16 Comments

Wow - a fantastic dive into Ghibli history! Have you seen the animations Miyazaki did for Takahata's live-action The Story of Yanagawa's Canals?

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Thank you! That's really kind. And we have seen those segments -- they're fascinating, and a great example of that real-world process stuff that intrigued them so much. We still need to dedicate time to watch the entire three-hour documentary!

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Props to your thorough research in composing a humble, sincere and yet humbling sort-of origin story for these minds -- it is very dear to me now!! ^_^

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Thank you for this incredibly kind comment -- it means a lot. So happy you liked the piece!

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Thank you for this piece. The photo with the three « mousquetaires » is awesome and nostalgic also. I was interested in what I felt was the key theme of the article, ie how much magic and life there is on mundane activities, such as folding your bed sheets, cooking, etc… take care.

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Fantastic to know you enjoyed it! And good point about that theme. It's an extremely important element of Takahata's and Miyazaki's work that we like to highlight -- and a belief that's guided many of their creative choices over the years. There's a great Takahata quote from around the time of Only Yesterday:

"Live-action films are so common these days that they're becoming a part of the reality. I don't think audiences really 'watch' live-action features carefully. However, they'd be force to for an anime feature. Because anime captures things we do, and reflects more solid reality than how they actually are. And it makes people realize what we do every day."

Anyway, thank you very much for the comment and hope you have a great week!

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loved this! do you know where Panda can be streamed?

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Thanks so much! And not sure if it's on a streaming service at the moment, but it's definitely available on VOD in the States, including YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKTJegbgZNQ

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We chose Flow as our in theatre movie last week because we figured Bob Dylan will hang around longer, marvelous movie with an intriguing range of possible inspirations for the story, characters, and landscapes.

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Great to hear this -- the film is really spreading. Feels like it's going to be a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination.

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What a beautiful read to start the week, thank you!

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Ah, wonderful to hear! Glad you enjoyed it!

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Thank you for your hard work. ✍🏼🐼🇯🇵😌

The Totoro has a unique place 🌳 🎶 in the hearts of my grandchildren. 📺

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Happy to share! We're huge fans of Totoro ourselves and it was exciting to look into its origins.

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Great piece as ever. That first image is so good.

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Thanks, Jon! And for sure -- it's from the very charming title sequence, which we enjoyed a lot.

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