Let’s Complete Studio Ghibli VI

Good Morning Everyone!

For Pat and Frank.

Coming to you live from sunny California and suffering from a 3-hour sickness. Sleep is good. Unfortunately for some, sleep is optional. Falling into the optional category, I never thought 3 hours would carry over so many years. But that “so many” is only a few compared to the previous years when I was “3-hours” free. Perhaps in another decade my condition would finally subside. Or perhaps I will become so acquainted with my condition that within one-year’s time I would no longer consider it a condition, rather a means for which to get rest…Perhaps.

Siempre que te pregunto
Que cuándo cómo y dónde
Tú siempre me respondes
Quizás, quizás, quizás

Y así pasan los días
Y yo desesperado
Y tú, tú, contestando
Quizás, quizás, quizás

Before I phantom the idea of sleeping, tonight we continue our journey through Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki Collection 32.

Disc 6: My Neighbor Totoro, Tonari no Totoro, となりのトトロ
Writer and Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Released: April 16, 1988 (exactly 3 days until the release-date anniversary)

Totoro is everywhere! Move over Mickey. Totoro is the Japanese version of Winnie-the-Pooh. Apart from cameos in other Miyazaki films and the Studio Ghibli logo, Totoro has appeared in Toy Story 3 (stuffed doll) and has been given homage on a couple of Comedy Central Cartoons. With a brief introduction, now introducing our neighbor: Totoro.

Hey, let’s go! Hey, let’s go!
I’m happy as can be
Let’s go walking, you and me
Ready, set, come on, let’s go!
Over the hill, across the field
Through the tunnel we’ll go
We’ll run across the bridge
And down the bumpy gravel road
Creep beneath the spider’s web
Ready, set, let’s go!

The Kusakabe family is moving to an old rural home to be closer to the hospital where their mother is being treated for an unknown sickness. Upon arriving at the house, the two daughters, Satsuki and Mei inspect every inch of the small home, finding soot sprites (little black balls of soot…the first incarnation of the Spirited Away coal-throwing soot balls). The grandmother, newly arrived and visiting, tells the girls that the soot balls are soot spirits and that they will leave when once the family is comfortable in the new home: comfort which does not take long.

And if I ever made U cry
All I have 2 do is think about it and I just wanna die
I just wanna break down and die, die, die, die
How I’d ever make it by without U, baby
I don’t know, I hope I never have 2 try, yeah
Oh, listen 2 me
(Ooh my) Friend, lover, sister, mother, wife
(My sweet, sweet friend, lover, sister, mother, wife)
Air, food, water, love of my life

Satsuki leaves for school, thus leaving Mei to play alone. While picking up acorns, she sees a rabbit-like creature (later to be deemed as a Totoro). She chases the creature around, it runs under the house, loses Mei for a bit, only to be seen again with a slightly bigger, grey creature. Mei again, chases both, following them into a cubbyhole nested in a huge tree where she finds a giant creature in slumber. Climbing up onto the sleeping creature’s chest, Mei begins to awaken the giant. (If you watch South Park, you know where Matt and Trey got their inspiration from for Cartman and Cthulhu).  Cuteness ensues, and while asking the creature’s name, the creature yawns and Mei interprets the yawn as Totoro. Falling asleep, Mei is found resting in the cubbyhole by Satsuki.

Call Mr Goodnight
He’ll make U feel alright
Make U throw Ur head back and holla
So nice, so nice
Better not tell Ur girlfriend
U can try with all Ur might
Just can’t keep a secret
‘Bout goodnight, goodnight

The next day, was a rainy day. (That reminds me, they are given an umbrella by young boy, Kanta, who is later seen playing in his room in his underwear like all kids do when it rains. But most memorable, as the family was moving in, Kanta was sent to give them a welcoming gift by his grandmother. He gives the gift with minimal words, runs out of the house and from a distance says, “Your house is haunted,” runs away…classic). Waiting for their father’s bus, Mei falls asleep and is being carried on Satsuki’s back. As it gets dark, the giant Totoro appears standing next to Satsuki, wearing a single leaf on his head (because it’s raining) apparently waiting for a bus also. Satsuki offers the Totoro an umbrella she brought for her father and in return the delighted Totoro gives Satsuki seeds. In the distance a bus appears: a giant catbus. Totoro enters the catbus, which is followed by the father’s bus.

Sanjikan mo matte ita no yo
Watashi neko to issho ni

Sono toki denwa no beru ga
Watashi neko mitai ni shabetta
Terebi no volume sagete
Watashi uso mitai na koe de

Twiggy no mini skirt de
Twiggy mitai na pose de
Twiggy no mini skirt de
Twiggy mitai ni yassepochi no watashi

The next day, the girls plant the seeds. Later that evening the three Totoro do a ceremony where the seeds were planted, the girls join in and a giant tree grows within minutes. Totoro then flies the girls and his smaller compatriots to the top of the tree.

