Coquelicot-zaka kara

[STORY: 6/10]
This is one of the tamest Ghibli movies that is more slice-of-life than anything. This movie has an interesting concept, but not a very unique one, as forbidden love between two main characters has been done many times before. The ending feels incomplete as well, leaving us with the desire to see what happened next, but in a bad way.

[ART: 8/10]
While this movie does have beautiful Ghibli animation, it feels like they held back a bit. Nothing is visually mind-blowing like in other titles. This may be in part because of its slice-of-life nature, but even so, it doesn't quite meet the expectations of ... a movie produced by this company.

[SOUND: 9/10]
The voice actors were great and sound effects as well, not much to complain about regarding this section. For a dub, it was done rather well, like most other Ghibli films.

[CHARACTER: 4/10]
Character development in this title is good when it occurs, but compared to other Ghibli films, it lacks any unforgettable character roles, and in turn hurts the film immensely.

[ENJOYMENT/OVERALL: 6/10]
Though it's lackluster for a Ghibli movie, as a stand-alone film, it is pretty well done and won't be a completely negative experience for you. Though if you are to watch only one or a few movies from the Ghibli library, don't include this one.

Haven't you heard?

There's a girl who lives up on the hill, raising up two flags every morning and pulling them down the flagpole every evening. She never misses a day doing so. Like how she cook breakfast for her relatives every morning, prepare dinner for them every night, it's become a routine for her. A routine that she is satisfied of. A promise that she made to herself.

Then, she met a reckless male classmate.

Always so lively, so free doing what he likes and liking what he does. His enthusiasm, his actions are all something that she's never known would prompted her to go out of ... her zone that she's barricaded herself in. To discover, what it means to truly dedicate in things that makes oneself happy. That she finds joy in.

The Ghibli's portrayal of nature and breathtaking landscape, mesmerizing characters with kind and sad smile, melancholic soundtracks that adds in the mood for the old, old village in Tokyo and the contrast of all these to the busy and hectic lives that she gets intertwined in, stories that she has yet to discover, people that she has yet to meet—these are all the embodiment of Poppy Hill; and it's depicted well.

Because when all is said and done, if a story is able to leave you with a smile as the credits scene roll, pondering what's going to happen next after the happy ending, then it's done quite a damn great job.

In the end, 'From Up on Poppy Hill' blatantly shouts to us that with just a bit more of communication, tolerance and understanding of one another, our thoughts can and will reach the people we wanted them to. It's almost like a desperate yet genuine cries that we cannot ignore and are hopelessly attracted to. Everyone has the tool to evoke this emotion, to create this warm feeling, to give strength, and inspire people.

I believe it's a little thing called "heart".

The keyword for _From Up on Poppy Hill_ is "nostalgic". Like _Only Yesterday_, it's another Ghibli visit to a bygone Japan: in this case, post-WWII Japan where the boom has erased most of the damage, but there's still plenty of pre-war buildings around and occasional bits of fallout.

So, to start with the positives: PH has excellent painterly landscapes/backgrounds. The hillside and side-roads offer scope for Ghibli's work to shine. We can extend this to the crowd scenes showing all the citizens in their costumery set against the simultaneously modernizing & still traditional towns. In particular, I loved all the sequences & scenes set in the ... Latin Quarter, stuffed with all sorts of props & people in the background, making the clubhouse a character in its own right - in the dense detail, it is reminiscent of _Paprika_, _Honneamise_, _Tekkonkinkreet_, & _Ghost in the Shell 2_. (Since I remember my own high school & college club days very fondly, these triggered my own nostalgia & recognition in a way that the general setting couldn't possibly.)

The soundtrack has some well-chosen period pieces, but this is not a Ghibli production whose music will be long remembered like _The Borrowers Arrietty_, _Castle in the Sky_, _Whisper of the Heart_ etc. It's not bad, just nothing in it is *that* good.

The real bad news for _From Up on Poppy Hill_ is that the plot is *bad*. The movie is a failure because the story it tells is a disjointed mess, at least as bad as _The Borrowers Arrietty_ and similar to _Earthsea_. I can't agree with the fanboys gurgling with praise about how it depicts 'family' and 'love'.

