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NEWS: Former Ghibli Staffers' Studio Ponoc Unveils Mary and the Witch's Flower Anime Film


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rinkwolf10



Joined: 05 Apr 2009
Posts: 750
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 3:35 am Reply with quote
Well, that looks like Ghibli, so maybe there is still hope for more Ghibli films.
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Dian Z





PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 4:10 am Reply with quote
Animation looks pretty good, and some elements/visual interpretations remind me a lot of Ghibli (if not particularly Miyazaki's Howl's moving castle).

And I happened to enjoy Arietty (haven't seen Marnie) so, hopefully it'll deliver.
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Triltaison



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 717
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 4:12 am Reply with quote
While Arrietty and Marnie aren't my favorite Ghibli films by a long shot, I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Let's see what you can do, Studio Ponoc. Smile
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ptj_tsubasa



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 129
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 4:52 am Reply with quote
Rinkwolf wrote:
Well, that looks like Ghibli, so maybe there is still hope for more Ghibli films.

For the same reason I feel exactly the opposite: there is no hope for more Ghibli films, and good riddance.

Miyazaki can keep making his caterpillar short films if he wants, but we, the audience - let's move on as a society. The people who actually worked on the movies at Ghibli have already done so. They'll keep making anime elsewhere, and it'll still look exactly the same - the way that makes people point fingers and say "that looks like Ghibli, I like Ghibli".

What is it about the name of the studio that makes people react that way? Is it really just the company logo at the beginning of the movie that people will want to see? Maybe Ponoc could license that after Ghibli has no more use for it, and then everyone would be happy.
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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1067
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 5:54 am Reply with quote
Totally in on this one. The animation looks incredible and the director has done 2 of my favorite Ghibli movies.
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ZODDGUTS



Joined: 27 Oct 2003
Posts: 600
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 7:00 am Reply with quote
ptj_tsubasa wrote:
Rinkwolf wrote:
Well, that looks like Ghibli, so maybe there is still hope for more Ghibli films.

For the same reason I feel exactly the opposite: there is no hope for more Ghibli films, and good riddance.

Miyazaki can keep making his caterpillar short films if he wants, but we, the audience - let's move on as a society. The people who actually worked on the movies at Ghibli have already done so. They'll keep making anime elsewhere, and it'll still look exactly the same - the way that makes people point fingers and say "that looks like Ghibli, I like Ghibli".

What is it about the name of the studio that makes people react that way? Is it really just the company logo at the beginning of the movie that people will want to see? Maybe Ponoc could license that after Ghibli has no more use for it, and then everyone would be happy.


If you don't like Ghibli movie that's fine but people would be interested in this movie since it's herald by people who worked on Ghibli and it has the same feel to a Ghibli movie which people want to see more of.
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Blackiris_



Joined: 06 Sep 2013
Posts: 535
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 7:07 am Reply with quote
This is huge. Yonebayashi × Nishimura × Muramatsu. Amazing animation in PV, I love it. I wish them immense success and hope that Studio Ponoc can become somewhat of a new Studio Ghibli.
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Kikaioh



Joined: 01 Jun 2009
Posts: 1205
Location: Antarctica
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 8:08 am Reply with quote
While it's neat to look at, visually it reminds me almost too much of Kiki's Delivery Service. The girl lying down in the grass, the black cat, falling off a broom while flying over a forest --- I imagine it may be intentionally trying to hearken back, which comes across as a bit uninspired. Still, here's to hoping it might be good.

ptj_tsubasa wrote:
What is it about the name of the studio that makes people react that way?


It's just like any sort of brand product. You associate the name with quality workmanship and a certain style of output. With Ghibli, people expect some of the best animation and visionary direction in the world when it comes to hand-drawn animated films.

As an aside, I wonder if Japanese people view the "Ghibli artstyle" a bit differently, given that the aesthetics seem to have predated Ghibli in many of the Masterpiece Theater works.
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TheRahi00



Joined: 20 Aug 2013
Posts: 154
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 9:55 am Reply with quote
ptj_tsubasa wrote:
Rinkwolf wrote:
Well, that looks like Ghibli, so maybe there is still hope for more Ghibli films.

What is it about the name of the studio that makes people react that way? Is it really just the company logo at the beginning of the movie that people will want to see?


Obviously yes. If you loved the Ghibli Movies and you have the former Ghibli Stafffers working on this, it wouldn't make sense not to be excited don't you think so ? I get it that you don't like Ghibli but for people who do it's a happy and huge news.
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Jayhosh



Joined: 24 May 2013
Posts: 972
Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 11:12 am Reply with quote
ptj_tsubasa wrote:
Rinkwolf wrote:
Well, that looks like Ghibli, so maybe there is still hope for more Ghibli films.