See I picks my friends like I pick my fruit
My Ganny told me that when I was only a youth
I don’t go ’round trying to be what I’m not
I don’t waste my time trying to get what you got
I work at pleasin’ me cause I can’t please you
And that’s why I do what I do
My soul flies free like a willow tree
Doo wee doo wee do wee

The next day, Satsuki receives an urgent phone call from their mother. Running to the nearest phone, Satsuki finds out that their mother will have to postpone a planned visit as a setback from her treatment. Worried that her mother may die, Satsuki is distraught. From her anxiety, she yells at Mei and storms away. Mei, walks home, thinking that healthy food will help cure her mother. With an ear of corn in her hand, Mei, alone, begins to walk to the hospital.

I go out walking, after midnight
Out in the moonlight
Just like we used to do
I’m always walking, after midnight
Searching for you

I walk for miles, along the hyihway
Well that’s just my way
Of saying I love you
I’m always walking after midnight
Searching for you

I stop to see a weeping willow
Crying on his pillow
Maybe he’s crying for me
And as the skies turn gloomy
Night winds whisper to me
I’m lonesome as I can be

Her disappearance alarms the neighborhood causing all to search for Mei. Satsuki goes to the giant tree and asks Totoro for help. Neighborly as Totoro is, he summons the catbus which takes her where Mei is sitting. With Mei safe, the catbus takes the girl to the hospital where their mother is. Perched on a tree, they overhear the conversation between their father, who is already there and mother. Their mother expresses her worry for her daughters and vows to get healthy. The girls leave the ear of corn on the windowsill and the parents find it as the catbus whisks the girls back home.

Totoro, Totoro, Totoro, Totoro,
Someone stealthily
Buries nuts in the path.
When a tiny sprout grows,
[You’ll find] a secret password
The passport to the forest.
A wonderful adventure begins.

General Comments: My Neighbor Totoro is a great movie. There have been comparison made about Panda! Go, Panda! with Totoro, in that the first was a precursor to the latter. If that is the case, then Totoro has every minused element from Panda! Go, Panda! and then some. The family element is stronger in Totoro. The comedy and general innocence is more profound. Nothing is too farstretched. What the viewer is presented with is a charming, warming 3rd person view of two children, the realization of life (and the opposite part associated with it), settling with the harder edges of life and the usefulness of imagination to live life.

Until next time, stay tuned!

Let’s Complete Studio Ghibli V

Good Morning Everyone!

This week, everything done will be done for Pat and Frank.

Coming to you live from the flying island with an adamantine base and I am accompanying Gulliver on his travels. Here, there are new languages to learn. But the meaning of every word is lost somewhere in speech. That is why silence is preferred. No…not silence but colorful dialogue: witty banter between two friends, or the cordial laughter between a circle of friends. The colorful dialogue that floats off the lips of one and lingers gently in the synapse between two before caressing the white between a reddened crescent moon.

Take my hand
Come with me, baby, to Love Land
Let me show you how sweet it could be
Sharing love with me, I want you to
Float, float on
Float, float, float on

Unsure if untitledincandide will do its weekly rituals with life being as busy as it is, tonight a little of Let’s Experiment mixed with Let’s Complete (without the food…well I’ll try to incorporate it). Tonight we continue to float on. Tonight we continue our journey through the Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki Collection 32.

Disc 5: Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta, 天空の城ラピュタ
Writer and Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Release Date: August 2, 1986 (JPN), April 1, 1989 (USA)

What would you do if you saw someone gracefully floating down from the heavens? Of course your initial thought would be filled with amazement or terror, depending on how fast one is plummeting. But, we’re talking about a gentle float much like the clichéd angel falling from heaven only to fall in love with the person seen. Following the cliché, it would only seem natural that we catch the gentle floater. Thus, possibly one of the greatest lines in a Miyazaki film in the English translation from Japanese and the English script from the Disney remake and the subsequent line:

“…So you are a regular person. I was afraid you were an angel.”

“…Thank goodness. You laugh like a regular person. The way you fell from the sky, I thought you were an angel or something.”

“…I had to catch you…you were just floating.”

Having fallen from an airship trying to avoid a kidnapping by sky pirates, Sheeta with a magical blue-light irradiating pendant gently floats to the ground. In a amazement, Pazu runs to catch Sheeta, who floats above his hands.