The save-the-Latin-Quarter subplot is put on the backburner and long after we've forgotten about it, trivially resolved just by cleaning it, asking the boss nicely to come & see it, and he approves (one wonders just how realistic such a sequence is); it completely lacks any drama or tension, and takes up far less of the movie than one might expect. Instead, we are given a meandering subplot about the protagonist's budding love (fine; _Whisper of the Heart_ was fantastic, no reason the same story won't work twice) which is wildly derailed by a sudden revelation of siblinghood which comes from out of nowhere (and no, some portentous glances at a photograph do not meaningfully incorporate the twist into the story or motivate it), followed by the characters being disturbingly willing to engage in incest, followed by yet another bizarre revelation (apparently in the '40s and '50s, the Japanese swapped babies like baseball cards; it's all presented so casually I can't help but feel it's a little disrespectful to the actual orphans & children involved). It all adds up to a jumble of scenes which goes nowhere, feels random, and lack any sort of unifying theme. I had the same feeling as when watching _The Borrowers Arrietty_: like I was suffering from some literary version of Capgras delusion where the *real* _Poppy Hill_ plot had been replaced by an inferior crude substitute and this impostor had only a garbled memory of the original plot.

What went wrong? It's hard to tell, but also hard to not notice that Goro was involved here too. One of the key roles of the director is working on the plot and making sure everything comes together. The artists certainly did their job with the backgrounds and animation, but what about the rest? That was Goro's job. This makes 2 failures for Goro, and I have to wonder if Hayao is really going to let his son do a third movie just because Goro is his son: wouldn't anyone else have been fired or at least eased out of consideration for directing by now? I wonder if this is the future of Ghibli, especially now that Hayao has announced his retirement from feature-filmmaking in favor of smaller works for the Ghibli Museum etc.

Oh well. At least I can still look forward to watching his _The Wind Rises_.

From Up on Poppy Hill is a deceptively difficult film to wrap your head around, for a story and production that appear so plain and homespun on the surface. A combined directorial effort by Hayao Miyazaki and his son Goro, the end result ends up feeling more like an Isao Takahata interpretation of your average slice-of-life anime. On the one hand, it’s easily the least ambitious film in the Ghibli oeuvre, but on the other, there’s a lot more going on in the subtext and theming than is immediately apparent. It’s kind of dull, but also kind of interesting, kind of underwhelming but also rather ... engrossing once it gets going, simultaneously coming off as both a half-measure and an overachiever. It’s the kind of film where I feel like I’d need another spin at it to really process what it’s trying to say and figure out how well it all holds together, so perhaps my opinion will shift when I return to it at some point in the future. Thankfully, I can at least say that I look forward to that point when it arrives, because Poppy Hill is engaging enough on its own merits to justify that continued attention.

Set in 1960s Japan, in a country finally starting to really shake the scars of WW2 off and come into its own, the story follows high school girl Umi as she becomes embroiled in the exploits of the Latin Quarter, a catch-all antique mansion of a campus building that houses all the nerdy clubs, from astronomy to philosophy to chemistry. The building is old and decrepit and on the verge of being torn down, but the geeks who call it home place a lot of value in its history and are mounting a massive attempt to stop the school’s upcoming decision to bulldoze it. Umi and her friends end up joining the effort, and from there the plot progresses pretty much as you’d expect. There’s triumphs and effort, lessons learned and struggles overcome, a budding romance with a late-stage plot twist that even one of the characters acknowledges as feeling like “something out of a cheap melodrama”, and the story overall takes pretty much every well-worn track stories of this nature tend to take. I describe it as feeling like your average slice-of-life anime because I could very easily see this premise be expanded out into a 12-episode season, where we get to spend more time meeting the many quirky characters of the Latin Quarter and all their eclectic interests, engaging in K-On patented high school hangout sessions along the way. The whole film carries that kind of easy charm with it, eschewing Ghibli’s more ambitious tendencies in favor of a simple, down-to-earth story will no real surprises along the way.

And honestly, I don’t think that’s entirely to its benefit. I appreciate a good slice-of-life anime as much as the next person, but there’s a certain blandness to this world that’s hard to shake. It takes a good fifteen minutes for the film to really get moving, setting up Umi’s home life and struggles in ways that aren’t really interesting, before it shows its first spark of life in a fun montage of her and her friends first moving through the Latin Quarter and being treated to a sideshow of the colorful personalities who call it home. And even then, as fun and charmingly breezy as these characters all are, I was constantly left feeling like we could be doing more with them. I value Ghibli’s ambition highly because the experiences that ambition leads to are some of the most raw, stunning experiences anime has to offer, executed by the most imaginative minds and the most talented artisans of the craft. Poppy Hill, in contrast, often struggles to have much of an identity at all, and I wonder whether it would have worked better as a full show that could give more room to explore the unique eccentricities of the Latin Quarter and its students. It’s not really bad, it just feels kind of flat and dull at times. And that’s one crime I’ve never been able to accuse Ghibli of in the past.

