Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

From TWITCH:

Sentai Filmworks is going to put out an R! Blu-Ray of Grave of the Fireflies.

.... so get ready to be very depressed!

So the past couple of months have seen me marathoning Ghibli films off and on, finally catching up on these great films that I missed for years. Today had me watching Arrietty and Howl's Moving Castle. Honestly? Preferred the former. It wasn't a very amazing story but the *sumptuousness* of the animation really endeared itself to me. Loved the settings a ton. Howl had a bunch of elements I really liked (Turnip and Calcifer especially!) but overall it just didn't really add up to a completely-lovable whole for me. I LIKED it but, like Spirited Away, something just left me a little cold. Dunno.

Anyway, here's the now-current version of the ranking I've been keeping:

1. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
2. Ponyo
3. Whisper of the Heart
4. My Neighbor Totoro
5. Kiki's Delivery Service
6. The Secret World of Arrietty
7. The Cat Returns
8. Howl's Moving Castle
9. Spirited Away

Ponyo's still my favorite in terms of sheer animated glory but until I sit down and give it a proper rewatch, Nausicaä's going to be taking the top spot because I'm so f*cking enamored with the world Miyazaki crafted for it. So enamored, in fact, that I placed an order for a copy of the new boxed set of the comic that was released last month! CAN'T F*CKIN' WAIT.

Again...ugh @ Spirited Away being at the bottom of your list. Just awful.

Well it did so nyeh.

^Apparently Disney didn't see the film as very marketable so GKIDS got it - they apparently have some relationship with them, as the Americanization will be done by folks who did previous Disney versions and GKIDS now has the theatrical rights for the older Ghibli films (for festivals and stuff) while Disney retains home video rights.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=10498

Totoro and Howl up next for Disney Blu-Rays.

The dubtitles on Disney's Laputa Blu really bug me. They make the film very hard to watch! Thinking about getting the Hong Kong import.

^Follow up six months later: my copy of Castle in the Sky is en route from Hong Kong.

Thinking about getting all the 'Art of' books of Miyazaki's films. That sounds like a good investment.

The Wind Rises goes into wide release this weekend.

End of an era, guys. At least when I'm old and gray I can brag about seeing Miyazaki movies in the theaters when they were originally released.

... man, I got emotional just typing that!

The Wind Rises - Miyazaki has always been an oddball for me. His movies tend to be great, but at the same time, they have a habit of being to convoluted for my taste. Even my favorite movie, Princess Mononoke can get way to complicated for its own good in the long run. Sometimes it might just be that the movies do not translate well into English, or the lack of knowing everything in Japanese to culture to truly understand them. Either way, I sometimes find it hard to sit through his works if I am not in the right mood for them. Nevertheless, The Wind Rises is probably the finest work I have ever seen from Miyazaki. The movie sounds simple, as it is about a man who wants to create the greatest airplane Japan has ever seen, but its execution is done with finesse and radiant brilliance. There are so many complications to be found here as it shows the struggles of how difficult it was to make a plane that actually works well along with the suspense of knowing what is bound to become of these planes. The movie tells an incredible tale of a man who seems very serious on the outside, but the imaginations of a genius on the inside. One of the best things about this movie is that Miyazaki does not hold back and creates a serious realistic movie that not only feels different because it is set in the modern world, but also because there are moments where it seems to relate to Miyazaki's own career and his newly announced retirement. The only piece I can fault the movie for is in its pacing, as there are some moments when the movie did drag, but other than that, this gorgeous story is a fantastic send-off for the man that also showcases a side of Japan rarely seen before in cinema, if at all. Overall, I give this movie a 9/10 stars.

Oh, and the other night when we were at the Drafthouse seeing NbyNW, some teens walk out of the theater for this movie and one of the girls says, "THIS MOVIE SUCKED!! All it was was about some guy wanting to building an airplane."

Her friend says, "HOLY **** JESUS!! IT'S CALLED STORY!!"

The Wind Rises is my favorite Miyazaki film. Simply beautiful in every way. A fitting send-off for the greatest anime creator of all time. I was very choked up at the end of the film.

Frozen beat this movie at the Oscars? Talk about the most disgusting snub of all time.