My Pal Marnie: When Marnie Was There

Howdy, howdy, folks!  I’m back this week after a nice vacation to dish out the last review of Miyazaki May.  This week’s pick is among the latest in Studio Ghibli’s arsenal of movies.  However, it is one of the few Ghibli films that Miyazaki didn’t make.  As most otakus and Ghibli fans know, Miyazaki announced his retirement after the release of The Wind Rises.  Regardless, Miyazaki or not, this week’s film is one that should not be missed!  So enough of my blabbing and let’s get on with this week’s review of When Marnie Was There.
Studio Ghibli’s latest film follows Anna as she stays with distant relatives for the summer as she recovers from an asthma attack.  It is also revealed later in the film that she is a foster child.  During her stay in the coastal town, Anna finds an abandoned mansion located near a marsh.  She immediately feels a connection with the house and soon after starts having dreams about a young girl who presumably lives there and even notices the lights turn on during high tide.  After a fight at a local festival, Anna runs to the marsh, finds a boat, and rows to the mansion.  When she reaches the mansion, she meets Marnie, the girl from her dreams.  This meeting is cut short, but the two agree to meet the following night.  That evening, a party is taking place.  Marnie disguises Anna with a shawl and basket of flowers and claims she’s a flower girl, and the two dance outside later on.  Locals find Anna asleep outside sometime later and take her back home.  Anna tries to meet with Marnie again, but is unable to for some strange reason.  During this time, she meets a local artist named Hisako, who tells her that a Tokyo family has moved into the mansion and begun making renovations.  When Anna goes to the house to investigate, a little girl named Sayaka identifies her as Marnie.  Sayaka then reveals that she found a diary belonging to a girl named Marnie.  In it, Anna finds a story about this same Marnie dancing with a “flower girl” at one of her parents’ parties, and that several pages of the diary are missing.
Marnie reappears shortly after.  Anna reveals that she learned that the government has been paying her foster parents an allowance that helps pay for her expenses.  This makes Anna feel that her parents don’t love her.  Marnie also reveals that her parents are gone all the time, leaving her with two abusive maids and an abusive nanny.  Also, on more than one occasion, the maids have threatened to lock Marnie in the old silo, which is said to be haunted.  Anna then decides that she and Marnie will go to the silo, not knowing that Sayaka found an important clue about Marnie’s identity.  During their stay in the silo, a storm hits, frightening Marnie.  Anna stays close to her and falls asleep.  However, she awakes to find Marnie has disappeared, causing Anna to flee the silo and frantically search for her.  Sayaka and a local boy find her passed out in the woods and very sick.  As Anna recuperates, she confronts Marnie in a dream sequence asking her why she left her.  Marnie apologizes and the two are able to forgive each other.  After Anna recovers, Sayaka tells her that she found the missing pages and a painting of the mansion for Hisako.  Anna and Sayaka confront Hisako about Marnie, and reveals her story: Marnie had a very lonely and sad childhood with her parents constant traveling and the abuse and neglect from the maids and nanny.  As an adult, she married her childhood friend, Kazuhiko, and the two started their own family not long after.  However, Kazuhiko died of an unknown illness, causing Marnie to fall into a depression in which she commits herself to a hospital and send her daughter Emily to boarding school.  This shatters the relationship between the two, and Emily soon runs away, gets married, and has a child of her own.  Unfortunately, Emily and her husband are killed in a car crash, leaving Marnie to care for their daughter.  This is short lived when Marnie herself dies shortly after, leaving the little girl in foster care.  Towards the end, Anna’s foster mother, Yoriko, comes to take Anna home, also confessing to the subsidies that she receives from the government.  Anna claims she knew about this, but doesn’t care about it anymore.  Marnie’s true identity is also revealed, which is…not going to be mentioned in this review because finding out who Marnie is is the best part of the movie (more on that in a moment)!
There are probably few animes, both shows and films, that I could call perfect.  When Marnie Was There is probably one of those few; this film gets a perfect five star score!  The story is probably the best selling point of the film.  I like that not all of the puzzle pieces are put together at the beginning and that they come together at the very end of the film.  Also, it’s fun trying to find out Marnie’s true identity and how she and Anna are connected.  But finding out the truth is probably the best part of the whole movie.  It’s the perfect shock factor to leave you breathless and subtle enough not to be too out there.  You could almost picture M. Night Shyamalan popping out and going, “What a tweest!”-but let’s try not picturing that.
Overall, there really aren’t any downsides to the film, although if you hate mysteries, this may not be the best movie for you.  Trying to put the plot’s puzzle pieces together can be tedious, but still, this movie is worth it from beginning to surprising end!
I’ll admit, I did more talking about the actually movie than really reviewing.  Still, all things considered, that’s a good thing.  Why?  Cause this movie is just that good!  When Marnie Was There is available wherever anime is sold.  And if you still don’t believe me that this movie is just that good, it was nominated for this year’s racist Academy Awards (that’s a joke, FYI) for the Best Animated Film Oscar.  And with that review done, that’s all for this week!  Tune in next Sunday for the conclusion of Miyazaki May where I reveal Character of the Month!

-Hanime on Anime

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