan 27: 180 cuts (15%)
Feb 03: 230 cuts (19%)
Feb 17: 326 cuts (26%)
Mar 03: 422 cuts (34%)
Mar 10: 481 cuts (39%)
Mar 17: 517 cuts (42%)
Mar 30: 687 cuts (55%)
Apr 7 : 776 cuts (63%)
Apr 17: 844 cuts (68%)
Apr 25: 935 cuts (76%)
May 1 : 997 cuts (81%)
May 8 : 1,056 cuts (85%)
May 15: 1,176 cuts (95%)
May 23: 1,236 cuts (100%)

Animation production length:

Tales from Earthsea: 8 months and 17 days
Howl's Moving Castle: 17 months and 6 days (2/1/2003-7/7/2004)
Spirited Away: 16 months and 26 days (2/1/2000-6/27/2001)

《地海传奇》幕后班底大搜索

信息属南方动漫网中文专
2006-05-18 16:38　南方动漫网　作者：亚述
(编辑：唐)

背景一：动画制作班底

1．制片人：铃木敏夫（吉卜力总裁）

　　1948年出生于爱知县，1972年进入德间书店公司，然后在78年进入《月刊动画》编辑部。从1981年开始策划宫崎骏特集，次年开始大力推进《风之谷的娜乌西卡》的长篇连载；在《风之谷》拍成动画大片之后，一跃成为德间方的制作委员，十分活跃。1989年，转入今日如雷贯耳的吉卜力工作室（STUDIO GHIBLI），在此后所有的作品中都是以制片人的身份出现。同时利用此前作为编辑的经验，在出版界也开展得风生水起。在与德间书店成功合并之后， 1997年成为德间的取缔役，"吉卜力工作室"事业本部长，2000年9月开始成为常务。

2．导演&联合编剧：宮崎吾朗　(Miyazaki Gorou)

　　此人的身份当是本片最大的卖点之一：宫崎骏的儿子，38岁的宫崎吾朗。

　　1967年、东京生人。信州大学农学部森林工学科毕业后，从事建筑咨询行业，计划、设计公园绿地以及都市绿化。

　　自98年起着手设计三鹰之森Ghibli的总体造型，01年至05年6月任该美术馆馆长。

　　曾荣获2004年度艺术选奖文部科学大臣新人赏的艺术振兴部门奖

3．联合编剧：丹羽圭子

　　参与过吉卜力作品《听海》的脚本制作。

4．音乐：寺屿民哉

　　1958年4月10日出生在熊本县。

　　以独特管弦乐编曲而闻名的乐界天才，挎刀打造剧场版动画《地海传奇》音乐。

5．主题曲和插曲《特鹿之歌》演唱者：手茑葵

　　兼为歌手和声优，现住福冈，年龄--My God，1987年6月21日出生--19岁未满。有着模特身高：174cm；兴趣是芭蕾和读书。遗憾的是神秘新人的照片尚未披露……

　　新人手茑葵，在出任女主角Therru声优的同时，她悠远清澈的天籁之音打动了导演宫崎吾朗，被钦点担纲演唱影片的主题曲和插曲，被赞为"有着朴素,治愈系的歌声的她,是地海传奇中女神般的存在"。

　　相信大家都已经听到了她在预告片中的天籁之音了，那么我们一起期待这位呼之欲出的新人在今年7月份公映的《格德战记》中的美妙声线吧！

6．声优：

　　冈田准一、手茑葵、田中裕子、小林薰、夏川结衣、香川照之、内藤刚志、倍赏美津子、风吹纯、菅原文太……

背景知识二：

1．关于《格德战记》译名和内容：

　　《格德战记》的内容简介是这么说的：

　　"人与龙曾是一体

　　人选择了地与海

　　龙选择了火与风

　　这个夏天，人与龙将合为一体……

　　一名少年巫师的魔法之旅，他走的愈远，就愈深入自己的内心！

　　神秘绮丽的岛屿风情、巫术的奥妙、老术士寓意深远的智语、巨龙、创生古语真言、无所不在的黑暗势力、爱情的救赎、人性的试炼，在地海 (Earthsea) 的奇幻世界里波澜壮阔的上演……"