…Like Evian and the deep blue sea
U and me got different taste
U like it in the dark but I like a

Blue light
Can u turn on a Blue light
Then cuddle up 2 me so tight
Just u and me all night
Alright, Blue light

The next morning, Sheeta awakens to the sound of Pazu’s bugle in the air. They eat, feed the birds, Pazu says the lines and the chase begins again as Dola and her crew of pirates try to hunt down Sheeta. The pirates chase the two into the village: after a fight, a train ride and a floating-plummet, both Sheeta and Pazu land safely into an abandoned mine shaft. Inside the mine, they met Uncle Pom (after a meal of course), who tells the two about “volucite,” the crystal that keeps Laputa floating and the crystal that Sheeta’s pendant is made up of. All this under a starry sky and ground:

I know what people think
They think I’m a star struck little fool
Baby, U could be flat broke
I’d still be crazy 4 U
And I know that I’m in love
Cuz I’d change my whole life just 2 make U smile
And I still can’t have U when I want
But when I do it’s only 4 a little while

Baby, U’re an ocean that’s 2 wide 2 cross
Baby, U’re the cross that’s 2 deep  2 bear
Baby, U’re the star that’s 2 far away
Baby, U’re a trip and a half, but I don’t care

The next day, Sheeta and Pazu return to the surface. Sheeta tells Pazu that she has a secret name Lusheeta Toel Ul Laputa (“Sheeta, True Ruler of Laputa”).  Immediately, both are chased by a plane, captured, and separated. Pazu is sent to a cell (his attempts to escape hilarious) and Sheeta is accompanied by Muska (on a government-led expedition to kidnap Sheeta and find Laputa), who reveals to Sheeta his knowledge of Sheeta, Laputa and the robot that feel from the sky. Driven by his desire to find Laputa, Muska forces Sheeta to assist him as her refusal would mean Pazu would be harmed. Sheeta tells Pazu to forget about Laputa and to forget about her.

If U see me walkin’ down the street one day
Don’t say nothin’ 2 me – no no, nothin’
Cuz U did me wrong when I was doing bad
So bad, I didn’t think I was gonna make it
Now I’m alone, feelin’ free
Freer than the butterfly flyin’ high now – yeah yeah, baby
I don’t claim no riches or any miracles
But I’m doin’ better on my own

So if U see me, walk on by, baby
Don’t say nothin’, walk on by now
Do yourself a favor, walk on by, yeah
Don’t say nothin’, walk on by

Distraught, Pazu returns home only to find Dola and company in his home (eating his food). Dola convinces Pazu to assist her against Muska. Driven purely for his love of Sheeta, Pazu begs Dola to take him with her.  Meanwhile, at the fortress Sheeta reminisces about a time as a child, she was upset and being comforted by her grandmother. Her grandmother tells her a spell which you make her feel better. Aloud Sheeta says the phrase, her pendant glows, the robot awakens, and to protect Sheeta, the robot destroys the fortress. Embedded by embers, Pazu with Dola save Sheeta. The robot is then destroyed by the Goliath airship. The pendant is torn from Sheeta’s neck and recovered by Muska. Using the pendant, Mushka searches for Laputa on the Goliath. On the Tiger Moth, Sheeta, Pazu, Dola and pirates go after Muska.

When my little scarlet feline roars
The locals come around
When they see the scarlet light
They know it’s time to come chase her down

While on watch Pazu is accompanied by Sheeta. Their conversation is overheard by Dola via intercom. Sheeta having doubt about her future/power/destiny, Pazu reassures her (true love). While talking Pazu sees Goliath, which attacks the Tiger Moth. The Tiger Moth enters a storm; Dola tells Pazu to turn the crow’s nest into a glider. Sheeta and Pazu fly away on the glider. The two see a cloud and enter fly through a storm: they see two winds blowing in opposite directions. The two are then attacked by Goliath. Separated from the Tiger Moth, Sheeta and Lazu land in Laputa; completely green, desolate yet majestic with only a single robot tending the plants and animal life (all robots listen to Sheeta).

Ain’t it funny that the way you feel
Shows on your Face?
And the smile you used to wear
Seems a little bit out of place
People, oh hold on, in time
It gets a little better

My sunshine has come
And I’m all cried out
And there’s no more rain in this cloud

In Laputa, Sheeta and Pazu awaken overjoyed. Completely dense with vegetation and life; Laputa is picturesque (the absolutely definition and romanticism of the word). (The return of Nauicaä’s fox-squirrel.) The Goliath eventually arrives at Laputa, where the soldiers plunder the beautiful city. The Tiger Moth and crew are found. The crew is held prisoner by the Goliath crew. Pazu attempts to rescue Dola, while Sheeta follows Muska, only to be captured. Muska takes Sheets to Laputa’s core where a gigantic volucite crystal sits, serving as the city’s power source. Here, Muska tells Sheeta that they share the same ancestors. Muska then activates an army of robots to wipe out everybody in the city. Sheeta frees herself and recovers the crystal and gives it to Pazu.

