My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro is super simple. It's pleasant enough to watch, but I wouldn't exactly call it a must-see.

I've been wanting to see My Neighbor Totoro for a long time, and I finally did it. Out of the five or so Miyazaki movies I've seen, it's definitely the simplest. Totoro himself is kind of creepy. He roars a lot, and his teeth are disturbing. The scene with him standing in the rain with the leaf on his head, holding an umbrella, is pretty iconic, though. The cat bus was creepy, too. And Mei was really weird-looking. That was hard to get past. I liked how there was a musical cue for everything that happened, though, like even a butterfly flying around.

Kiki’s Delivery Service

There’s nothing really spectacular about Kiki’s Delivery Service, but it holds up well for something that’s 27 years old, and it’s interesting seeing how everything plays out.

Kiki’s Delivery Service holds up pretty well for a movie that’s old as hell. I didn’t have any idea it was so old when I watched it. It’s weird that they translated the term to “witch.” I guess it makes sense with the broom and the familiar and the black and everything. But it sounded like they were saying something more like “mage.” I feel like there’s probably a more positive term they could have used/could have been using other than “witch.” I’m sure the dialogue as a whole was better in Japanese. It’s always a bit weird in the subtitles.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Miyazaki's movies all seem to match the same theme of "stop fighting and respect nature," and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is no exception. It is visually interesting, and you can't help but like Nausicaä, so I'd lean towards recommending it even though it's not exactly mind-blowing.

I'm pretty sure my college boyfriend liked Nausicaä, but it's been so long since I've thought about it that I could be totally wrong. I wanted to watch My Neighbor Totoro, which I haven't seen yet, but the plot was too simple for my company and they chose Nausicaä instead. It reminded me a lot of Princess Mononoke. I did like Nausicaä more, though. Except for the name. They pronounce it so weird, with an "sh" for the "s." I do like the animation style, although the hats were really distracting and weird.

Nausicaä herself was a cool character. I liked her outfit. You can't *not* like someone who's basically just nice to everyone/everyone's hero. Again the message is super heavy-handed, though. "Stop fighting and try to understand each other." Okay. I guess it's a good thing to tell kids.

Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke wasn't exactly the epic I was expecting. The theme is pretty simple, but the animation is solid, and it held my attention for the entire movie.

I like Miyazaki's work, so Princess Mononoke has been on my "to watch" list for a while. Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle were better, but at least this wasn't as bad as Ponyo. The animation was good, and it held my interest for the entire time. Maybe it's one of those movies that's better for its iconicity than it is for watching for the first time. I liked San's general look/outfit, but other than that there wasn't anything really striking about it, visually or thematically.

Ponyo

Huge disappointment from Miyazaki. Ponyo herself was really annoying.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

A refreshing movie after the last two. It really captures the simple, beautiful things. The story's nothing spectacular, but it's not hard to watch. I didn't like the ending, though.

Wicked City

Unbeliveably visually unappealing. Ugh. How am I supposed to like an anime that completely lacks attractive characters? The twist at the end was interesting, although partially predictable, but I didn't enjoy the animation style at all.

Twilight of the Dark Master

This went up 127% in popularity in the last week on IMDb. Possibly because I just searched for it. It was fairly fast-paced and slightly poignant; felt a little empty because of the pacing, though.

Armitage III: Poly-Matrix

Beautifully done.

Armitage: Dual Matrix

Nowhere near as good as the first one.

Ninja Scroll

Completely typical hack 'n slash anime.

Ghost in the Shell

Beautiful and slightly philosophical.

Akira

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust