This question is getting harder and harder to answer for me.
I've watched a bunch of films I hadn't considered watching before for not much reason other than I didn't know anything about them - big mistake!! In the last 6 weeks, I've watched:
From Up On Poppy Hill
Arrietty
When Marnie Was There
Whisper Of The Heart (x2)
The Cat Returns
Tales From Earthsea
The Boy and The Heron
I've also rewatched:
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Princess Mononoke (x2)
Howl's Moving Castle (x2)
Spirited Away (x2)
Laputa: Castle In the Sky
My Neighbour Totoro
The Wind Rises
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Of all of these, I think the biggest surprise was 'Whisper Of The Heart' - I absolutely loved it. I watched 'The Cat Returns' (which is nowhere near as good, but I enjoyed it because it is utterly
bonkers.) Arrietty was also much, much better than I was expecting, and 'Marnie' was very powerful emotionally.
Of the ones I've watched many times before, the one that's gone up the most in my estimation is 'Princess Mononoke'; I also love 'The Wind Rises' and 'Spirited Away', but 'Howl's Moving Castle' is probably my absolute favourite. I still find 'My Neighbour Totoro' a bit grating, and I was also surprised at how much I was irritated by the screeching vocals in 'Laputa', but both are still very enjoyable.
I also bought '
Ghibliotheque' as an ebook on my iPad, and it is brilliant - highly recommend it for the artwork alone, but it is also a fascinating insight into SG and the directors etc.
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