As bombs explode around us and hate advances on the right
The only thing that matters, baby, is the love that we make 2night
As little babies in make-up terrorize the western world
The only thing that matters, baby, is love between a boy and girl

Oh, expert lover, my baby
U ever had a Crystal Ball?
Undercover, no maybe
All 4 fun and fun 4 all

Muska corners Sheeta in Laputa’s throne room. He shoots her pigtails off. Given a hand cannon earlier by Dola, Pazu enters the room, asks to talk to Sheeta. Together the two decide to use the Spell of Destruction: the power. Sheeta’s pendant releases a beautiful blue power surge, blinding Muska. Laputa crumbles. Sheeta and Pazu are hurled into roots from the giant tree. Later, awaken to find the glider. Dola and the pirates survive, flying around on their moth fighters with some treasure. They find Sheeta and Pazu. Reaching the coast, Sheeta and Pazu bid the pirates a farewell and part ways. The movie ends with Laputa orbiting Earth.

I never been 1 2 hide my feelings
Baby, u blow my mind
I painted your face upon my ceiling
I stare at it all the time
I imagine myself inside your bedroom
Oh I imagine myself in your sky
U are the reason there’s bass in my boom
U are the reason I’m highIf u and I were just ten feet closer
Then i’d make u understand
That everything i wanna do 2 your body, baby
I would do 2 your head
Then u’d be hip 2 the deep rush
Deeper than the boom of the bass
With every other flick of the pink plush
The closer we get 2 the space

The space
Don’t u want 2 go?
Where the souls go
Where the tears flow
Where the love grows
Do u want 2 go?

General Comments: We have now entered the meat of Miyazaki’s work. From here on out we get visual and storied masterpiece and masterpiece. Laputa has probably my favorite line in all of Miyazaki’s work: with “to see with eyes unclouded” being a close second. Again, the scenery becomes more grandiose and vibrant. We see the familiar themes, faces and other similar occurrences that make a Miyazaki movie (big noses, panoramic shots, zoom outs, nature). Strictly more of a love story (or one of a deep and profound friendship) balanced between a struggle for power and a desire for peace. Family is incorporated with the pirates. But you don’t have to take my word for it. In the end, I just want to fly away from it all. Go on an adventure. Find my own Laputa and enjoy the beauty that surrounds me. One day my sky-flying adventure will happen…you watch and see! I belong up there. If not there…in space.

Until next time.

Let’s Complete Studio Ghibli IV

Good Morning Everyone!

Coming to you live from last month when we were in the Valley of the Wind. If your Miyazaki movie watching was anything like mine then your first experience with prominent animator and film director was with the highly acclaimed Princess Mononoke: the epic nature versus human, human versus spirit, spirit versus industry socio-politico-ecological piece. But long before Mononoke, there was Nausicaä, a gliding heroine which has a deep-rooted connection with nature.

I can’t get into the poisoned land
I can’t get into something I don’t understand
I can’t into a bad romance
I can’t get into a love that ends in a chance

If it’s right, it’s all right with you now
If it’s right, it’s all right for me now, yo-ho
Any night you’ll be uptight until you find
That the wrong and the right are within your mind

Into you now
Into you, my people
And you into me

Though Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was mentioned briefly through untitledincandide, today we continue our journey through the Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki Collection 32.

Disc 4: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Kaze no Tani no Naushika, 風の谷のナウシカ
Writer and Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Release Date: March 4, 1984

Welcome to a post-apocalyptic world where the atmosphere is toxic and the land is swarming with giant insects. It is always exciting to live with a little danger: something unexpected with a sliver of peril. To live through something hazardous is quite educational. That is why in this post-apocalyptic world, you are an explorer of this toxic land traveling on a jet-assisted glider; who has an innate connection with the world around you, and the desire to understand the land.

This is our heroine, Nausicaä. She literally has no fear; nature loves her; is peace-loving yet knows how to throw-down. She stares down an Ohm, befriends a fox-squirrel, takes on 10 guys at once, and walks through fire. This all happening in the first 20 minutes (a fun thing to do when watching this movie is to count how many times you see her bear butt).

The jungle is desolate and destitute: insects reign supreme. In the valleys, humans are fighting against each other for power: a power in the disguise of an embryo of a Giant Warrior. Nausicaä’s is the princess of Lastelle. Here, we find that she is inspired by Lord Yupa who is in search of the “man in blue” a man that has the power to reunite humans with nature and that the jungle is toxic due to the tainted soil that covers the land. Lastelle is also the place where the struggle begins. Near the Lastelle an airship crashes, and Nausicaä rescues a shackled girl from the embers. As the girl dies, she tells Nausicaä to destroy the cargo. The cargo was found to be an embryo of a Giant Warrior: lethal creatures used 1,000 years ago during the ancient war.

The embryo was found by the Pejite people, but it was stolen from them by the Tolmekia people. Within the airship wreckage, the embryo is now in Lastelle, which gets taken over by princess Kushana, who secures the embryo and the town (not without a fight) explaining to the Lastelle people that she wants to use the embryo to burn the Toxic Jungle.

