Gake no ue no Ponyo 2008
Miyazaki, the master of dreams and magic with unlimited imagination in the world of Japanese anime, meets anime lovers with his eighth and final film, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. As one of the most famous cartoonists in Japan, Miyazaki, who is considered the greatest animation artist in the world, has a significant fan base in our country with films like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro. Ghibli, the nickname of an Italian military aircraft used in World War II, which is also the Italian translation of the hot wind blowing in the Sahara Desert, is returning to directing after 4 years with a film he produced. A characteristic feature of Miyazaki’s films, which have difficulty including men in his stories, is that his characters are mostly girls. In Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, the master does not break this tradition, but this time, he puts a mermaid in the lead role. Ponyo is a Japanese goldfish wearing a red dress who wants to become human. Five-year-old Sosuke, who lives on a rocky cliff overlooking the inland sea, meets Ponyo one morning while playing on a rocky beach where she has hidden her hair in a jam jar. Sosuke saves her and puts her in a plastic bucket. Over time, Ponyo and Sosuke fall in love with each other. Sosuke tells Ponyo not to be afraid and that he will protect her. However, one day, Ponyo’s human father Fujimoto forces her to return to the ocean. Ponyo says she wants to be human and unintentionally disrupts the ecological balance of the world. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” and the Japanese folk tale Urashima Taro, the film, which revolutionized the box office in Japan with Miyazaki’s drawings, colors, and sensitivity, is a must-watch for movie lovers.