　　英文原著的书名是Legend of Earthsea--"地海传奇"，小说的繁体中文版以及早年改编的电影都译作《地海传说》，后来由人民文学出版社出版的简体中文版定名为《地海传奇》；在日文译著中书名改为《ゲド戦記》，原意译为中文是"格德/基德战记"；有如此多的版本，因此新片未出，片名先乱。然而既然是介绍GHIBLI的片子，本站从日版，从《格德战记》之说。

2．关于原著《地海传奇》：

　　《格德战记》根据美国女作家厄休拉·K·勒·古因《地海传说（Legend of Earthsea）》系列小说改编，这套小说常常被与托尔金的《指环王》三部曲和刘易斯的《纳尼亚王国》三部曲相提并论，在所有年龄段中都有这套小说的 Fans，曾经获得过五个雨果奖、五个星云奖和国家图书奖，《地海》系列小说已经被翻译成16种语言，总发行量数以百万计……有如此辉煌的原著支撑故事的骨架，想差都差不了了……

3．作画参考：シュナの旅（《秀纳之旅》暂译）

　　作者:宫崎骏
　　出版社/制作商:德间书店
　　发售日: 1983/06
　　媒体形式：文库

　　此书乃是宫崎骏大师以西藏的民间传说为原型创作的全彩图绘本。但没有拍成电影。在绘本的结束语里，宫崎爷爷深情地写道："将这个民间故事动画化是我的一个梦想……。"

4．原著作者：厄休拉·K·勒·古因（Ursula K. Le Guin）

　　勒·古因以从1968年到2001年横跨三十余载的《地海传奇》(Earthsea Cycle) 六部曲系列，奠定了她在奇幻文学界的崇高地位。六部曲被翻译成19国语言出版；其作品意涵颇富中国老子道家思想；并非强调善恶对立的二元价值观，而是传达 "平衡"、阴阳同源的理念；以阴阳相生的概念为核心，迥异于西方基督教的善恶二元对立观。

　　事实上宫崎骏作品中，从1984年的《风之谷》到2004年的《哈尔的移动城堡》）等，风格上都很受《地海传奇》的影响。但阴差阳错，大师最终还是没有将古因的作品搬上银屏，而这个历史性的工作则在这个夏天由他的长子完成了……

5．小说日文版译者：清水真砂子（しみず?まさこ）

　　1941年出生于北朝鲜。儿童文学翻译家?评论家。

　　毕业于静冈大学，现为青山女子短期大学教授。著作有《儿童读物的现在》、《学生发光的时候》（以上两本为岩波书店出版）、《幸福的写法》《儿童读物的视线》（以上为洋泉社）等。译著有《到天亮之时》《醒来、魔女！》《谈话?谈话E.L.克尼斯堡讲演集》（以上为岩波书店）等。因翻译厄休拉·K· 勒·古因的《格德战记》（岩波书店）的全6卷获得平成16年的日本翻译文化奖。

Gedo Senki Director Interview

- Director Goro Miyazaki

Original artical can be found here: http://www.ghibliworld.com/goromiyazakiinterview.html

Aoi's voice (the singer of Gedo Senki's theme song 'Song of Teruh') conveys that loneliness in youth, a bit unsteady, but clear and charming. It's 'love at first hearing', Goro said.

I like that ^^

Song of Teruh

Song of Teruh

Lyric : Miyazaki Goro,
Music : Taniyama Hiroko
Arrange : Terashima Tamiya
Song : Teshima Aoi



--------------------------------------------------
yuuyami semaru kumo no ue / 夕闇迫る　雲の上
itsumo ichiwa de tondeiru / いつも一羽で　飛んでいる
taka wa kitto kanashikarou / 鷹はきっと　悲しかろう

oto mo todaeta kaze no naka / 音も途絶えた　風の中
sora wo tsukanda sono tsubasa / 空をつかんだ　その翼
yasumerukoto wa dekinakute / 休めることは　できなくて

kokoro wo nani ni tatoeyou / 心を何に　たとえよう
taka no youna kono kokoro / 鷹のような　この心
kokoro wo nani ni tatoeyou / 心を何に　たとえよう
sora wo mauyouna kanashisawo / 空を舞うような　悲しさを

hitokage taeta no no michiwo / 人影絶えた　野の道を
watashi to tomoni ayunderu / 私と共に　歩んでる
anata mo kitto samishikarou / あなたもきっと　さみしかろう

