#I think I'll watch Ponyo again tonight

[qippabtch]

what is that 'Studio Ghibli' feeling made of?

It's how they manage that the slice-of-life, but-make-it-magic sort of feeling, mostly from those scenes that most filmmakers would gloss over or entirely cut. It's the fact that they're just as interested in the things that happen between productive scenes as they are the ones that tell the story.

The films tell these profound, heavy-hitting, human interest stories, while also maintaining a sense of childlike wonder in most of the films.

They feel like you're six years old, and something really bad has just happened on the news. Your mom is upset about it, and you don't really understand why, so you start to feel scared. But then she takes you to the aquarium to take your minds off of things, and at some point she sits down on the bench next to the jellyfish exhibit. The jellyfish are glowing all these gorgeous colors, staining the water with strands of radiant blue and green and purple, and as you sit beside your mom, she explains to you what happened today. She doesn't censor it because you're a kid, although she tells you gently, in an age-appropriate way. And so the two of you sit there, listening to the bubbling of the water and watching these ethereal creatures drift by like sea breeze, or the mist that rises from a hot pavement in the early morning, given solid form. And you feel both sad, but also content, knowing that you're here together, and that she loves you, and that bad things happen, at least you have each other.

That's what Studio Ghibli movies feel like. That fleeting, bittersweet transition between innocence and understanding, when you haven't quite entered into the adult world of the latter but you've certainly left the former.

They're made up of those moments when nothing is happening, and yet everything is. They're like the day you see your first rainbow and realize how ephemeral and faint they are in real life, so unlike the cartoonish bands you picture from the Lucky Charms commercial. But it's also the three minutes and forty seconds leading up to you noticing the rainbow, the ones where your head is down, carefully maneuvering your little rubber boots around not just the cracks that you always avoid on some childish superstition, but now the puddles gathering after this morning's rainstorm, too.

Those scenes, the ones where you're in the moment, all but forgetting that you're watching a movie, are like the warm afternoons when your grandma is baking bread, and you want to ask if you can help, but you're transfixed by the way her brittle old fingers move impossibly fast across the challah, nimbly twisting the dough into perfect braids, and you find yourself too captivated to interrupt. It's the feeling of watching the bread rise in the oven, seeing how it turns golden brown like the sky at sunset.

They're waking at dawn on the first day of school, feeling both paralyzed by the fear of the unknown and yet excited by the sight of that familiar, beloved hand-me-down backpack, the one you can officially call your own today, propped up against your bed.

They're falling asleep on the couch and waking up in your own bed, too old to not know that rationally, it must have been a parent who carried you there, but childishly, you find yourself still clinging to the last bit of that suspicion that maybe, just maybe, you teleported there.

Slice-of-life scenes are magical to me, because there's something so intimate about seeing someone who is, by all realistic standards, wholly stylized and completely artificial, yet feels infinitely more human than any hyperrealistic CG action movie.

They feel like a return to childhood, but the parts that your therapist isn't asking about when they prompt you to talk about your upbringing. They're a perfect blend of universal truths and idealized fantasy, somehow making the mundane seem magical, and the magical, mundane.

[nobodiesheartlessshitblog45]

Luka and Mary were sitting at the bar talking wait cor Robert fo show up.

Mary: How are things going, Sailor?

Luka: It's been a rough month since Amanda went away to college... It's just too quiet. (takes a sip from his beer) I know she'll be fine, but I miss her a lot, and I-I'm worried. She's my little baby girl.

Mary: Oh, sweetie. Come here. (pulls him into a hug) She's going to be okay. She's tough girl. Like me. She handle whatever life throws at her.

Luka: (smiles, and hugs) Thank you, Mary. And sorry if I'm whinny tonight.

Mary: Pfff please, have you met my husband, Oh, I mean ex- husband.

Luka: So... it's over between you guys?

Mary: Yep, and of course his mother is blaming me for the broke up. But who cares I don't have to do with her~. Luka: (turns to Nail) Neil, my good fellow, two shots for me and my beautiful friend over.

As the two took the shots Robert came walking into the bar.

Mary: Robert, over here. (waves)

Robert grins and walks over.

Robert: Hey, (kisses Luka on the lips and kisses Mary on the check) Luka, babe. We need to talk.

Luka: Hm? What?

Robert: Kodama and Betsy... (pulls out his phone shows a video of the two dogs napping on his couch) These two are fuckin' adorable. I'm going to lose my mind. And Ponyo is an old soul. (shows him a another video of Ponyo meowing and purring) These guys are going to kill me if before Damion does.

Mary: ... God fucking dammit what did you do now?!

Robert: What? Nothing nothing... (try to play it cool)

Mary: Robert. (crosses her)

Luka: Sweetie, did you break this time?

Robert: ... ... ... ... I knocked over one of his gargoyle statues and. ... And stepped on his flowers. I'm positive the feet broke another statue of a armless naked chick.

MaryxLuka: ... Seriously.

