The Soy and the Heron (preview)

Hello and welcome to a new episode a patreon edition of base news network my name is sophie aka jenna varka and i'm here with punk revolution now aka kayo say hello kayo hi sophie hi um today we are going to be talking about one of my favorite things um which is the studio ghibli cinematic universe i'm not new i'm not unique um i used to think i was when i was like annoying anime fan when i was like 12 and i thought i was like the only one who was watching that stuff but i was wrong hey you are unique because you can actually speak japanese that's true but at the time i couldn't yes but well okay but don't you think that your deep appreciation for japanese media influenced you to learn how to speak japanese it did it definitely did at the time that i started liking it i wasn't really good but yeah no it's true it was a very wholesome thing and like for i used to think i was like the only one who liked it but um clearly i was wrong maybe i was a little early for americans i don't know probably not you're a okay well i okay i think there's a there's definitely a decent amount of people out there who like studio ghibli so much they try to learn japanese but oh well that studio ghibli didn't motivate me to learn japanese actually well that in like if we want to get specific it was sailor moon but yes that was that contributed okay all right well anyways i just in my eyes you're special so that's all i'm trying to say yeah and like so i definitely wasn't unique but um i thought this was interesting when i was doing the research for this episode today um i found out that uh studio ghibli only reached like the like u.s mainstream consciousness with uh princess mononoke which came out in 1997 it was like super critically acclaimed um and that's well after yeah that's well after well after yeah that's well after he'd already released they or studio ghibli had already released a lot of really good movies right like nausicaa in the valley of the wind um my neighbor totoro my neighbor totoro kiki's delivery service and uh um castle in the sky porco rosso no in no particular order um so yeah so it only really reached u.s mainstream in 1997 and then it was followed up in 2001 with spirited away and that's obviously i think the most famous most loved one um it won the academy award and it was also the highest grossing japanese film for like 20 years and i do want to add just for context for listeners the reason why sophie and i decided to do a studio ghibli movie today or movie discussion today is because we just watched the newest and maybe i don't know the last miyazaki film i don't know if it's gonna be the last one boy in the herring it's actually he so he came out of retirement to make it but um he is reportedly already in the studio like discussing his new film the film he's working on right now like so he's he just decided he's not retiring basically good for him i want another one hopefully he'll be able to do it i yeah i'm selfish like that what can i say um yeah so in this episode sophie sophie and i are going to be first we're gonna first half of the episode is going to be us talking about our top three favorite studio ghibli films or miyazaki films i don't like i guess it doesn't matter yeah a lot of them are miyazaki in the ghibli like canon or whatever there's isao takahata there's some other people including his son goro miyazaki um which will i'll probably talk about that the sun stuff later but uh yeah yeah and then in the second half of the episode which realistically is probably going to be behind the patreon paywall um we'll do a review of the the the new movie the boy and the heron yay yeah you won't want to miss that so subscribe all right so um kyo do you want to we're gonna top talk about each of our top three favorites um i have a feeling they might overlap but um what the hell we'll do it um i have a feeling a lot of people's number one and number two and number three yeah i mean there's some right okay i mean to be honest it was really it was quite difficult to select them because i there are so many good ones you know what i mean that it's just it's challenging and i i don't know like i feel i don't even know i feel like it was a little easier for me just because i haven't like i've i've basically i mean i love all these films but i i don't have as deep of a connection to all of these films so i don't feel like i'm gonna be able to do all of them i don't feel like i'm gonna i'm picking my favorite children you know what i mean well i think well like i don't know they're just so close to they're so close together in quality you know what i mean yeah true you know and i love them for different reasons so it hurts me but um yeah what is let's do what is your number three all right so my number three is and i debated this in my head um is uh i think i think it's kiki's delivery service which is from the 80s you've seen it right kayo yeah yeah that's a good one yeah i really like this one um because it's about like a a witch who's um coming of age and she has a cute black hat you know it's kind of like something i would like you know especially as a girl and i love the location um like i don't i don't know it's supposed to be in japan but it's very like european it's very um fun in that way and she uh she's like learning to become a witch this is like something all witches do when they like turn a certain age i think it's um i can't remember what age but she's like probably 13 or 12 years old um so yeah she like is in the city um doing all these little like deliveries and stuff and kind of meeting all these characters and going to all these places and then like she like is kind of hit with um like a rut where she can't fly and it really depresses her and um she also she has to learn to like overcome that and there's a scene in