Kushana attempts to return to Pejite with Nausicaä and several new hostages but their several airships get attacked by a single, lone-piloted gunship. Nausicaä, Mito and Kushana escape to a surviving gunship, assist the Lastelle hostages in another ship (thumbs up) and eventually crash land in a marsh. Here, Nausicaä communicates with several Ohmus (through shiny yellow tentacles that envelope Nausicaä) discovering the pilot of the downed Pejite gunship is still alive.

Nausicaä attempts to rescue the pilot, Asbel (the twin brother of Princess Lastelle), with her glider, but eventually both land in a bed of quicksand. Both get succumbed by the quicksand, landing in a non-toxic underworld. (Enter dreamworld where we see Nausicaä as a child trying to protect a baby Ohm.)

Fully rested Nausicaä and Asbel return to Pejite only to find that the town had been ravished by insects. These insects are set to destroy every kingdom along the way to Tolmekia. The Pejite survivors say that they will attack the valley to recapture the embryo. Nausicaä tries to stop them, is held captive but freed by Asbel. While flying home to the Valley, she encounters a herd of enraged Ohms following a baby Ohm being used by the Pejites to lure the herd to the Valley. Nausicaä releases the baby Ohm. During the release, Nausicaä is shot and injured, but no injured enough to first calm down the baby Ohm.

With a massive herd of Ohm heading toward the town, Kushana awakens the Giant Warrior to stop the Ohm. But the Giant did not finish developing, thus is deteriorating, (It does however give off a few shots). The Giant melts away and the herd continues to charge. Again, I leave the synopsis here, as I would rather have you watch the movie for yourself.

General Comments: This is the first Miyazaki film with grandiose, fully-developed and beautiful scenery. Nature is captured through color and texture. Not just another human versus nature movie, Nausicaä is a masterpiece which enables the viewer to realize that we need to realize the beauty in both nature and human, thus creating a balance between the two or suggesting that a balance between the two has to be made. Not to push the Green-initiative further. Nausicaä is beautifully animated and the story is strong.

Once upon a time in a land called Fantasy
17 mountains stood so high
The sea surrounded them and together they would be
The only thing that ever made u cry
U said the devil told u that another mountain would appear
Everytime somebody broke your heart
He said the sea would 1 day overflow with all your tears,
And love will always leave u lonely

But I say it’s only mountains and the sea
Love will conquer if u just believe (oh yeah)
It’s only mountains and the sea
There’s nothing greater, u and me

That’s all for the first file of many. Next up Discs 5 – 9 and some interludes…maybe some Thai. Until then, love one another.

Let’s Complete Studio Ghibli III

Good Morning Everyone!

Coming to you live from Monaco where the sunsets lingers over the Mediterranean Sea like a winter wind dancing on the anacrusis of Spring. Lively being the current state, where Hercules roamed and took magistrate, here repetitive motions dominate like those in Indiana. Imagine sitting with me in my room, knowing outside is in full bloom with warm, dry summers lasting days, with winters nil snow, only rain. Everything is all between, here it feels of both Fall and Spring.  Certainly, weather to be treasured.

Here, treasure is not as diminutive as the landmass itself. These treasures steal the wary eyes of visiting travelers, hunting thieves and destitute pleasure-seekers looking for big fun.  But not everything can be called as it’s told. As pleasure-seekers know alike, they all must have a cautious eye to find and look & search and find everything that is real and genuine. Tonight we continue our journey through the Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki Collection 32.

Disc 3: Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, ルパン三世 カリオストロの城
Written and Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Released: December 15, 1979

Lupin III is a popular manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch (Kazuhiko Kato) (now that’s a pen name), which follows the life of a gang of thieves led by Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. Almost an instant hit, the manga spanned through various media outlets (e.g. television, music, video game, film) receiving more notoriety and acclaim. The first Lupin III film was a live-action talkie: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy (based on an anime this movie was very colorful from what I remember…it was Austin Powers before Austin was cool). The second released movie was an animated piece, The Secret of Mamo, where Lupin III turns down an offer of eternal life…like a boss. Then there came a third cinematic installment, a second anime which, loosely based on one of LeBlanc’s novels, is what is being discussed now:

Running, Lupin III and Jigen have just stolen 5 billiion dollars from the Casino of Monaco. After a smooth getaway, while driving a Mini Cooper-like auto filled to the brim with loot, the thieves realize that the money is the same counterfeit bills from their past days. Trying to find the source of the bills, the two travel the Principality of Cagliostro. While driving on cliff-side, they rescue a young girl, Clarisse, from thugs. Nearly saved hanging off the cliff, both Lupin and Clarisse fall, knocking Lupin unconscious and resulting in Clarisse being recaptured. Before being recaptured Clarisse gives Lupin a ring. Clarisse is the princess of Cagliostro and is going to be married to the Count, who wants to obtain the ancient treasure of Cagliostro and needs the princess and the ring to do so.

