Manga/Anime Memorandum

random thoughts on manga and anime

MAMORU OSHII book review [nonfiction] Part 36, LET'S TALK ABOUT GHIBLI

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There're some Mamoru Oshii book lists on the Internet, but they don't have detailed explanations about the contents. My Mamoru Oshii book collection is far from complete, but I'd like to write some short summaries for each of those books.

I apologize in advance for grammatical errors and misinformation.

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title: 誰も語らなかったジブリを語ろう

(Let's Talk About the Hidden Side of Studio Ghibli)

release: 10/31/2017

publisher: Tokyo News Service

f:id:ht1990:20201015223447j:plain

[contents]

Hayao Miyazaki, the contradictory genius

Isao Takahata, the extreme realist

other directors in Ghibli

Studio Ghibli: the small giant

 

[review]

This is an interview collection about studio Ghibli. Oshii talks about Ghibli with an interviewer.

The title says "the hidden side of Ghibli". However, as you may have already read in other reviews, Oshii has already talked tons about Ghibli in other books. It's not a "hidden" side at all.

Oshii doesn't care about the mass media and the Internet. I suppose he doesn't know what kind of knowledge about Ghibli people have. Oshii talks like people know nothing about Ghibli's unsophisticated side, but many tips from in this book are pretty common knowldge.

Plus, Oshii's remarks in this book are pretty questionable. Oshii says "If you ask me" or "maybe" a lot in many books. That means he doesn't have any solid proof about them. This book is one of those cases. I recommend not trusting all the information in this book.

What makes this book interesting is the interviewer. She asks many questions and sometimes disagrees with Oshii's opinions. That doesn't often happen in Oshii's books. Her tsukkomi/ straight-man role turned this book into a sort of comedy.

For example, when Oshii says that he hates the self-sacrifice trope in Miyazaki films, she asks "Then, what about James Cameron? He does self-sacrifice a lot. He's the king of self-sacrifice film." (Oshii respects James Cameron.)

That kind of funny interaction makes this book entertaining.

 

*Oshii says he hates Porco Rosso.

O: Did you notice that the pig is Miya-san himself?

W: Of course. I suppose everyone except for beginners understood it.

O: Miya-san's face is hidden in that pig mask, but he believes that people won't notice it. Even though he always portrays himself as a pig and puts a pig symbol onto his car, he still believes people won't notice his motivation.

W: Is he an air-head?

O: Yes, he lacks self-awareness. He is an air-head grandpa.

W: I think most of the audience thought, "Miyazaki-san wants to be a pilot and loved by a beautiful milf and a cute girl."

O: He doesn't know that.

W: That kinda sounds cute (laugh)

O: What are you talking about? He's not cute at all.

 

*Surprisingly, Tomoe Oshii's favorite film was Porco Rosso. When she was still a little girl, she asked for a cel of Porco Rosso. Oshii himself called Studio Ghibli at that time. The person in charge asked "Do you need Miyazaki-san's autograph on it?" but he declined it.

The interviewer says "That's hilarious."

 

*When Miyazaki was making Spirited Away, Miyazaki didn't like the way young animators draw eating shots. He thought young animators know nothing about the movement of daily activities.

O: He started saying "young animators are bad", "they don't have artist spirit", blah blah blah. It was so annoying that I said "Oh, you realized it NOW? It started decades ago!" We had a loud quarrel. Everyone in the studio heard it. I never saw him after that.

W: Wow, you're a really good friend.

O: WHAT? No, I'm not his friend!