mushi no sasayaku sougen wo / 虫のささやく　草原を
tomoni michi yuku hitodakedo / 共に道行く　人だけど
taete mono iu kotomonaku / 絶えてもの言う　こともなく

kokoro wo nani ni tatoeyou / 心を何に　たとえよう
hitori michi yuku kono kokoro / ひとり道ゆく　この心
kokoro wo nani ni tatoeyou / 心を何に　たとえよう
hitoribocchi no samishisawo / ひとりぼっちの　さみしさを
--------------------------------------------------
over the cloud in the dusk
the hawk is flying always alone
he might surely be sorrowful

any sound was ceased in the wind
his wings takes the air
he can't rest his wings

how I express my mind
my mind like hawk
how I express my mind
my sadness like flying in the sky

the path in a field, nobody has passed
walking on there with me
you are surely lonely

on a grassy plain that insects has been chirping
we are making journey together
but we haven't been talking

how I express my mind
my mind that goes alone
how I express my mind
my loneliness that are alone

News updates

Source: http://www.591ac.com/



Death Note movie screen shot - the scene where 月 plans to murder the FBI agent


New artist who sings the theme song of new Ghibli movie 'Gedo Senki'

巨匠·宫崎骏监督(65岁)的长子·宫崎吾朗先生(39岁)首次执导的吉卜力艺术家工作室的最新动画电影《格多战记》，这部即将在7月公映的作品的主题歌，将启用无名气的新人演唱。



　　这位歌手的名字是手嶌葵，听了演示带后宫崎吾朗监督对那个充满透明的歌声立即决定起用，并表示“也能遇见这么好的声音看来就是‘命运’的安排，这种朴素和善地触及内心深处的歌声让人感动”。为了让主题曲能够很好地表现出作品的意境，宫崎吾朗亲自上阵，担任主题歌和插曲的作词。

Hayao and Goro Miyazaki, Tension!

Latest News from Nausicaa

January 12, 2006 Miyazaki Interview about Museum Shorts and "Tales from Earthsea"
The Daily Yomiuri Online has coverage (in English) of a recent roundtable interview with Miyazaki. He talks about the three newest Studio Ghibli Museum films and has the following comments about his role in the production of Tales of Earthsea:

I won't say anything [about the movie], lend a hand or even look it over. I'm not involved in any way. I'm keeping myself to myself in my studio as whenever we see each other we quickly start to feel tension.

The relationship between a parent and a child isn't easy or simple. And I myself have my own standards to evaluate other people as professionals--whoever they may be.

But I'd never say, "Give up!" even if I didn't like something he was doing. I've never said anything like that to him.

------------------------------
Personal Thoughts

I don't understand why Hayaoi Miyazaki doesn't support his son on the new project or is it because it is his son and he thinks their father-son relationship will bring extra attention and gossips from the public that might tarnish the studio's image? Or another major reason could be Goro Miyazaki has no previous experience in directing, or 'drawing' for that matter that he's deemed an unsuitable heir? The latter concern is reasonable but if that was the case, why wouldn't a father give his child his fullest mental support even though it is Goro's virgin project? Don't let public expectations butt in the way...

Experienced or not, I think Goro's going to give his 100% best just to prove what he's capable of! GO GO!

Happy 65th Birthday - Miyazaki-san!

Happy birthday to you , happy birthday to yooooou!!

Great year ahead. Don't work too much. Sit back and relax! Trust your son. He'll be a great director just like you ^^

spirited away

I rewatched spirited away, for the 7th/8th (lost count) time! Somehow I feel myself deeper into the emotional developments of the characters than ever.

Miyazaki was planning to retire from his director job but after meeting a daughter of his friend, supposedly a naive and rather spoilt young girl(the early version of Chihiro), he decided to make a come back and there you have Spirited Away. Warnings to Japan's future hopes (maybe not Japan alone): In this world in order to survive, you have to pay off with your own labour.

It is heart warming and encouraging to see Chihiro grow up from a timid, lazy girl to an assertive, sympathetic and courageous heroine. There're also current problems addressed: pollution(as portrayed by the dirty and stinking guest who turns out to be a river god) and infinite greediness of the grownups as opposed to an innocent child such as Chihiro who wants nothing more to rescue her friend.