Jigen calls on the help of badass samurai Goemon Ishikawa to rescue Clarisse. He also informs Inspector Zenigata of his whereabouts to provide a distraction for entrance into the castle where Clarisse is being held. Lupin’s former lover Fujiko Mine, posing as Clarisse’s lady-in-waiting tells Lupin here Clarisse is being held. Lupin makes his way into the castle, returns her ring and promises to save her…her being the treasure that he wants to steal. Before their escape, the Count ambushes them and Lupin falls…more like ballaholically falls…through a trapdoor.

While the Count talks with Clarisse about the ring and the family-future, Lupin calls them via the returned-ring. Lupin promises to save Clarisse. And having found out that the ring is fake the Count flushes Lupin deeper into castle cellars filled with the skeletons of spies trying to learn the secret of Cagliostro and the counterfeit bills. While down there, Lupin encounters Inspector Zenigata, where both make a pact to escape. The two hide in the bones of the past spies and fight off the Count’s assassins. While trying to escape, the two also find the printing press containing every type of counterfeit bill: The Goat Money-the black hole.

Continuing with their escape, Lupin starts a fire creating enough distraction to steal the Count’s autogyro. Attempting to rescue Clarisse, Lupin is shot and wounded. Clarisse offers the ring to the Count to save Lupin. With ring in hand, the Count tries to finish off Lupin still hanging on the autogyro, but all parties are saved by Fujiko. The autogyro in horrible shape crash lands into a tree ejecting the shot and on fire Lupin only to be caught by Jigen and Ishikawa. Lupin then needs to heal and recuperate…kid eats as much as me. Hahaha. Inspector Zenigata tries to get international help to stop the Count, but they do not heed the inspector’s council and evidence. Meanwhile, while Lupin is healing he remembers his first attempt in trying to get into the castle: a failed attempt which injured Lupin and was his first encounter with Clarisse as a 9 year old girl. She nourished him back to health. This memory and him seeing his old buddy acting as motivation for Lupin to save Clarisse.

At the wedding between the Count and a dazed Clarisse, Lupin’s ghost appears and disrupts the event. And all I know from here is that a lot of stuff happens at the wedding until it stops happening and eventually we see Lupin driving with Jigen when Fujiko rides up next to them on a bike with something interesting in her bag. What happened at the wedding? Did Clarisse and Lupin live happily ever after? Can thieves not thieve? What did Fujiko have? All these questions, I will not answer but you find them by watching the movie.

General Comments: Good time! Memorable and familar characters. This is what happens when you mix established characters and storyline, with great visuals and comedy.

Next time, Disc 4, on a continuing journey through the Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki Collection 32. Thank you for reading, stay tuned for more. Follow untitledincandide also! Until then, have a beautiful time.

Let’s Complete Studio Ghibli Part II

Good Morning Everyone!

Coming to you live from Zhōngguó, a thought more than a place, a place more than a home, a home more than a country, this is the heart. A heart sitting centered and layered between pages written by civilizations past. Pages when turned form eddies in air that turn back toward and beneath the page from which they came; accelerated by the turn of the next page as eddy upon eddy orbit each other like the rings of a rock resonating on a glassy plain. At the shore of this glassy plain sits a Panda in a consuming wade, wetting his tongue on bamboo stalks as he wets his feet. A break much deserved as his past day full-spent in the dust of Ghibli.

One down with another on the go, our adventure continues. Disc 2 of 32 features a movie made popular by Japan’s love of pandas in the early 1970’s. Keeping the peace while gaining a panda, the following feature is separated into two short films making one. Tonight we continue our journey through the Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki Collection 32. 

Mama mama chicchai chicchai mama
Papa papa ooki ooki papa
Sakadachishi you yo
Harappa nikko niko yo
Sannin issho damon wahaha damon
Panda papanda kopanda
Panda papanda kopanda
Panda papanda kopanda
Panda papanda kopanda

Disc 2: Panda! Go, Panda!, Panda Kopanda, パンダ・コパンダ
Director: Isao Takahata
Writer/Creator/Scene Setting: Hayao Miyazaki
Release Date: December 17, 1972

Part I: The Adventures of Panda and Friends

Mimiko’s grandmother leaves on a trip leaving Mimiko to be left alone. Mimiko is a parentless, independent, vibrant and intelligent little girl. Making her way to the grocery store, we are given insight to her character. At the grocery store when asked if she’ll be scared all alone at night, Mimiko responds, “I’ll be fine! If I see a ghost, then…Hi-yaah (kicking air)…I’ll beat him up and make him my servant.” The store clerk ends the scene saying , “In actual fact, it’s she who takes care of Grandma.” On the way home she notices that bamboo stalks were broken and wonders if burglars were there. But as she goes to the back of the house, she sees a panda, Panny, which she first believed was stuffed. In her loving embrace, the panda wakes up and the friendship immediately develops. While in the house, the panda’s dad comes to Mimiko’s home to see if his son is there. PapaPanda offers to be Mimiko’s father and Mimiko wholeheartedly accepts: a family is born and all three adjust to their arrangement.

