What are you watching?

[Touring Mars]

Grave of the Fireflies - Isao Takahata (Studio Ghibli), 1988

I found this too difficult to watch again fairly recently, but it is such a brilliant movie that it deserves a special effort.

It starts off in a heart-wrenching way, and somehow manages to get even more hard to watch as the film progresses. However, it is also a film full of joyful moments, and is both sensitive and poignant throughout without being overly sentimental. The animation is truly exceptional, but there's little doubt that it is a hard watch - and I perhaps wouldn't recommend it as a first Studio Ghibli film if you haven't seen any others first.

 

[Populuxe]

On to round two at Snetterton.

 

[VBR]

Grave of the Fireflies - Isao Takahata (Studio Ghibli), 1988

View attachment 1553698

I found this too difficult to watch again fairly recently, but it is such a brilliant movie that it deserves a special effort.

It starts off in a heart-wrenching way, and somehow manages to get even more hard to watch as the film progresses. However, it is also a film full of joyful moments, and is both sensitive and poignant throughout without being overly sentimental. The animation is truly exceptional, but there's little doubt that it is a hard watch - and I perhaps wouldn't recommend it as a first Studio Ghibli film if you haven't seen any others first.

My fav SG film, 10/10. Utterly brutal, but also really beautiful. Based on a semi-autobiographical story (the true version of the story is even more harrowing).

If you liked Grave of The Fireflies, then you'll probably love this too:

Post in thread 'The General Anime Thread...'

Sep 15, 2025

I thoroughly recommend Violet Evergarden, especially if you like Anime for grown-ups (the whole lot is on Netflix). I'd give the sub a perfect score of 5/5 (dub is not great).

Spoiler: Watch order...

1) Series Ep 1-4.
2) Special.
3) Series Ep 5-13.
4) Eternity and The Auto Memory Doll.
5) Violet Evergarden: The Movie.

• VBR

 

[Nacho Libre]

I'm currently rewatching The Big Bang Theory (TBBT), mostly because I was curious about the spin-off Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, of which I watched the first episode.

If anyone cares, Barry Kripke is the first of the new show's characters to appear in TBBT, followed by the titular Stuart, in season 2.

Now, has TBBT has aged gracefully? IMO the first 2 seasons definitively not. Funny gags and side characters aside, the humor can and does get tasteless far too often. The show only really improved when all the other women (Bernadette and Amy) came on board, and Sarah Gilbert's Leslie Winkle character should have been a regular. Christine Baranski and Laurie Metcalf (Leonard and Sheldon's mothers) were outstanding too.