Everytime I see the shimmering sea under moonlight, I just can't help feeling an unreachable and undescribable remoteness of longing buried deep within a dream. That's also partially affected by Joe Hisaishi's perfect scores. You hear the undulating high notes mimicking the restlessness of the sea and an underlying steady flow of low keys whispering an unfathomable sureness that's embedded within the vastness and magnitude of the space in front of you. As the train slides gracefully past the lonely sunlit island, I fixed my eyes on the house, the low hanging tangerine clouds, and for the first time ever I was sadly conscious of the idealness and impossibility. It has almost become a sanctury to me, somewhere I seek refuge, somewhere I breathe in the colours, soak in blissful solitude and be able to think of nothing but the precious tranquility. And I know it's there in my dream. That time I saw ice sculpted sunflowers floating in the sky. A feeling that left me utterly stunned and beside myself.

Howl nominated for 3 Annie Awards

Howl's Moving Castle has been nominated in three award categories for the annual "Annie Awards" given out by ASIFA-Hollywood this coming February 4th. The three nominations are 1) Best Animated Feature (other nominees: Chicken Little, Corpse Bride, Madagascar, and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit); 2) Best Directing in an Animated Feature: Miyazaki (other nominees: Mike Johnson and Tim Burton for Corpse Bride and Nick Park and Steve Box for Wallace and Gromit); and 3) Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production: Miyazaki, Don and Cindy Hewitt (other nominees: Steve Box, Nick Park, Bob Baker, and Mark Burton for Wallace and Gromit, Tony Leondis, Michael LaBash, and Tom Rogers for Kronk’s New Groove). A full list of the categories and nominees can be found here. In 2003 Spirited Away won all four Annie Awards it was nominated for: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Music in an Animated Feature (Joe Hisaishi).

source from animenewsnetwork

howl's moving castle news

News Updates
A press release from Disney confirms that director Hayao Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki will attend the June 6 screening in New York. Other expected to attend include Lauren Bacall, Blythe Danner, Jean Simmons, Emily Mortimer, and Gloria Steinem.
source: Nausicaa

haha, guess Miyazaki will take the usual Japanese airline to the States this time. Wondering about the reasons behind his insistence with Japanese airlines.

The official Disney Website for Howl's Moving Castle is up & running. The English voice cast seem to be doing a pretty good job. I like Howl's English voice better than Kitamura's. It's deepr & more mature. In the trailer, they pronounced ghibli as jee-bli while it should be gib-li, a secret code used by the Italian airforce in WWII, meaning 'hot wind over the desert'. And there seems to be a change in original script. When Sophie shouts to Howl from the trapped cave, she says 'Find me in the future!'. But I remember the original script doesn't mention anything about the future O_o maybe I'm wrong.

Now I think about it, there IS one scene in howl's moving castle I find particularly moving. It's the picture of Sophie walking into a 'dream' of howl's chilhood. The young wizard is standing beneath a briliant star-lit night sky. The background music is by Joe Hisaishi, a track titled 'star boy'. The fallen stars slash through the velvet sky, glide on the shimmering lake and quickly die off as the last golden sparks sither & disappear. The boy who pities the beautiful stars, stretch out his hands to catch them before they plunge to their death. I feel the tiny little hope slowly gathering heat & starting to burn, on something as fragile as a boy's fingertip, stretched out far into darkness & slowly, light.

howling!

Howling!!!!!!!!!! Miyazaki-san, what have you done??!

Ms. Diana Wynne Jones gave a world renowned craftsman her precious jewels,
a damond, a lapis lazulli and a ruby, together with gold, silver, pearl and natural stones
and asked him to make a necklace that charms.

He started morphing them into the shapes of his dream, not hers, not ours.
Ruby's his favourite gem. It's fire and blood, war and tears.
What's the good of diamond, or lapis lazulli.
So he chipped diamond into thousand pieces and studded them around the ruby.
and Lapis lazulli looked just lovely square or round.
The chain wasn't a concern.
String the pearls and make a loop.
The gold n silver is no use.

Wide eyed critics waited with abaited breath, watching the curtain rise and the star slowly looming. Inside the glass was the promised necklace of the world, with the undisputable name Tiffany. Ooops i'm sorry i think it's Ghibli.

Silence.