The next day, Mimiko goes to school with Panny following her. Hesitant at first, Mimiko lets him follow her, having Panny pretend to be a stuffed animal. While in class, her classmates want to hold Panny, but Mimiko denies them. She gets in trouble by her teach, when someone grabs Panny’s ear. The teacher tells Mimiko to put Panny into her locker. Instead of the locker, he finds his way to the kitchen and attempts to eat the food but causes a bread-falling, soup-soaked ruckus. The next day, Mimiko gets a surprised visit from a police officer, who at the site of PapaPanda, notifies the local zookeeper. The zookeeper demands that the pandas be returned.

While on a family-stroll at a park, the family encounters a bully with an uncontrollable dog. PapaPanda scares the dog, which then tries to attack Panny. But Panny is a boss and easily handles the dog, scaring the bully and dog away. While asking PapaPanda what a zoo is, they lose track of Panny. They search for him but find themselves surrounded by police and the zookeeper, who help Mimiko and PapaPanda find Panny. Meanwhile, Panny is found floating on a piece of wood, heading towards a floodgate. Mimiko jumps to save Panny, also risking greater danger. Both are saved by PapaPanda. After celebrating, police, zookeeper, girl, panda and all, PapaPanda and Panny agree to return to the zoo only if they can leave after the visitors leave so that they can visit Mimiko. This short ends with the family walking towards a sunset.

General comments: A panda becomes a little girl’s father. This panda holds a job like any other working father. The panda’s talk. People seem to realize that a panda is doing people things, but no one seems to care about the panda-human less-than-nuclear family. All-in-all, weird…very weird…like a very early-Saturday morning cartoon: only enjoyable at earliest hours of the day.

Part II: The Circus in the Rain

In this short, the house is being raided by a ringmaster and one of his cronies: both looking for something. The panda family returns home, thinking that the two are burglars. (Scarily, Mimiko finds joy in the situation…crazy girl.) At seeing a hyperactive panda family, the two men flee. As if the short became the  tale of Goldilocks, the three start dinner, Panny’s dinner is eaten, Panny snoops around and finds what the ringmaster was looking for, a baby tiger, Tiny, sleeping in his bed. (More excitement and joy fill the family as they welcome Tiny…crazy family.)

The next day, Mimiko and Panny go to the circus to return Tiny to his mother. Tiny does some tricks, Panny tries to imitate, but fails, again causing ruckus for the carny folk. Panny eventually ends up in a tiger cage with Tiny’s mother. The tiger mother with Panny in mouth and Mimiko with Tiny clutched to chest, exchange “children” all becoming immediate friends. (What? The tiger can’t speak? Mimiko licks her?…crazy panda-cat-human family.)

That night a nasty storm brews, flooding Mimiko’s hometown. Mimiko receives a ball-message from Tiny with four paw prints, which PapaPanda reads, saying “Help, help!” signed by Tiny. (crazy papa.) The family decides to help them. They meet the ringmaster who tells them that the train carrying all of the animals is stuck in the middle of nowhere. While PapaPanda and Mimiko rescue the animals, Tiny and Panny are playing in the engine room. Their playing causes the train to start. The train is on a collision course with mayor’s house. Fortunately for the mayor (coincidentally for the movie), PapaPanda stops the train, and the family becomes local heroes. This short ends with the family enjoying and day at the circus.

General comments: What the hell was that? Even crazier than the first. So if it were shown at an earlier time…possibly enjoyable. But for me…not so much. But that’s ok! After all, it was earlier established that every solid-gold run has a few miscues. But yeah, definitely pass on this affair and skip to Totoro.

And I hope that you are
Having the time of your life
But think twice
That’s my only advice

Come on now, who do you
Who do you, who do you, who do you think you are?
Ha ha ha, bless your soul
You really think you’re in control?

Well, I think you’re crazy
I think you’re crazy
I think you’re crazy
Just like me

Once again, I thank you for reading. Stay tuned for more Ghibli and other beautiful randomness burgeon from untitledincandide. This is your host, signing off.

Let’s Complete Studio Ghibli Part I

Good Morning Everyone!

