#no judgement for that

[clouds-of-wings]

Since my epic Studio Ghibli Summer is officially over, here's my ranking of the films I watched (which, I know, isn't every movie Ghibli has ever made):

Spirited Away (My favourite! (Also IMDb's favourite, apparently, and the Oscar winning one.) The spirit world looks so fascinating and I can't help being a sucker for 'The monster is just misunderstood'. And, well, 'a neglected child wanders off into a dream world', you know... There's so much going on visually and in terms of subtext that Japanese people probably understand much better. I watched this in the cinema when I was 12 or so, the perks of growing up with weebs as friends.)

The Cat Returns (This one has the best action. Also, talking cats! And a girl gets transformed into a cat! And it's like a sequel to WotH. I watched this one first, which makes it even better - WotH also reveals the backstory of the Baron. I actually can't decide if I like this or WotH better. This one is a bit more light-hearted and fast-paced where WotH is meditative and melancholic, but they're both great in their own way..

Whisper of the Heart (This one just spoke to me. It's about a girl who's fascinated by objects in a second hand store - it's basically about me! On a deeper level it's about... well, many things. Among them: growing up without support for your dreams - even though her family is at least nice to her, but they just don't really get it - and beating yourself up for not being as good at following them as someone who gets a lot more support. Something to think about.)

Porco Rosso (My sister raved about this, which maybe makes me biased, but I liked that it was more adult than the other films, and it just has a certain charm. I wonder how they came up with the premise. 'Hey, let's make the main character an anthropomorphic pig!' - 'So like a furry?' - 'No, he's under a curse!' - 'What's the curse?' - 'Fascism :)))')

Kiki's Delivery Service (I totally like this one for its looks. Such a beautiful vision for what European cities could look like. I wish they did! To me this was probably the most visually appealing film apart from Spirited Away. The end was really funny. Yaaay 100 people just died when a zeppelin crashed into several buildings, but this one random boy survived, party time!)

Ponyo (I mainly enjoyed the very counter-intuitive combination of Wagner and a children's movie about a talking fish. Also the mother is such a huge badass, it made me giggle. I wish we had gotten more backstory about Ponyo's parents though, that was the part that really interested me.)

(Continuing the list at number 7...)

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Castle in the Sky (Kinda cool. Looks kinda simple compared to the later films, but I liked the story.)

When Marnie was here (I would have liked this better if I had watched it earlier in the summer, but I was already getting fed up with the Ghibli overload by the time I got around to it. Usually I like films that are like puzzles, where you have to gather clues and figure out what's happening. I kinda half-figured it out before the plot twist.)

From up on Poppy Hill (I mainly like the unconventional (by Ghibli standards) soundtrack)

My neighbour Totoro (This one is probably very good, but not my taste. I found it kinda boring, but I was more in an 'urban' mood anyway and even skipped most of the other more rural films.)

Howl's Moving Castle (This one I had watched before and it used to be my favourite. Then I read the book this year and the book and the film ruined each other for me. Epic fail on my part! Not the fault of the film really, but all I could think while watching was 'They completely changed this from the book!' The typical Ghibli vibe seemed too sugary when put on a book with a more cynical tone, only the book also seemed too cynical when seen through the lens of the film. I watched the film and also thought 'So this is how it could have been if the characters hadn't been so selfish and judgy to each other all the time!' As I said, epic fail on my part. Now I can enjoy neither.)

The Boy and the Heron (Surreal = Good. Watching this after 13 other Ghibli movies = It just doesn't impress me anymore.)

The Wind Rises (Nothing happens, kinda. I know, a lot happens, but also... kinda nothing.)

The Princess Kaguya (I don't get what's supposed to be so great about this. It's too long and the plot is predictable. I did like the end.)

The secret world of Arietty (This one I actively disliked. It seems to not be in the Ghibli spirit, which is of course up to me to define /s The housekeeper is Evil For No Reason, something I hadn't seen in other Ghibli films. I don't like evil aunties and grandiose speeches about the importance of family. There was something so conventional about this film, it was like something made by Disney.)

[karvviie]

i need this butch so bad

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

historical drama/sitcom where two gay best friends (woman and man) get lavender married--and proceed to spend the Fancy European Honeymoon their parents paid for acting as each other's wingman

[kerrste]

I can’t beleive they just walked around like this for the whole movie

[rainbowpopeworld]

This is a big thing that I continue to work on unlearning/relearning

[officialspec]

my fan fiction graph

[arquinx]

Thinking about the meaning behind Curly ignoring the dead pixel Anya points out to him while Swansea shatters the whole screen with an axe after finding out what happened to Anya oooooooh I love this game so much

[mllenugget]

The exact opposite of being doomed by the narrative

I discovered this game while playing with a group of friends on Halloween, and I must say it was quiet immersive because we each wanted different things so we always had to argue together on what to do before the Voices would Took 3 days to complete a single run

[mayhasopinions]

i am going to throw myself out of a window

[ekmsoldier]

[fatestayyuri]

whenever you ask your friend who’s really into JRPGs “hey which one do i start with is the newest one fine” they always go “no, what you gotta do is head on over to ebay and look up the entry that completely bombed commercially. You’ll see that it goes for $800. Close ebay. Download an emulator for a console no younger than 17 years old. Download the ROM, and also this laundry list of various tweaks, retextures, and QoL tweaks. Pull up this exact spoiler-free guide put up a decade ago from GameFAQs, and you’ll experience the best game this series has to offer.” Like???

[pathetic-gamer]

(this is basically the gist of his voicelines, right?)

[dynamitekansai]

[warm-autumn-evenings]

changing every “i should have known better” to “i know better now”. i will not judge past versions of me through the lens of who i am now.