10 times 10 minutes of Ghilbi
There are numerous reasons why many people are looking over to Japan, and not the United States, to see the future of animation. Movie studios can continue to obsess over their CGI wannabe blockbusters and Disney can continue to implicitly claim that traditional animation is dead, but perhaps it isn’t the medium that has died. Perhaps imagination and craftmanship, in our north american lands, are.
Anyone who has ever seen a Studio Ghilbi movie knows exactly what I’m talking about: whimsical and imaginative stories within fantastic worlds where breaking down reality, instead of trying to replicate it, are de rigueur, concocted withpen and pencil in hand, pushing ever forward the possibilities of (what is now called) 2-D animation. And they do it all the while refusing to take children for fart-loving idiots. If you have never been exposed to Ghilbi, the folks over at Lukira have compiled a collection of the 10 first minutes of 10 Studio Ghilbi movies for you to watch, enjoy, and perhaps even get a little excited about. And if you have seen the movies, it’s a great way to remember just how magnificent they are.
It’s a nice list, which glaringly omits one of my favourites, Porco Rosso, but hey, I guess when you have to trim, you have to trim somewhere. No harm done.
I disagree. Most Japanese animation is cliched and uses the same 3 themes. I look at Ghibli as the exception from Japan not the norm. Things like the Venture Brothers show me the creativity that often times lacks from 95% of animation in general.
Only Satoshi Kon has shown me anything great in the last 2 years from Japan.
Hey, I just wanted to say that Kurenai no Buta is my favorite Ghibli production as well. I’m really surprised that it is overlooked as much as it is because I think it’s so much better than some of the other films. For instance, I couldn’t even sit through Laputa — had to turn it off after about 30 minutes. But I know a lot of people who just love that movie…!!
So wait… the name of your website is “Rising Sun of Rising Sun”?
I’m one of those people. Lapyuta is one of my favorite Ghibli movies.
Satoshi Kon’s “Millenium Actress” should be on everybody’s to watch list, one of the most creative and pretty films I’ve ever seen, live action or animated.