8th entry - Studio Ghibli

My love for Japanese anime started way back when I was growing up in the 1980s. In my younger days I enjoyed the quirky adventures of Doraemon and his friends. When I started attending school, I began to watch less cartoons and read more books, so I kinda lost touch with cartoons, watching only occasionally like during festive holidays. However, it wasn't till I was 16 that I re-discovered my interest in animations.

I was on a trip to Hong Kong with a friend, and I put up at his residence. I still remembered that he was so excited to share the animation with me. Not knowing that the movie was titled Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ - Kaze no tani no Naushika), I was facinated by the vivid colours and lively movement of the characters and their facial expressions, which was so different from the stylised and often comical manga-type expressions in mainstream Jap animations. The storyline has greater depth and meaning than any of the animations that I had watched then. I had little idea that the director of the animation was so famous and that he made so many films, some of which I had watched on TV but I didnt even realise it.

It was only when I started working that I met colleagues who were fans of Jap anime, who explained to me what Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki were about. I began searching for the collection of animations, and to my pleasant surprise I realised that many DVD/CD shops carried relatively complete sets of Studio Ghibli anime. I bought one set (at a bargain price) and thoroughly enjoyed the anime movies.

My favourite movies are:
1) Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便 - Majo no takkyubin), a story about a teenage girl aspiring to be a witch like her mother. As she embarks on her journey towards self-discovery and adulthood, she encounters several setbacks, challenges and all sorts of people, including a nice boy with whom she falls in love with. The main theme of the movie is finding out what we really want in life and having the determination and effort to make our dreams come true. In the movie, Kiki went through a personal crisis of losing her magic to realise why she needs her magic - to help others, especially those who she cares about. Fortunately she regains her confidence and at the critical moment her magic came back to her and she activates it to rescue someone important to her.

2) Whisper of the Heart (耳をすませば - Mimi wo sumaseba), a teenage girl's romance and growing up story. Unlike the pure fantasy-type plots that characterise many of Studio Ghibli's productions, Whisper of the Heart merges reality and with an element of fantasy. A high school girl who has a talent for creative writing chances upon a boy who initially gave her a bad impression (this is rather consistent throughout many of the movies - do all girls really hate boys at that age?!) because he criticised her song writing skills. Later she discovers that he is a remarkable violinist and violin craftsman, and falls in love with him. Inspired by his talent and ambition, she tries to write a book and succeeded. I felt that the movie was about the beauty of the transcience of life - and we should listen to our heart, "seize the moment" and act on that ONE chance in a lifetime to realise our dream (while we are still young) and fight for our happiness, even if it means going against societal norms or expectations, before its too late...

3) My Neighbour Totoro (となりのトトロ - Tonari no Totoro)
Perhaps the most famous anime movie by Studio Ghibli, I like this movie because of it has all the best signature elements of Studio Ghibli movies: childhood innocence, love for family, kindly neighbours, beautiful countryside, love for nature and mythical fantasy. A pre-teen girl Satsuki and her younger sister Mei discover Totoro, an imaginary creature (supposedly a mythical chinchilla), who lives in the forest behind their new home in the countryside. Totoro has magical powers that can help trees to grow and only the kind and innocent are able to see it. He used its powers to enable the anxious girl and her sister to visit her sick mother in the hospital. The simple movie delivered a simple message: love nature!

For more information, please access the following links:

English site

Japanese site