For the same reason I feel exactly the opposite: there is no hope for more Ghibli films, and good riddance.

Miyazaki can keep making his caterpillar short films if he wants, but we, the audience - let's move on as a society. The people who actually worked on the movies at Ghibli have already done so. They'll keep making anime elsewhere, and it'll still look exactly the same - the way that makes people point fingers and say "that looks like Ghibli, I like Ghibli".

What is it about the name of the studio that makes people react that way? Is it really just the company logo at the beginning of the movie that people will want to see? Maybe Ponoc could license that after Ghibli has no more use for it, and then everyone would be happy.


I agree that at the end of the day it's the creative staff that matters, not the logo in front of the film or the studio making it, but for a while Ghibli was one of the few anime studios with an in-house staff that had a hand in practically every production, so in that case it makes perfect sense for people to associate their films with a certain quality. They're not Madhouse. Hell, just slapping their logo on The Red Turtle's marketing did wonders for that film's exposure to various markets of viewers. Not understanding why people associate Ghibli with quality is like not understanding why people expect the same from Disney. But now that most of its main staffers have moved on, yes, it's time to start focusing on the individual artistic talents rather than the brand, as much as it pains me to say so as a lifelong fan of the studio. That being said, your comment could do with a little less salt, damn son.

Hiromasa Yonebayashi struck me as one of the most promising up and coming Japanese animation directors (not just at Ghibli), so I'm glad he's continuing to direct new projects. I was kind of worried we wouldn't hear much from him after he left Ghibli. This looks like the spiritual "Ghibli" film people have been wanting (no disrespect to Miyazaki's CG project intended), add to that all of the former Ghibli staff members that are involved, and I'm extremely excited for it! 2017 is shaping up to be a great year for anime.
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firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 12:19 pm Reply with quote
Well it looks good hope that Gkids get this one
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Kon'Doriano



Joined: 17 Sep 2016
Posts: 552
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 12:41 pm Reply with quote
First Masaaki Yuasa announced his film and TV series, then MAPPA is announced two promising anime shows, and NOW this film gets announced!!! The God of Anime has blessed us all!!! Crying or Very sad Very Happy I totally look forward to this movie! Ghibli, I love you and all but now I must move on and see what your former staffers are capable of (unless Isao Takahata makes a new movie there).
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ptj_tsubasa



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 129
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 12:44 pm Reply with quote
Kikaioh wrote:
As an aside, I wonder if Japanese people view the "Ghibli artstyle" a bit differently, given that the aesthetics seem to have predated Ghibli in many of the Masterpiece Theater works.

Maybe so. It's not that there was anything spesific in Miyazaki's drawing style originally - he just drew like everyone else at the time, and has been doing so since. Maybe the Japanese audience sees the style as "classical" instead of "Ghibli".

But now everyone who still uses the same style is just compared to Miyazaki. Just like how Mitsuru Adachi has just been drawing the same way forever, since everyone drew that way once, but to the modern eye he just looks like a Rumiko Takahashi rip-off these days.

Jayhosh wrote:
but for a while Ghibli was one of the few anime studios with an in-house staff that had a hand in practically every production, so in that case it makes perfect sense for people to associate their films with a certain quality.

Perhaps, but still grasping to that idea today isn't really constructive. I've long thought that if you showed a person who has never seen any anime some scenes from two different good-looking works - say, Marnie and Sound! Euphonium - and told them that one of those is a movie from an Oscar-winning studio and the other is a TV show, and then told them to guess which one is which, they most likely would be correct only 50% of the time.

People who only search quality from movies will consequently find it only there.

For the record, I interpreted Rinkwolf's initial comment as "well this non-Ghibli movie looks like a Ghibli movie, so maybe there's hope that Ghibli will make some movies too once again some day."
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:10 pm Reply with quote
Triltaison wrote:
While Arrietty and Marnie aren't my favorite Ghibli films by a long shot, I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Let's see what you can do, Studio Ponoc. Smile


Arietty felt more like a Ghibli movie (for good or bad, ie., the heroine had to be Nausicaa-style determined, and talk about the changing worlds of man and nature, than Mary Norton's playful Arietty) than Princess Kaguya did.
While they were trying to force Goro into his dad's shoes, no one noticed that Yonebayashi had the "right" visual and character style.

Basically, Studio Ponoc is taking the whole "Ghibli After Miyazaki" issue off the table:
If Japanese and US fans (and, ahem, Disney) think that Ghibli is "dead" after Hayao's retirement, then fine--It's dead, and nobody's saying the G-word anymore.
Now, we have a studio with animators who learned from the other studio, that makes movies Miyazaki didn't direct, happy now? Smile
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ryoukosan245



Joined: 09 Oct 2016
Posts: 81
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:15 pm Reply with quote
Cool.
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