One brave soul raised a finger.
' i think the lace is broken.'
Nervous giggles,
but the pearls were strewn.

The host felt the gound shake but stomped hard so it stayed. 'It's just a small mistake'.
Tiny! Trivious!
So we, got up from our seats and helped to string the broken chain.
But the pearls all looked the same.
white, white, white, white, white
and plain
'guess it doesn't matter' a forgiving voice says
'but where's lapis lazulli?'
'Can't you see it's hidden behind the ruby?'
embarassed, he says 'great geat...'

So the bidding started. Bids came in flushes, one wave after another.
and the jewellers left with contentment
and WE,
bewilderment

Miyazaki-san, what have u done?
_________________________________

It's hard to imagine there could be a deeper depression when u reassure yourself you've already cautiously descended to the absolute bottom of an abyss. Lying prostrate on the ground whatever flies past would be above me. Even if it's just an old fly that hovers one inch above my face. and i was dead WRONG!

2 hour movie and he failed to tell anything!! Well, I shouldn't be so harsh. The only message he did tell is 'anti-war'. ' Let's end this stupid war right now' Sulimen says.
That must be the line that won the standing ovation when it was shown in Vienna film fest.
anti war, calling out to the whole world.
but i'm sorry i thought i was watching 'Howl's moving castle'?? Is that a typo or am I too old to read? That i'm suprised i stumbled upon 'no war please' documentary.
Howling!!
Miyazaki said 'I wanted to make my own film. In the end even my team couldn't understand where I'm heading. '
Exactly! Out of nowhere, no foreshadowing, no nothing, Howl's in love Sophie. Before that, Sophie's sophie. Howl's howl. They dun care abt each other. They come back home at different hours not knowing what the other is doing. Like typical japanese men n their wives.

and when u see those blobs of greyish floating mass appearing on screen, making sticky revolting sound. you say 'NOT AGAIN PLEASE'. once is ORIGINAL. twice is REMINISCENT. three times is 'Are you nuts? Has your imagination run dry?'. First used in Princess Mononke depicting that cursed god. Second time in Spirtied away on the ghost called 'no face' and endless no. of other ghosts so to speak. and here again on the rubber man, the police, the back alley ghosts!!

I don't care if i dump in any spoilers. coz there're NO spoilers! with or without them the movie's still the same.



and what happened to the background music. The scene in the trailer where Howl sped dwon the stairs pulling on his hair ends obviously screaming for no reason like a spoilt baby! absolutely no background music!! 30 seconds silence. and Kitamura's voice sounded a bit funny.
so they did read the novel. When Howl's upset, he deliberately covers himself up in green slime. So they made him a green slimy. And why the hell would Sophie cry just because he slimed??? She's supposed to be outrageous coz Howl's acting like a baby!! And too little description on Howl's vanity! He's suppposed to date pretty girls, spend ages in bathroom, and extremely picky about glooming! Where's all that important stuff that shapes a character?

Alrite, let's just discard everything and say, Howl's moving castle has nothing to do with the novel. just borrowed the title. If i were the director, i would cut off 1/3 of the movie and replace them with solid stories.
Wasted scene no. 1
Howl frying eggs n bacon. He fried 6 eggs. Camera zoomed in on 4, every one of them, from the craking sound of the shell to the sizzling heat. Yes, we're charmed he could cook!! my ass, why do you have to show 4 instead of 2.

Wasted scene no. 2
Walking. To walk is to change locations. Disney would show separate camera shots, a flash that links up two places, but Ghibli, they do a great job on 'introductory course to walking'. ' sigh, back hurts, take a seat, 4 steps forward, 2 more steps, 1 step back, a break, continue with the journey, wind blows, stops, looks back, keep moving.'
my dear dear dear god.

N MANY MANY MANY MANY MORE wasted scenes. i'm too tired to list

and stories that r essential but aren't there!
- that Howl loves spiders coz he's just like them. tirelessly spinning a web. and a small disaster, a gust of wind, brush of a broom, easily breaks it. but he just starts all over again.

- that Howl's smart n tricky. He goes out dating girls everyday but in truth he's deep shit in an investigation on witch of the waste

-that Howl's a slithere outer. He's a coward. He avoids troubles. He runs away from them. You can't just make Howl lying on his bed half dead, mumbling ' I'm a coward'. That's not the way a story's told!! Actions man!! Depiction!! Like you can't just say 'I'm a liar' so tt everybody's satisfied you're a liar and that's the end of the story. It's all so withering n dry!