Coming to you live from the Sahara Desert, and let me tell you that it is a fantastic sight to see.  Here, every wave of the wind shatters the stillness of the dunes that shakes your hand as you pass, caressing your face with its grip and leaving a subtle grit in your teeth. It’s so colorful here, baked in an orange hue that covers all the honeydews, kiwis, limes and cantaloupes until a pink or browner view appears. With snake tracks leading every way, or rather chartered spirit veins, your every footstep gently dismays a surface made nonplussed. You look back and see the scenery; lost for words you think mentally this place is Ghibli.

It’s finally going to happen. One DVD box-set featuring all of the cinematic work done by Hayao Miyazaki, either as a director, animator and/or writer, all on 32 DVD’s and your host watching. The box-set contains 8 files with 4 DVD’s per file: that means this task will span at least 8 separate posts to at most 32. Sit back and enjoy the show. Grab yourself a coke and a smile. Tonight marks the beginning of our journey through the Studio Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki Collection 32.

I know U’ve been hurt before
I can see it in your eyes
And if U just close the door
I would not be surprised
Even though I know U’ve heard it
These words I’m tryin’ 2 say
I think the others only flirted
With the true meaning of always

U can say what U wanna
But I ain’t gonna stop this journey 2 the center of your heart

Disc 1: Little Norse Prince, Horus: Prince of the Sun, 太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険
Director: Isao Takahata (film debut)
Storyboards and animation: Hayao Miyazaki and others
Release Date: July 21, 1968

The chase begins: while Hols was being chased by and fighting against a pack of wolves, he accidently awakens Mogue, the rock man, who has a sword in his shoulder which Hols removes. (The kid can climb.) Mogue proclaims that the sword is the “Sword of the Sun” and that Hols can have it, wondering if he can re-forge it.  Once he does this, Hols will be called the “Prince of the Sun.”

In the next scene, Hols is at his father’s deathbed. His father tells Hols that their family came from a northern seaside village, which was destroyed by Grunwald, a wicked sorcerer. Being the only survivors and upon his last words, Hols’ father urges Hols to return to their northern home and avenge the village.

 

 

 

Accompanied by his companion Coro, a (talking) bear, Hols is kidnapped by a giant bear that flies Hols to the mountain tops and drops him down, sliding and landing on a ledge of a cliff. Hols climbs up the cliff and encounters Grunwald.  Grunwald asks Hols to serve him, but Hols refuses, causing Grunwald to cut Hols’ line, having him fall down the mountain.

Hols survives the fall and is found by villagers of a small fishing village. The lives of these villagers have been threatened by a giant pike. Seeing the villagers distraught upon the death of one of their own, Hols grabs a harpoon and kills the pike. Flep, a small boy of the village was at first displeased that the pike was killed, as he wanted to kill it for himself, coincidentally after the pike’s death there is a run of fish. Thus, the village comes stocked with food and Hols becomes a beloved and heroic figure within the village.  Stocked with food, a hungry Coro finds the village and is soon reunited with Hols.

Being a ploy of Grunwald’s, the death of the pike causes him to send the silver wolves to attack the village. During the battle, Hols and Coro chase the wolves to a deserted village where they meet a young girl named Hilda who claims that she cannot live in another village, as no other village would accept her.  Hol takes her back to his village. Through her singing, Hilda is accepted by everyone in the village except for the village chief, who resents Hols’ sudden popularity and Drago, the chief’s deputy and spy for Grunwald. Hilda, being Grunwald’s sister, works with Drago to have a swarm of rats attack the village. Alone, Hilda tells Hol that she will kill him one day and that man must die. Meanwhile, Drago attempts to kill the chief but fails and blames Hols for the attempted assassination, causing the villagers to banish Hols.

Banished, Hols searches for Grunwald but is soon confronted by Hilda, where her true identity as Grunwald’s sister is revealed. Hilda reluctantly attacks Hols, causing him to fall into a chasm and becomes trapped in an enchanted wood where Hols is haunted by images of his father and the villagers. (The scene within the enchanted woods is a beautiful scene.) Hilda is then sent by Grunwald to kill Hols.

But does she do it? Does Hols escape the woods? Does Hilda ever get released from the evil inside of her? Does Hols ever defeat Grunwald? These questions are for you to find out. But this may be a clue.

Being release in 1968, this movie is beautifully done. The visuals are spectacular. (By far, this is better than some of the stuff being churned out today.) The plot is solid. If not paying close attention (not too close) the movie may seem at bit sporadic. However, this is not a major concern for the overall story and the delivery of the story.

We got 2 play in the sunshine
Turn all the lights up 2 10
I want 2 meet U (meet U), kiss U (kiss U),
love U (love U), and miss U (miss U)
Do it all over again, do it all over again

We gonna play in the sunshine
We’re gonna get over
I’m feelin’ kind of lucky 2 night
I’m gonna find my 4-leaf clover
Before my life is done
Some way, some how, I’m gonna have fun

And that will do it for Part 1 of the Ghibli post. Thank you for viewer and do come back for more. Until then, have fun watching!