Anime Reviews

Ponyo

Title: Ponyo

Owner: Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

Genre: Fantasy, adventure, comedy

Rating: 8/10

Summary:

Brunhilde is a fish-girl that wishes to be a human girl, but is instead being kept as a sea creature like her little sisters by her former-human father Fujimoto. One day, she sneaks off and ends up as a little boy, Sōsuke's, pet goldfish.

Sōsuke renames her Ponyo and desperately wishes she were human, but Fujimoto is determined to get her back. When Ponyo begins to experience life as a human, she realizes that she may never be able to live completely as a fish or human again.

Opinion:

This was another highly voted for option in my poll, coming into second place behind Death Note.

Anyone who knows me--so any of you little munchkins--know that I absolutely adore Ghibli films. I plan on watching all of them and adding each one to this book, which will be continuing for hopefully, years to come.

So it's a no-brainer that I loved this film with all my heart. It was so innocent and adorable, but it was like Spirited Away again.

This time I think I was talking to my other friend Jacob. He said, "You know a weird movie?"

"What, Jacob?"

"It's called Ponyo."

"I've heard of it."

"It's about a fish that becomes a human and drinks blood and has sorceress powers."

"I'm sorry, but what?"

It was really misleading and I saw he was mostly incorrect when I actually watched it; but that was seriously how I found this movie, and my little sis wanted me to watch it too. So I went camping and binge-watched anime when I wasn't tearing my quad through the mud (1000CC Can-Am, people!), but watched Ponyo on my laptop on the four-hour drive to the site.

Quick unrelated question for you guys, but if you have a broken thumb and can't use your hand, is it a smart idea to use an axe and chop logs with one arm?

One of the guys were camping with thought this was a great idea.

...Until the axe rebounded off the stump and flew over his shoulder into the tree behind him, causing him to spill his beer.

And of course, spilling his beer was the consequence of that accident--not possibly lodging a Fiskars axe into his shoulder.

Goddamn him... The scariest part is that he's going to be a father in two months.

Okay, back to the film. Because I downloaded this onto my USB from Chia-Anime, it was in English sub. Usually, I watch Ghibli films in dub because they ace it with their voice actors.

By the way, if you need to find a safe site for quick MP4 downloads, use Chia-Anime. It is safe, quick, and it has pretty good quality. Take this from me, whom you (hopefully) trust.

Even though it was in sub, it was still amazing. I was disappointed that it wasn't in dub, but I was still impressed.

You know whose voice I loved in this movie? Fujimoto, that sorcerer who is Ponyo's father. I don't know where I've heard his voice before, but I loved Fujimoto's voice. He's like the Japanese Morgan Freeman.

That little boy Sōsuke though, he was adorable! He was the cutest thing. However, I kept reading his name as Sasuke whenever Lisa called him. I kept flicking my forehead to try and get myself to stop calling him Sasuke, but ended up calling him that until the end of the film.

Sasuke's been making a lot of appearances in these chapters, hasn't he? Ironic since I hate his guts.

I really have to say for this movie, Ghibli went above and beyond my expectations, like with Wolf Children, Howl's Moving Castle, Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light, and Spirited Away.

Another quick note, I'm not sure how many of you know this already but I've been trying to advertise myself a bit, so here goes (sorry). I would call myself a fairly accomplished artist, if that doesn't go too far. Next year I plan on selling prints at Animethon 22 while possibly cosplaying as No-Face, and am preparing for it already! I have a DeviantART profile and a link to it in my About Me section if you'd like to check out some of my works and maybe think of coming to Animethon next year.

Just in case you don't believe me or feel skeptical, I can say that I drew the cover of this book when I first got my graphic tablet--first. I have improved quite a lot.

By the way, I'm also currently accepting commissions. Thank you to everyone who ordered, and I have three spots left! Commissions are cheap, so please check out my DeviantART profile if you're considering ordering.

Okay, sorry about that. Just thought I'd let you guys know in case anyone was interested. So, Ponyo was an absolutely adorable film. I really do hold a special spot for it in my heart like all of Ghibli's films, and like always it was imaginative and kept me wanting more.

Definitely want to thank you guys for this one.

For warnings, there really is very little. No language, sexuality, and only one tiny little drop of blood.

I know this is extremely late because I wrote this chapter weeks ago, but here goes:

As I am aware, Robin Williams has recently passed away, so instead of saying, "Vote if..." Let us all have a moment of silence for the man who made our childhoods. We miss you, Mr. Williams. Thank you for the laughs.

A/N: I never noticed until now, but my favourite actor ever, Liam Neeson, voices the father Fujimoto in the English dub of Ponyo. Enjoy that thought.