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[AugustWest]

Thank you Cartoon Network and daughter Patty for introducing me to these movies.

They are just excellent.

I've seen Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky and part of Princess Mononoke.  My Neighbor Tortoro is waiting on the TIVO.  What beautiful films, and what an astounding imagination.

Spirited Away is my favorite so far.

[miles]

I really love Totoro, and it's nice that it finally received a good release in the states.  I first saw it years ago on a VHS tape a friend had brought back from Japan.  Even without English subtitles, it immediately became a favorite.

I've only seen that one and Spirited Away, which, as you know, is also fantastic.

Grave of the Fireflies isn't Miyazaki, but it is a Studio Ghibli production, and also excellent.

[swinehund]

Howl's Moving Castle was pretty great too, though the ending is a bit cheesy. I guess that's expected.

[Ben-San]

I need to watch some of the Miyazaki films I haven't seen yet. I have a stack of bootleg Chinese DVDs of Ghibli movies right next to me (Pompoko, Castle In The Sky, Nausicaa, Porco Rosso, and Grave Of The Fireflies) and I still haven't watched Porco Rosso or Castle In The Sky yet. I've seen most of the other major ones, though. The dude has hell of movie making ability.

I was a little disappointed in Howl's Moving Castle. It felt weak compared to his other recent works, and the source material was a fantastic book that I would've thought would be awesomely compatible with Miyazaki's style.

Pompoko is a lesser work but I have a huge fondness for it for no reason I can really explain. I just enjoy it.

[starlight]

I loved Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away... those are the only ones I've seen, but indeed, they're beautiful films.
I should get them out again soon.. it's been about 3yrs since I saw the former and a couple since I've seen the latter.

I've heard good things abut Grave of Fireflies, but never got around to it.

My anime (does this count as anime?  I got them due to my anime obsession nonetheless) quotient is at an alltime low the past year or two, but I've been aching for a bit here and there, so we'll see.

[Ben-San]

My anime (does this count as anime?  I got them due to my anime obsession nonetheless) quotient is at an alltime low the past year or two, but I've been aching for a bit here and there, so we'll see.

I don't see why it wouldn't. It's highly accessible anime that can in most cases be comfortably recommended to people without a particular interest in anime, but it's still anime. Anyone who says that accessibility makes it not anime needs to be hit with a stick a couple of times.

(There are dudes in comics fandom who will bitch that the few mainstream-accessible comic books out there aren't "real comics". And then they wonder why the industry has been going down the toilet and losing market share for years.)

[starlight]

I don't see why it wouldn't. It's highly accessible anime that can in most cases be comfortably recommended to people without a particular interest in anime, but it's still anime. Anyone who says that accessibility makes it not anime needs to be hit with a stick a couple of times.

(There are dudes in comics fandom who will bitch that the few mainstream-accessible comic books out there aren't "real comics". And then they wonder why the industry has been going down the toilet and losing market share for years.)

Hm.. I guess I wasn't saying so to be pretentious or anything (not that you're claiming I was -- just sayin').. just sometimes people claim that even if a series/film has the anime characteristics, it's not considered anime.  I do figure this counts since many of my anime friends back in the day recommended it, but I figured I'd ask anyhow.

It is quite different from other anime though; it doesn't have the same cliches or over the top actions like other stuff I've seen.  perhaps I'm missing out on other calm and collected anime though.  only this and maybeeee Serial Experiments: Lain has at all been tamed down that I've seen.  I should get back into anime -- and not the obnoxious kind (Love Hina and Tenchi, anyone?)!  heh.

[CortJstr]

I've been waiting forever for a decent release of Totoro (in places like animeondvd.com they use the same tone of voice for the Fox release of My Neighbor Totoro as regular people use for "Nazi Germany") but for some reason Netflix doesn't have it yet. I should probably just buy it since it's hard to go wrong with Miyazaki movies. Although Porco Russo was kind of bleh, especially the dub.

[miles]

Yes, buy it.  Is so worth it.

[wombat]

I loved Sprited Away, and Totoro was cute, but I couldn't finish that awful Porco Rosso. It's put me off seeing any more, I'm afraid.

[V-Adore]

Howl's Moving Castle was extremely beautiful but had some plot problems, I thought. Oh, well; they can't all be perfect...

I was pleasantly surprised by Nausicaa, personally. What I'd heard about it suggested that the protagonist was the sort of omnipotent Wonder Child I tend to find irritating, but the character worked, and also there were huge giant bugs. Success!

[Mite]

Howl's Moving Castle was extremely beautiful but had some plot problems, I thought.

Wait - I'm supposed to be watching these for the plot? If somebody with a couple of hours to kill would like to explain anime plotting to me, I'd appreciate it.

Oh, and Grave of the Fireflies? So beautiful. So soul-crushing.

[V-Adore]

Wait - I'm supposed to be watching these for the plot? If somebody with a couple of hours to kill would like to explain anime plotting to me, I'd appreciate it.

Well, Miyazaki films in general have tended to have relatively tight plots in the past -- usually not complex or profound, but well-organized and sensical, at least. Howl's I think suffered a lot from attempting to adapt a long, circuitous book and sort of picking and choosing plot points at random. I found myself pretty confused.

That said, no, I didn't go to the theater for the story. I went to the theater to watch a shiny thing on the big screen, and in the argot of J-Ro, the movie was so goddamn shiny you could hardly see it.

[Ben-San]

It is quite different from other anime though; it doesn't have the same cliches or over the top actions like other stuff I've seen.  perhaps I'm missing out on other calm and collected anime though.  only this and maybeeee Serial Experiments: Lain has at all been tamed down that I've seen.  I should get back into anime -- and not the obnoxious kind (Love Hina and Tenchi, anyone?)!  heh.

Miyazaki is doing his own thing, but a lot of that is because he's a skilled creator with his own distinctive style. I don't think that makes it "not anime"; he's informed by and equipped with the techniques the medium has acquired over the years. There's other "calm and collected" anime out there, too, but generally the US fanbase doesn't pay much attention to it.

(Trivia: Before Miyazaki was a Big Shot Director, a number of the people who would form Studio Ghibli with him did full-season TV series of Anne Of Green Gables and Heidi Of The Swiss Alps, among others. The director was Isao Takahata, who would later direct Grave Of The Fireflies; Miyazaki did scene design and organization.)

[theinevitable]

dang man
miyazaki is brilliant. I love him a ton. I've really enjoyed: Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle, and Grave of the Fireflies.

but now Totoro is ruined for me forever. Which is depressing. I saw half of it, and now I can never see the rest due to circumstances.