New Discovery

So I've never been much for anime.  Well, I didn't know what it was really about and still didn't even like it very much when I help out with the library's anime night (they showed Bleach.)  Hubby is really into anime and when he realized that I will be hosting these anime movie nights once a month, he decided to ease me into it with some Hayao Miyazaki movies.

Wow.  I have only watched three of them, but I am completely blown away.  If you don't think you're into anime, but want to give it a shot, start with these, and not the TV shows or the manga converted into anime.

Jon first showed me his favorite, Castle in the Sky.  

This is a beautiful movie is basically about a boy and girl's quest to find a mysterious floating castle called Laputa.  Of course this quest is met with much hardship including multiple factions pursuing a crystal that the girl carries with her (one of these factions ends up being good and helping the boy and girl.)  My favorite scenes are when the children actually reach the castle and visit its beautiful gardens.

Next up was Howl's Moving Castle which quickly became my favorite.

  

This movie is loosely based off of a Diana Wynne Jones novel with the same name.  It's about a woman named Sophie who has a chance encounter with Howl after being pestered by some men in an alley.  When the Wicked Witch of the Waste discovers that Howl has taken a liking to Sophie, she curses her so she is a ninety year old woman.  She also is unable to tell anybody about the curse.  Fearing her family won't believe her, she heads out to the waste and ends up living with Howl, a cute boy named Markl and a fire demon named Calcifer (he moves the castle Howl lives in.)  First, this movie is incredibly visually beautiful.  The scenery is amazing and the town is reminiscent of old German villages.  Second, I love the humor dispersed throughout the movie.  Third, I love watching Sophie and Howl come into their own by the end of the movie.  I think it ranks as one of my favorites of all time.

I finally watched perhaps his most famous movie, Spirited Away.  

This movie is about a girl and her parents who are moving to a new house when they get lost and end up at what they think is the ruins of an amusement park.  In fact, they have entered the spirit world.  Her parents eat the food and turn into pigs and it is up to the girl, named Chihiro (she becomes Sen after a witch named Yubaba takes her name in exchange for work) is forced to work to get her parents back.  She gets help from a new friend Haku and Chihiro's loyalty to him is key in the story.  This is another beautiful film and I can see why it won an Oscar.

I plan on watching all of his films in the future and I look forward to exploring the more artistic forms of anime in the future.