The Wind Rises

After a two month delay, which included bouts of sickness and trips across oceans and continents, Culturezoo is back to cover the last Miyazaki film: The Wind Rises. The Summer of Miyazaki has poetically turned into the fall and then Winter of Miyazaki. This is one of his stranger films and somewhat of a departure from his previous work. Rosalyn digs deep and comes up with some thoughtful insights.

For those of you who made it through this miniseries, thanks for hanging with us. We have one more short Miyazaki recap after this, which will be out next week. Then we’re back to an old favorite of ours: The Star Wars Prequels.

Merry Christmas!

Ponyo

The Summer of Miyazaki has turned to fall and we discuss his penultimate work, Ponyo and this time around we’re joined by fellow Ghibli-fan, Sadie Hartmann. Where does Ponyo rank in the films of Miyazaki? It certainly an amazing artistic achievement but does the story hold up to his other work. Our answers may shock you! (Or they may not.)

Howl’s Moving Castle

Well, better late than never. Work and sickness once again conspire to make this Episode in the Summer of Miyazaki late and actually miss summer altogether. Nevertheless, we had a great time discussing the later Miyazaki film, Howl’s Moving Castle. This one seems to rank a little lower in some Ghibli fan’s estimations but what did Levi and Rosalyn think about it?

Spirited Away

The summer of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away podcast is finally here. Camping, sickness, and work all conspired to make this podcast extra late. Sorry about that. We dig into Ghibli’s big American debut and talk about how this blew our minds when we first saw it fifteen years ago, even though for some people the animation style was off-putting. We also discuss what an interesting heroine Chihiro is for an adventure fantasy and how creepy things get for a children’s film.

Princess Mononoke

After a bit of a delay we finally get to Miyazaki’s fantasy epic, Princess Mononoke: a film that is basically environmentalist propaganda, right? Err, not quite. Levi and Rosalyn discuss the intricate plot and end with some of our interpretations and observations as to what Miyazaki might have been getting at with this film.

Another notebook

This notebook only had 24 sheets, so it went pretty quick. A lot of hodgepodge here, I have been sort of artistically wandering. I need some new goals or something. 

This was a fantastic drawing of Nausica. Calvin and Desi had their way with it so its beauty will never be known. But trust me, it would have blown your mind. 

Whisper of the Heart

This time on the Summer of Miyazaki we discuss a film written, storyboarded but not directed by Hayao Miyazaki: Whisper of the Heart. So maybe, technically, it shouldn’t be here but it’s such a great film, we couldn’t resist. In this episode we talk about love, romance, developing your gifts and end with a rant against the current state of young adult novels. And, of course, we get in a few digs against Disney.