-Sophie, poor poor Sophie. You cry when you're supposed to throw tantrums. You display your emotions so openly while you're supposed to be jealous, bitter n silent. i'm just soooo speechless.

sighs, so the main characters are all wasted. but suprisingly the side dishes are amazingly entertaining.
calcifer 'i am calci -fer'. [flame spurts out laterally with the uttering of 'fer']
Michael cutie boy

The dog
The scarecrow

what the movie's succeeded is...
that Howl's handsome , althou not so interesting
that his seiyu is Kitamura, althou not doing perfect job
that it's about peace n love, althou told a little matter of factly
that the colours are still brilliant, althou it has nothing to do with Miyazaki
that Howl turning into giant bird is interesting, althou we've seen that in Spirited Away
that music by joe hisaishi never fails, althou most of them aren't used in the right places
that the movie still sells high on the logo 'Miyazaki & Ghibli', althou the movie is totally not descriptive

insert fanart one from unknown source
[Howl & Michael]

ps. in the original novel, Michael[howl's student] is a teen boy, and miyazaki dawfed him into a baby...

Sighs, there's always something wrong with the story telling. Gives me the unscratched itch. Is miyazaki too old to do it? Well, i'm quite certain this movie won't win the Oscar, althou it mihgt get some special mention in 3D techniques, for the intricate model of the castle. Possible fight among 'the Inredibles'[Pixar], Steamboy, Innocence ghost in the shell[Mamoru Oshii].

I only wish their next piece of work will improve on story telling. Miyazaki's done a good argumentative essay this time. But we want a story.

whisper of heart - to stand by your dreams

i miss this film.

whisper of heart, often mistaken to be a miyazaki film, which is actually not. Hayao Miyazaki wasn't the director on this. His collegue Kondo, who tragically passed away some years ago, was in charge of the film. It's my fav. If not to mention 'princess mononoke'.

there're some horrible translations on the western markets which read 'strain you ear', and rubbish like that. The story was adapted from a Japanese shoujo manga with exactly the same name. The original japanese title means 'if you listen closely, you'll hear the whisper of heart'. You don't just hear rain drops tapping on your window panes, or wind brushing through leaves. Your heart listens and hears the whisper of another. Dreamers that are brave enough to stand by their dreams. Everytime I rewatch it, I feel something fresher, as if all the dust is washed away by a summer afternoon shower.

storyline:
Shizuku(our female protagonist here) is a book worm. she reads like 10 books per week and she even goes to bug the libarian during school hols just to let them open up the library for her to get more books. on screen, there is shizuku, flipping over a page, eyes scanning, the same hand that flipped the page now reached out to a bag of potato chips, 2 seconds in pausing. you can tell she's reading. and all of a sudden her eyes welled up with tears. some touching storyline she just read? She's a pretty good writer too, from reading all these books you can tell she's got some talent n passion for it. She embarks on an lyrics translation project and they're going to sing their new version of 'country road', orignally by John Denver, on some ceremony. (graduation? year's ending?) The first version she came up with was hilarious, the chorus becomes 'concrete road, blah blah Tokyo, my home'. And one day she forgets her book on the bench. when she returns to fetch it, there's a boy sitting on the bench reading her book. Nothing really strange here, except that... well, when they're parting, the boy says 'hey, you know what, you really should change the lyrics' (coz the lyrics translation sheet is stuck between the book pages and boy read it)and shizuku is so pissed by the comment she storms all the way home and even tries to vent out her anger by impersonating the way the boy says the stinging line. 'you know what? you really should change the lyrics'- shizuku, saying this with lips twisted to one side, and bang!! she slams close the refrigerator door.

meanwhile, shizuku is puzzled by the name 'amasawa seiji', which appears on many many libary cards, of books that are rarely borrowed. well, you can bet that there couldn't possibly be a bigger book worm than shizuku, but maybe you're wrong. 'he read this book earlier than i do' shizuku thinks. as if an unannonunced competition, shizuku decides to borrow more and more books to read, especially those that have never been signed out before just so that her name will appear first on the book card.

