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NEWS: Ghibli co-founder Interview




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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:51 pm Reply with quote
They sort of used my inquiry. (The nationalist manga question's as close to what I asked as I can get, I guess...) I was wondering what he felt about Japanese textbooks which omitted comfort women. But he pretty much said the same thing I was hoping he would. (Though he still needs to go easy on the cigs.) It's a shame Kozumi's likely to make an "example" of him when he returns to Japan. :(

Quote:
[Takahata]Another element which strikes me is that aesthetically speaking, these works tend towards ultra-realism, either using real photos which are manipulated using a computer or using 3D often blurring the border between the real world and the "fantasy" world. The problem with this is that when the young people find themselves in reality, they find it dull and depressing and only dream of living in a factitious universe. I think this is a shame and consider it as dangerous.


A jab at Oshii?
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Carl Horn



Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 90
PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:23 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
They sort of used my inquiry. (The nationalist manga question's as close to what I asked as I can get, I guess...) I was wondering what he felt about Japanese textbooks which omitted comfort women. But he pretty much said the same thing I was hoping he would. (Though he still needs to go easy on the cigs.) It's a shame Kozumi's likely to make an "example" of him when he returns to Japan. Sad

Quote:
[Takahata]Another element which strikes me is that aesthetically speaking, these works tend towards ultra-realism, either using real photos which are manipulated using a computer or using 3D often blurring the border between the real world and the "fantasy" world. The problem with this is that when the young people find themselves in reality, they find it dull and depressing and only dream of living in a factitious universe. I think this is a shame and consider it as dangerous.


A jab at Oshii?


I think he is perhaps thinking of deliberate escapism. Oshii's point of view is more that people too easily think they know the difference between reality and fantasy--that much of what each of us think is "reality" is not objective reality, but our subjective takes on reality. It's easy to look at someone who escapes into anime or manga and say they're avoiding reality, but that type of avoidance is less dangerous than the delusions we have about real world issues.

Takahata is a great man--and just maybe, anime's greatest director. It's interesting the interview didn't mention ONLY YESTERDAY so much, which I think is actually his best film (Toshio Suzuki may agree). As for the smoking, I say to him and Miyazaki, smoke on, brother--it's taken you this far. I remember feeling the red mist when Miyazaki had to go outside at the Claremont to light up, thinking it hypocritical for a town built on hippies to ban smoking. I wanted to say, "This is Hayao Miyazaki, motherfucker! You'll make an exception for him on cultural grounds!" He himself seemed good-natured about it though.

—C.

"Well, yes, I am Japanese, but I'm finding it hard to accept that."
—Tomo, AZUMANGA DAIOH
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wushu-4-ever



Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 12
Location: the Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:00 pm Reply with quote
Carl Horn wrote:

Takahata is a great man--and just maybe, anime's greatest director. It's interesting the interview didn't mention ONLY YESTERDAY so much, which I think is actually his best film (Toshio Suzuki may agree). As for the smoking, I say to him and Miyazaki, smoke on, brother--it's taken you this far. I remember feeling the red mist when Miyazaki had to go outside at the Claremont to light up, thinking it hypocritical for a town built on hippies to ban smoking. I wanted to say, "This is Hayao Miyazaki, motherfucker! You'll make an exception for him on cultural grounds!" He himself seemed good-natured about it though.

—C.

"Well, yes, I am Japanese, but I'm finding it hard to accept that."
—Tomo, AZUMANGA DAIOH

True, Omihide Poro Poro, a.k.a. Only Yesterday, is a masterpiece. Unfortunately, Takahata is way underrated as a director and Disney's stupid for not releasing Only Yesterday on R1 DVD, but luckily there are more DVD versions available (for those who don't own a copy, the Japanese R2 DVD is recommended! Wink ).

About not having asked questions about Only Yesterday (I'm the one who had the interview / creator of GhibliWorld Wink ), I had a lot more questions including some on Only Yesterday, but there was too little time > the translating took a lot of time. Takahata did tell some things about it later on, but not to much / nothing really special, so I didn't include it.

Peter, GhibliWorld.com
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Carl Horn



Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 90
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:15 pm Reply with quote
Actually, I want to thank you very much for the Takahata interview, even if there wasn't the chance to ask everything. As you know, compared to Miyazaki, very little is written about Isao Takahata in the West...I haven't been to the Netherlands since 2000; I'd like to go back sometime. A typical otaku; I saw Brueghel's "Tower of Babel" at the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, and all I could say was, "Katsuhiro Otomo used it as an inspiration in his ad for Canon!" Smile
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:36 pm Reply with quote
Carl: Dunno if you'd be interested, but http://www.animenewsservice.com/archives/takahata.htm
also managed to cover him when he was in L.A. two years ago. I don't think that report's as informative as the one at Ghibli World, but it's satisfactory.
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Dejiko



Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 276
Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany)
PostPosted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:21 pm Reply with quote
*just back from a trip to England - only now seeing the news item*

I was there alongside Peter to interview Mr. Takahata (hi there! Wink). My impression of our talk will be published in AniWay magazine, which is *unfortunately* Dutch language only. Therefore, I'll try to elaborate on some of your observations:

GATSU wrote:
They sort of used my inquiry. (The nationalist manga question's as close to what I asked as I can get, I guess...)

I started out with this question and drifted towards the general state of affairs concerning WW2 in Japan along the way. Mr. Takahata, having lived through WW2 as a child, told us he knew what war can do to a society and how nothing good would come from it in the end. He cleary distanced himself from the opinion that Japan was somehow 'forced' to invade Asia. From his point of view, Japan's invasion of China was the worst course of action possible.

Carl Horn wrote:
It's interesting the interview didn't mention ONLY YESTERDAY so much, which I think is actually his best film (Toshio Suzuki may agree).

I asked Mr. Takahata why he chose this manga for basing the movie on. After all, josei type manga is an unconventional source when it comes to animation. He simply stated he liked the story a lot. Tying into this, I asked him in how far he believed a director could deviate from his source material, since a significant extra layer of story was added to the movie script (the manga only tells of the childhood of the main character, her adult self and situation are unique to the movie) Mr. Takahata said that he believed that a director should not limit himself in any way, as long as the core values that make the source story an unique entity are preserved.

Carl Horn wrote:
I haven't been to the Netherlands since 2000; I'd like to go back sometime.

Let me know if you come over, we definitely should discuss doujinshi and fan culture over a few drinks Wink
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