it that i really really like um she also loses the ability to understand her cat gg um and yeah so she um you know visits this there was like a woman she met in the woods earlier and she visits her again um and uh she the older woman basically says like she's not old she's like in her 30s or something 20s i don't know but like she tells her like you're kind of it's kind of like artist block for you and like um if you find a new purpose you'll get your powers again and uh she does although she in the japanese version she can't hear gg anymore but in the english dub she can which i found this interesting but um yeah but i like it as like a story about like depression and like overcoming like ruts in your life and that like you know those things are temporary and i don't know it's also a very like comforting movie to me um i really like get lost in like the the fantasy of it and i love the soundtrack and yeah i like i really like everything about it yeah i think that's a good point is and i think this is something that's kind of common in a lot of the miyazaki and studio jubilee movies is like there's that interesting contrast of beauty and like something that's just like completely adorable and then like some darkness to it yeah yeah every time yeah like the i feel like the character kiki is just so adorable and the cat that you could talk to the cat is adorable and the city is beautiful like all those things you said and then the fact that there's like a like she's you know it's just kind of got like a little angst going on and witches are kind of edgy too you know um um and especially when you're like a child like 11 or 12 or 13 whatever age you're watching this you know you're you're about to you know get started in middle school and the angst is finally starting to come into your life like this is it really hits the spot i feel like it hits the spot as an adult though for me i don't know like feeling aimless and stuff like sometimes like everyone does it's it's a comforting movie you know that's a good question i wonder who likes kiki's delivery service more kids or adults that's a really good question yeah that's a good point i mean maybe honestly like maybe people who've already gone through that who like understand what that's like and then they can like watch the movie and like understand it in context and like but also no it helps i think it it's like a movie that appeals to like a lot of people and i think it's a movie that appeals to a lot of people and i think it's a movie that appeals to a lot of people and i think it's a movie that everyone honestly but yeah i really love it so how about you kaya what's your third my number three is ponyo oh okay yeah and the reason why is because i saw this in theaters when it came out and i didn't really know what to expect going in and i was like 12 years old and i think 12 years old is like the perfect time to watch this movie because 12 is like you're young enough to be able to appreciate the youthful child childish kind of nature of this movie and it's just like so adorable and colorful and beautiful but you're also just like a little bit old enough to finally like genuinely be able to appreciate art in a in a more serious way you know yeah yeah so i think this this movie might not make a lot of people's top three with studio ghibli but you know everyone knows it's a great movie it's just the competition is so tough but for me just because i was in the right place at the right time seeing it in theaters you know the big screen with the beautiful music and the beautiful animation and water it was just like a really really really enjoyable experience that stuck with me it is today like honestly it's one of the most visually stunning movies i've seen because yeah and it's really fun to imagine yourself in this like underwater world or like it's like it's both like the out of water and like the in the water like the world is kind of like out of balance and um i don't know it's like something cool about seeing um like you know city the city like underwater and like you know like people on boats and like the animation is really beautiful this the town is really beautiful this like coastal town yeah um there's like i think it was actually the first studio ghibli movie i watched in full really yeah because i had seen spirited away beforehand but i never finished it because it was too scary oh yeah it is kind of scary yeah especially when you're like seven or eight you're like what the what is going on this is like when you're seven years old and watching spirited away feels like you've accidentally stumbled upon the bible and that like it's just like the spirit the spirited away feels like it has all the secrets of the universe in it and that's just too scary for a seven-year-old to grasp it is it's really it's a really heavy movie but anyway yeah uh all right what's your number two my number two is princess mulanoke um it is and i and it's the reason i put it as a movie is because it's a movie that's like a movie that's like a movie that's number two as opposed to like a different film which i is not in my top three but i really thought about putting in my top three i just didn't know um is how's moving castle i love how's moving castle like how is very charming the main character is sophie so it's like a self-insert for me so i really i do really love it but it's not my top three it i was debating putting it as three but anyway um the reason i put mononoke in this spot is because i remember watching it and being surprised by how dark and mature it is um political it is um i was probably like 14 you know so i wasn't very developed but i could you know perceive that and since then i've watched it many times and i think you know it deals with war and um between nature and humanity and like nature and technology and um like that