Hanime on Anime

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!   Miyazaki May has come to a close, and that means it’s time to reveal this month’s Character of the Month!   I’ll admit that it’s something of a squeeze to post this week considering that this Memorial Day weekend has been incredibly busy.   But come on, you know I can’t miss Character of the Month!   Getting back on track here, after looking at the films I reviewed for this year’s event, I think it was pretty obvious who was going to get the title.   Let’s not stall any longer and talk about this month’s Character of the Month: Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service. So yeah, who else could it be?   Given that I just reviewed Kiki’s Delivery Service last week, I’m going to spare you all a synopsis and just get to the point here.   If you read my review last week, you’ll probably note my thoughts on the film being a great YA film.   So naturally, I think it suffices to say that Kiki also makes a great YA character.   There’s this conflict that Kiki fac

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!   Sunday is here and that means it’s time to roll out the last review for Miyazaki May (though not the last part of Miyazaki May).   This week’s review was on what many consider to be one of the great Ghibli classics.   Well, I can certainly say that this was a lot better than the previous films I reviewed this month.   But enough about that, let’s talk about this week’s review on Kiki’s Delivery Service . The film opens on our protagonist, Kiki, learning that the night will be clear, and decides it’s the perfect night for her to leave home.   In the realm of the film, when a witch in training turns thirteen, she leaves her home to hone her craft.   After leaving home with her cat Jiji and a few mishaps, she ends up in a seashore town with more mishaps; she nearly starts a wreck and is later stopped by a traffic cop, and finds difficulty in finding a place to stay.   Eventually, she finds a bakery owned by a pregnant woman named Osono.   After retur

Well, you better break out the tissues, ladies and gentlemen.   I don’t think it’s any secret that part two of Miyazaki May is a review on one of the saddest animes of all time, in both film and series.   And while I can agree with the usual sentiment of those who had the displeasure of watching this movie, I think there are some things about this film that get over looked.   But before we get into that, let’s talk about this film, Grave of the Fireflies . The film first opens with an introduction from one of the main characters, Seita, as he’s dying…yeah, great way to open up the film.   After tossing what is later to be revealed as a candy canister, the spirits of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko appear.   This opening pretty much sets the stage for the entire film regarding tone.   Moving on from this scene, we open on Seita and Setsuko’s town being attacked by an air raid during the end of World War II.   Both Seita and Setsuko manage to escape their home and survive, but

Greetings ladies and gentlemen.   Welcome to part one of my annual Miyazaki May!   Kicking off the events is a review on a Ghibli film that often goes unnoticed.   Some may say that it’s because it’s not directed by Miyazaki, and others may say it’s a controversial film.   I’m more likely to go with the later here because this film really does let it all hang out (if you know what I mean), but we’ll get to that in a minute.    Let’s get started on this week’s review on Pom Poko . The film follows a group of raccoons who very early on in the film were actually enemies.   When the construction of a new suburb threatens the Tama Hills-where the raccoons live- they decide to act.   At first, they start to learn about the humans destroying their forrest by relearning transformation in order to blend in with them and study them.   But one of the chiefs, Gonta, decides to take more drastic measures.   Him and a small group go to the construction site and vandalize it, actually causing o