Robert: It was dark, okay? Or could have a ghost. You never know.

Both Mary and Luka gave him a look.

Robert: (roll eyes) I said I was sorry and told him

I'll for the damage. Happy?

As the Night went on, Robert sat at the end of the bar watching the football game tat was on.

Mary was chatting with Neil, while Luka was writing down and doing a few sketches.

Mary: C'mon, Luka, take the night off Watch me freak out few young scrappy men.

Luka: Huh? (Looks up)

Mary rolls eyes takes the sketch shuts it, and shoves a beer into his hand.

Mary: No working. It's your night off. Live a little.

Luka: ... Yeah, you're right. Sometimes.

Mary: Pff. I'm always right.

Luka: (chuckles and looks around) Oh. Check out those guy. (points at one of the Booth a wearing a black suit, Red tide Blue button-down shirt)

Mary: Ooooooh, Mary likes~. Good job, my Faith a wing man. (turns to him) How do I look?

Luka: Stunning as always. Go get'em.

Watches as Mary walks away. Just as Robert stands up.

Robert: Gonna powder my nose. Order my a coca-Cola.

Luka: Will do. (starts drying to sketchbook again)

Robert: One time I drowned a guy in public toilet?

Luka: (turns him) What?!

Robert: Yeah, fucker tried to rob me at good point, stabbed in the throat, and drowned his sorry ass in the one of the bathroom stalls.

Luka: ... ...

Robert: (start laughing and kisses Luka) You are too damn adorable. (walks away)

Luka: ... (Rolls eyes, chuckles)

After few months walks away someone came up next to Luka.

Man: Hey there, good lookin'.

Luka turns to his left and sees the well dress Guy that Mary to flirt with standing next to him.

Man: Hey, you're famous, right?

Luka: Excuse me?

Man: Yeah, you were in the newspaper, you're a local artists in the Maple Bay Area?

My name is Travis.

Luka: Oh, yes. Luka Jarvis. Please to meet you. And no I'm not famous at all. (smiles shyly)

Travis: C'mon, you were in the newspaper. I kinda makes you famous. (smiles)

Luka: I don't think so. Anyway, Nice to meet, Travis. (goes walker)

Travis: Well wait, do you do commissions?

Luka: Well, yeah. But commissions are close for the rest of the month. Sorry.

Travis: Aww, Shame. I was hoping you would draw me... (grins) Naked.

Luka: (blinks) Yeah, no sorry. Have a good evening. (walks away)

Travis: C'mon, it was only a joke, Lucas.

Luka: It's Luka. Good night.

Travis: (grabs Luka's waste and pulls him closer) Hey, don't leave, sweetheart. Well, unless you wanna go somewhere... private.

Luka: Let... Let me go.

Neil: (looks over) Hey, jackass, stop harassing my customers.

Mary: ...? (looks over)

Travis: (looks him) Piss off.

Robert walks out of the bathroom and looks over.

Luka: S-Stop. Let go, you fucking creep! (Feels Travis letting go of him)

Luka looks over and sees Robert bending Travis to the bar. Pinning his head the wooden surface he's right here bent in a uncomfortable.

Robert: Motherfucker! (glares deadly at him)

Travis: Owowowo. You're hurting my arm, asshole!

Robert: Give me a reason why I shouldn't fucking break it...

Neil: Robert, take the trash out.

Robert: With. Pleasure. (drags Travis to the back at the bar, throws them in the alleyway)

Travis: Gaaahh... (glares up at him) Who the hell do you---

Robert: (Hold him down and punches him twice in the nose) ... Never. And I mean, fucking never Touch. Luka. Again. (punches again) Get out here. Shitheads like you aren't welcome here.

Robert glares deadly at Travis again before walking back into Jim and Kim's.

Mary: Are you sure you're okay?

Luka: Yeah. Guy was a real creep.

Mary: No kidding. He was eyeing you before while I was talking to him. So I just moved on.

Robert walks back into the walks too Luka.

Robert: You okay, Luka?

Luka: Yeah, I'm fine.

Robert: You sure? We can call it a night and go home.

Luka: Nah. I'm good.

Three sat at bar watching the rest of basketball ball game before calling it a night.

The 2 older men walked Mary back to home apartment.

Mary: Welp, boys, mama's hittin the hay. Netflix and warm bed await.

Robert: Good night, honey.

Luka: Always a blast, gorgeous.

Mary: I am the life of the party. Night, guys. (she walk up to her complaxe before waving)

Robert: (puts an arm around Luka and the two start walking home)

The two men said nothing at first.

Luka: Thanks for saving me for saving me for that creep.

Robert: ... His corpse is in the back of my pick up truck. We I have a couple shovels bury him somewhere before he starts to stink.

Luka: W-WHA---?!

Robert: Hahaha. (kisses his cheek) You're welcome~.

Luka: You... have a very and unsettling sense of humor, Small.

Robert: Yep~.