Dvd reviews
From Up on Poppy Hill is a Japanese animation directed by Gorō Miyazaki. It was written by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa. It was released in 2011. The film is based on a manga of the same name illustrated by Chizuru Takahashi and written by Tetsurō Sayama. It is set in the port of Yokohama... Read More »
Arrietty is a Japanese animation directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. The screenplay was written by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa. It was released in 2010. It is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton. The film is about a young boy called Shō who comes to convaless with his aunt Sadako. Also living in... Read More »
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a Japanese animation directed, written by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Isau Takahata. It was based on a manga of the same name by Miyazaki himself. The film was released in 1984. It follows the adventures of Nausicaä, the princess of the Valley of the Wind. Civilisation... Read More »
Whisper of the heart is a Japanese animation directed by Yoshifumi Kondō. The screenplay was written by Hayao Miyazaki. It was released in 1995. This was the first time that Studio Ghibli released a film that wasn’t directed by Miyazaki or Takahata. Sadly this was Kondō’s only film as a director as he died in... Read More »
The Cat Returns is a Japanese animation directed by Hiroyuki Morita and written by Reiko Yoshida. It is based on the manga Baron-Neko no Danshaku by Aoi Hiiragi. It came after, and is related to, Whisper of the Heart. It was released in 2002. The film is about a girl called Huru. She is always... Read More »
Only Yesterday is a Japanese animation directed and written by Isao Takahata. It is based on the manga of the same name by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. It was released in 1991. It is another of Takahata’s experiments. It is written as a realistic adult drama. The film looks at the life of 27-year-old... Read More »
My Neighbours the Yamadas is a Japanese animation directed and written by Isao Takahata. It was released in 1999. It is based on the manga Nono-chan by Hisaichi Ishii. There is not so much in the way of a plot with this animation. It’s more about following the trials and tribulations of the Yamada family.... Read More »
Kiki’s delivery service is a Japanese animation directed, written and produced by Hayao Miyazaki. It was released in 1989. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono. The plot revolves around a young witch called Kiki. As she gets to thirteen she leaves her home town on her broomstick, with... Read More »
Laputa is a Japanese animation directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki. It was released in 1986. The title comes from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, which also had a flying island. The animation opens with an airship carrying a girl called Sheeta. She has been abducted by Muska, a government secret agent. They are attacked by... Read More »
Ponyo is a Japanese animation written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. There are elements of The Little Mermaid here but this is very much a Studio Ghibli story. The animation starts with the little fish-girl, Brunhilde and her father Fujimoto (once human) who lives under the sea. Brunhilde sneaks off on the back of a... Read More »
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