this idea of balance and there's a lot of like pacifist themes anti-war themes in it um i liked that the um the villain lady iboshi well she looks slay first of all and like she's a morally gray character because she is destroying like nature and these animals for you know profit and expansion stuff like that but you know she's also elite like a really fierce leader who gives like her people a lot of happiness and like she cares for like lepers and the sick and like gives them jobs and gives women jobs as like fighters and stuff like that and like like so she's like you know she's a flawed person and that's why she doesn't die she loses her arm which i think is symbolic um miyazaki is woke he's he's genuine he's really woke actually like he he wants japan to apologize to china and korea for the things they've done in world war ii like he hates trump he's loki a communist um he opposed the iraq war you know he's he's very like politically on the left whoa wait hold on sophie i am on the print the princess mononoke wikipedia page and i need i hate to interrupt but i need to read go for it this this paragraph so this is under the english dub section okay in response to demands from miramax chairman harvey weinstein to edit the film that's not produce producer toshio suzuki sent weinstein a sword with the message no cuts promotion manager steve alpert revealed that weinstein had wanted to trim down the film from 135 minutes to 90 minutes despite and then in quotes despite having promised not to do so weinstein hired neil guyman to write the english script despite guyman's independent firm is not there so so literally studio studio ghibli was beefing with harvey weinstein because harvey weinstein wanted to make the movie more profitable and shorter while studio ghibli was like no studio ghibli this is also also in the wikipedia h studio ghibli requested that miramax removed some executives names from the poster for the film yeah i like how like the whole like most of the studio including miyazaki are very like particular with what their art you know and they don't want intervention and but they also like they have strong morals that they don't want to break and they don't want to sacrifice their vision for like profit you know like i think miyazaki is definitely like a critic of uh capitalism so you know what i mean like i think it shows through his films he said he said as much too but anyway i don't know i just remember being struck by it and like i love this idea of like nature and technology clashing and nature and humanity clashing and like it how it is like coexisting because obviously that's like a you know a very real thing that is going on right now it has been for a while but you know like to me watching it and like when i was watching it like i'm definitely hearing a lot about like climate change and stuff like that um it really struck me um it's also beautiful i love the music i there's so many like striking moments in my life um that like give me chills like i get chills in this movie so much um it's a it's it's definitely the i think it's miyazaki's most dark and most mature film but it's uplifting at the end um but i i think it's like a masterpiece and um yeah i i really love it i wouldn't show it to younger children because they do show like decapitation and stuff but yeah when i was a kid i was like oh my god i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die when i first watched the movie i watched it on an airplane and i thought i was like oh this is great i've always wanted to watch this movie and then i got nervous because i'm like okay this is like really really bloody and gory and there's like people around me i don't want them to see this because i don't want to see i don't want them to see blood i don't know maybe they're maybe they're queasy and this is a violent movie so what do you think of it the movie i really liked it i've only i've only watched it a couple times though so it's definitely worth a re-watch someday i think i need to i think i'm due for a re-watch especially at your like age and maturity you know like you're yeah you're a man i'm a man now i've taught you the ways of anime so if we turn me into a man i turned him into a man but also i wanted to note this that like he has a very like like like miyazaki like yes he's like a master of animation but he's very smart and he actually studied in college um he like majored in economics and i believe political science makes sense yeah so economic majors unite economics majors unite me and miyazaki the only two chill economics majors right and i feel like i feel like and your sister i feel like it comes through this though like he understands like society like he's able to like critique like capitalism and like authoritarianism you know like paul like his his all of his movies deal with like almost all them deal with like war you know and like like beauty destruction war like love community like nature i don't know i don't know i just like the the themes and i think they're really like modernism there's i mean in a way because like and i'll get into that in my final thing but the way he depicts girls and women is really honestly better than like most films i've ever seen especially like animated ones and for children especially uh like compared to disney anyway what's yours my number two is my neighbor totoro yes it's a it's so good yeah you know i the first time i watched this movie i thought it was like pretty good i liked it um but the second time i watched it which i think might have been actually with you sophie i think yeah i think i remember that i liked it a lot more because i think the first time i watched it i wasn't in the right mindset to be able to appreciate the movie because i was like i'm not going to be able to appreciate the simplicity of the movie it's a pretty