This summer, famed anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is releasing his latest film, Kaze Tachinu. According to reports, little kids are finding it “dull”. You don’t have kids, do you?
Kaze Tachinu is a fictionalized animated biography of Jiro Horikoshi, who created the iconic World War II fighter plane, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
Recently, there have been previews for the film in Japan in which members of the general public have been checking out the film. Something like over 10,000 people were invited. As MSN Japan notes, people have been making their opinions known on Twitter.
Certainly, there are those who adored the film, calling it “Moving”, “Beautiful” and “Ghibli for adults”.
One Twitter user even called the film the “most deeply heart-wrenching Ghibli film in recent years”. Another said this was the most beautiful Ghibli movie ever.
Hey, all this sounds pretty good!
Then, there were many who said they found the film “difficult to follow” or that they “didn’t understand the film” or “got sleepy with boredom.”
The stickler for parents who were planning on taking kids to see Kaze Tachinu later this year (hello! that’s me!) is that many preview attendees said the movie was not exactly kid-friendly.
“It was an excellent movie,” wrote one Twitter user, “but I think it was difficult for small children.” Another Twitter user even went as far as saying, “This isn’t a movie kids can have fun watching.”
According to MSN Japan, others said that little kids got squirmy in their seats and that they told their parents they didn’t understand the picture. Some parents were even upset, saying, “Even though it’s Ghibli, there aren’t any characters like Ponyo or Totoro!”
In Japan, Studio Ghibli is synonymous with children’s entertainment. Kids are now raised on Studio Ghibli. That’s why some parents in Japan might be surprised to see that Kaze Tachinu isn’t exactly kiddy fair. Then again, that might not necessarily be a bad thing.
「子どもは飽きて走り回り……」ジブリ宮崎駿最新作『風立ちぬ』に賛否両論 [MSN]
風立ちぬ一般試写会を一足先に観た人の反応・まとめ [Togetter]
Comments
17 responses to “Kids Find New Studio Ghibli Anime ‘Boring’, But Adults Dig It”
if u guys want to watch the preview and voice acting for this movie
to check out the last waratte koraete 2hr SP it had a full show about this new movie :p
Sounds like Ghibli has a pretty good idea of what their audience actually is.
I know ill lose internet cool points for this, but im just not a fan of any of their work. I aint got many points left after i stated my dislike for Evangelion, this will likely bankrupt me.
Get out of the internet.
Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Hold on now, i can fix this! Let me think……Anime taste is so varied that im not sure listing the shows i like would help, so ill appeal to your gaming side. Lost Odyssey was the best JRPG of this generation. Shadow of the Colossus is one of the greatest games of all time…..LOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEE MMMMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
Okay you’ve won me back with the Lost Odyssey love. You’re an alright guy, dogcat.
Likely bankrupt? hahahahaha
They can be a bit hit and miss like any studio, I didn’t dig “Spirited Away” so much but “Princess Mononoke” “Laputa” and “Totoro” are really great. Maybe you just didn’t see the right ones.
I agree with you on Evangelion:
Dislikeable characters (Harden the F up main dude! And I wanted to throat-punch that redhaired chick SO bad!); Convoluted storyline (a mythology that was hard to follow and you stopped caring about halfway through the show. WHY where the angels attacking, again?); and then it would just go off on tangeants that made you think you had missed an episode!
Whew!
How dare you dislike things other people like! 😛
The problem with evangelion is that pretty much all the important explanations about what the angels actually were was never actually in the series itself.
I just hope the parents who made the remarks about the film being kid unfriendly realise this new film isn’t some out of the blue thing for Studio Ghibli. Anyone who associates their work as aimed at children while still suitable for adults probably haven’t watched too many Studio Ghibli films.
They should just screen it with a kid-friendly film like they did with Grave of the Fireflies. That is by no means a movie for kids, so they paired it with Totoro.
“Even though it’s Ghibli, there aren’t any characters like Ponyo or Totoro!”
Sounds like they’ve never watched Princess Mononoke. Not all Ghibli is suitable for little kids. I haven’t watched it but I imagine Grave of the Fireflies is also one you’d wanna leave the kids at home for.
Pretty much. I like that Ghibli on occasion moves away from family friendly narratives and they do a damn good job when they produce mature and adult movies, Grave Of The Fireflies is an intense movie even for adults.
I always wondered what it would be like if Pixar created a mature film. It will probably never happen even though they have dabbled into it on a few occasions (Up and Ratatouille comes into mind)
So does it show the Pearl Harbor attack?
Wait, so they’re saying that just because it’s a cartoon it doesn’t automatically mean it’s only for kids? Sure, sure. Next you’ll be saying that video games aren’t something that only kids play either.
(Yes, I realise that it was specifically about Ghibli anime, but I want to have my social commentary)