the name 'amasawa seiji', that keeps appearing on libary cards


Shizuku, pissed by Seiji's rude comments on her lyrics, vented her anger by impersonating Seiji saying 'You know what? You should probably dump those lyrics'
notice how deformed her mouth is... and later on, she slammed the fridge door.
poor fridge...



one day shizuku (out of curiosity and a spurge of 'happy' hormone I think), follows a cat and comes to a magical crafts shop-'the earth shop'. 'It's like a story right out of a book' she says. A friendly old artisan owns the shop and he shows shizuku an interesting clock. When you wind it, a wooden door opens and inside the seven dawves are moving by intricate clockwork, some hammering away and some dragging a wood log. Tick, tock. The big hand strikes twelve. A melodious tone plays and a prince appears on the 'seven'. shortly, a beautiful princess appears on the 'twelve'. The prince looks at the princess yearningly, but when the second hand runs one round, it's time for the princess to go. Sadly they part.
'It's probably made by an artisan with unrequited love', the owner of the shops says.

shizuku decides to visit the lovely earth shop again next time. but she isn't so lucky though. it's closed. while she's hovering around checking Baron(a cat figurine in the shop) is sold, guess whom she meets, the boy who says 'you'd better dump your lyrics'. and guess what's going on. The boy lives there. His grandpa runs the earth shop.

and all along, this boy is amasawa seiji. amasawa seji who says 'you'd better dump your lyrics', amasawa seiji who first notices shizuku in a libary and later secretly competes with her to see who gets to read a book first, and amasawa seiji who has the big dream of being a violin maker.

i shall not give anymore spoilers.

my fav pieces from the film- country road, seiji started playing the violin and shizuku was forced to sing, later on Seiji's grandpa and some musican friends joined them, small ensemble! It was so warm n joyful. I can never forget it.

transcribed quotes, slightly adapted from Nausicca net.
Link: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/mimi/script_mimi_en.txt

Downstairs
Seiji: Oh... All done?[ shizuku was looking at Baron, the cat figurine upstairs]
Shizuku: Y-yeah, thanks. Say, that... Are you by any chance making a violin?
Seiji: Eh? Yeah.
Shizuku: May I see?
Seiji: Mmm.
Seiji: It goes together this way.
Shizuku: Did you make this all yourself? By hand?
Seiji: Of course I did.
Shizuku: I can't believe it!
Seiji: The shape of the violin was set 300 years ago. Since then, the skill of the craftsman has determined how good the sound is.
Shizuku: Did you make all these too? [there're lots of violins hung from the celing top]
Seiji: You've gotta be kidding... There's a violin-making class that meets here too, you know.
Shizuku: But one of them is yours, right?
Seiji: Mmm.
Shizuku: Come on, which one.
Seiji: That one!
Shizuku: Ohhhh... This one? It's amazing, that you can make them so well. It's just like magic.
Seiji: You know, you can toss off embarassing things like that pretty often.
Shizuku: Oh? What's wrong with that? It's how I really feel.
Seiji: Anyone can make one like this. They're still no good at all.
Shizuku: Hey, I bet you play the violin.
Seiji: Well, kinda.Shizuku: Please let me hear! Even just a little.
Seiji: Hey now...
Shizuku: Please Please Pleeeease!
Seiji: Fine! But in return, you sing!
Shizuku: Huh? I-I can't! I'm tone deaf!
Seiji: That oughta be just about right.[He tunes up]
Seiji: Sing, will ya? It's the one you know.

'country road' starts to play, shizuku's uplifting voice fills up the whole room.

in which seiji plays the violin and shizuku sings 'country road', in her own lyrics




some production notes
There's one flying scene(3D) in the movie(in shizuku's fantasy world), which is done by Miyazaki. It's a highly technically challenging part as there're tens of layers stacked on top of each other. The images come from original art work by the japanese artist inoue, a fantasy genre based artist. His website http://iblard.com/english/

the violin palying scene took hundreds of reshots in oder to synchronise the finger movements and the background music.

guess who wrote shizuku's lyrics for 'country road'? miyazaki des. HAHAHAHA

fan pages
1. from Naussica
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/mimi/

2. from pathea
http://www.pathea.com [under ghibli studio section]

3. from wingsee
http://www.wingsee.com/ghibli/whisper/