simple movie where it's almost like kind of like a a vibe just a good vibe like really cute adorable characters in this mysterious universe which i guess is kind of universal to a lot of these studio jubilee movies but i don't know it's just you can't beat it and the dang cat thing is awesome the cat bus yeah the cat bus yes i mean i i yes you're right not a lot happens in it but it i feel it's just like like many of his films it's like kind of a coming of age story in some ways and like dealing with like the fact that your mom's in the hospital and stuff you know like stuff like that i i it's this yeah the music is beautiful yeah um it's such yeah and the the fact oh yeah just bringing back memories talking about the the fact that it's like yeah could be interpreted as a metaphor for like escaping like escapism with the deal from you know the mom's illness you know definitely and also like miyazaki's mother dealt with like um tuberculosis and stuff so she was kind of like ill during his childhood again with again with the with the beautiful childish wholesome movie with this underlying anxiety and darkness yeah he manages to like make extremely dark things he finds the light in it and like i don't know he he he portrays like the complexities of like humanity and the complexities of like nature really well you know i agree i sound stupid but you know what i mean sophie you do not sound stupid thank you you know you know what would sound stupid would be someone saying i don't like these movies they're boring facts i don't like cartoons i've met people like that by the way yeah those people are just wrong those people are you have to be an idiot to not think these movies are good like you know what i mean like i think they're pretty universally loved low-key i feel like that's i bet there's a i bet people who don't like these movies are just straight up just trump supporters that's what it is oh that's true like some like japanese right-wing people were really upset about the wind rises um because of its like anti-war like anti-japanese like themes and like anti-japanese imperialism and war and stuff like that um so like a lot of like right-wing people in japan and here like dislike the themes because they are against like right-wing ideas ideologies and values well that's just a right right-wing l common around the world so true all right so time for you let's get to the number uno let's let's reveal my favorite um difficult to pick this obviously and this is not a movie i like to re-watch very often it's i find it like difficult to watch sometimes um but i would say it has to be spirited away um just because i think a lot of people agree that this is his best film um i think that you are just like transported into a really like interesting dream that you never want to wake up from you know like remember being a kid and you have some like crazy dream about this crazy thing and you're like oh my god i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die and like you just you don't want to wake up that's kind of how it feels to watch um or like the world itself like this bath house that is like visited by spirits and like it's a very like fantastical dream like thing but it's also very dark um like her parents are turned into pigs um there's like labor abuses like xenophobia um she learns um the character is interesting too miyazaki wanted to um make a movie for like 10 year old girls is what he said because he was um hanging out with some family friends and they had daughters and they were like talking about crushes and like really like superficial things he thought um and he thought he that they deserved like a female protagonist that they could look up to and relate to better um so that's why he that was the answer to that question um i think that's inspiration for this film um and i really like the transformation that the main character tihito goes through because like in the beginning she's really whiny and annoying and child like childish um and by the end she you know she learns so much about society you know and and people and like relationships and like the reality of like work like developing a work ethic stuff like that everything you like kind of need to understand as you're like growing up and then by the end she's a very like confident like smart caring young girl who's you know you know she's at this point in her life where she's she's transitioning because she's moving away and she's um moving to a new school it's a new phase of her life and like by the end of it by the time she escapes the world like she's like a changed person and she's like a different person and she's like a different person um who you know has all these qualities and these strengths and um i don't know i i i like it i don't know it's just there's so many things i could say but the reason i don't like to re-watch it is because it is very dark and like gets to you emotionally especially if you've been a girl and you've you know like just like the idea of growing up and it's like bittersweet you know and it's like and my mom agrees like it's too real sometimes like like something about it is just like it's sad i mean she has to leave her friends there and hawk hawk why is it not hawk i'm not fellow travelers what's his name uh fuck i can't remember his name sorry the guy's name the boy's name that she kind of has like a crush on and like she has to leave him and um all her friends and like and she can't look back you know like she kind of has to forget it everything and i don't know there's something about it like it's just me or does the food in this movie look really good no it's true i know so true but it does it does like it the animation the colors the visuals just like a perfect movie that is the end of this episode's preview. 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