However, there’s another element to Poppy Hill that makes my understanding of it even more complex. You see, I didn’t just mention the particulars of the setting two paragraphs ago as flavor text; Japanese culture and history is a constant, tangible presence in every single conflict throughout the movie. The fight for the clubhouse is explicitly framed in a rowdy student debate as a clash between the old, stuffy ideals of the past Empire and the new, callous ideas represented by the budding democracy, the decision over how much of the past it’s worth letting go and how much is worth carrying into the future. Umi’s father was killed in the Korean War, and she still raises signal flags every day in some vain hope that he might see them and come wandering through the front door. The complication that befalls the central relationship, without spoiling anything, is directly tied into this history of war, how it left scars on an entire generation that are still healing even in the brightness of the present. It’s a film about normalcy, but that normalcy doesn’t exist in isolation; it’s constantly contrasted with the horrors and pain of a world this new generation of Japanese kids will only ever know from history books and their elders’ stories. And all throughout, it asks what the measure of that past is, what it should be, and what Japan should become going forward.

It’s that central question that makes it difficult for me to fully pin down my feelings regarding Poppy Hill, because it’s not the kind of idea the film expects you to easily digest. It hangs in the shadowy fog of the background and often intrudes into the text as well, but the ultimate resolutions are rather open-ended, and it isn’t always clear how heavy that specter is hanging over any particular moment. I compare it to Isao Takahata because much like that director’s works, it’s a film that requires you to ask your own questions and come to your own conclusions along the way. But considering that it still carries the soft, warm aesthetic of Miyazaki’s handiwork and craft, that dichotomy makes for an interesting contrast that I’m not quite sure I’ve solved yet. Is the film stronger for relying so heavily on the normalcy of its presentation to highlight the horrors of what it was birthed from, or is it just too boring for its own good? Are the complex questions of heritage and history highlighted or diminished by the movie’s overall simple presentation? Whatever the case may be, it presents an interesting quandary, and I suspect that I’ll be puzzling over it for a while after I finish this post. Perhaps my opinion will shift so drastically in reconsideration that I’ll be forced to junk this whole review and start over from scratch.

Still, if this is to be the plainest Ghibli film ever made, at least it carries the promise that even the studio’s least inspired output still carries enough intrigue to make it worth further consideration. From Up on Poppy Hill isn’t a very special film, but it’s enjoyable enough, with enough good charm and likable personality to justify its existence while you mull its more complex questions over.

From up on poppy hill is another studio ghibli movie.
*spoiler Free*


But I never consider any studio ghibli movie just "another" studio ghibli movie. Each and every one of the until this era was a piece of art. And
just like the poppy hill coming downhill eventually, so does studio ghibli. They released banger after banger. They got the Spirited Away, they got the my Neighbor Totoro
they got the Princess Mononoke, they got many bangers. Then they released Tales of the Earthsea. Maybe that was a one off. They released Earwig and the Witch during
corona-virus. It really is a sad tale.

...
This one? This one is a banger. the music, the story, the animation. All top notch. Although Hayao Miyazaki did not direct this one, it was written by him and I see Hayao
written all over this one. Still very good movie for Goro's first movie, really good in fact.

Just like 90% of Studio Ghibli movies, I am very very sad that it has ended.

"Dont cry because its over, smile because it happened" is something I say to myself whenever I finish Studio Ghibli movies but I am still very sad.


The Story: From Up on Poppy Hill is about a girl, who is in love with a guy. Simple premise. But they did so much more with that. First off, the world building for
studio ghibli is amazing. They build the city so well. One movie that I remember was Wish Dragon with a good story but terrible world building that ruined the movie.

Every studio ghibli movie does a good job.

The boy is a part of the Latin Quarters paper club, and them and many other clubs are inside the Latin quarters building. It is a old historic building. Many memories
in that building. Many alumni from the school have very fond memories of that building. Chemistry, Atronomy, Philosophy, Geology, many clubs inside of that building.

The plot of the movie? The Latin Quarters club is being threatened to be toorn down. Not good because of the culture of the building also being torn down.

The boy an girl love each other as they find out but something happens that impedes them from loving each other. Spoiler free so watch the movie to find out.

The movie starts out with the girl raising flags. Signal flags. For her father to come home safely and soundly. One problem is her father died years ago.
It is quite a sad tale in that her father died due to korean bombs since her father is a sailor. She still raises signal flags as a source of belief. One
person who sees these flags? The boy that she loves.

Her mother is also in America studying so she had to grow up fast. She takes care of the home a lot. She cooks, cleans, shops, does a lot of stuff. Her
grandmother takes notice and asks her if she is overworking herself. She replies that it does not get in the way of her studies but at the same time she is
not having much time for enjoyment purposes.

I am not going to spoil the rest of the story but it is really good.

The Animation: The animation is top notch. For every studio ghibli apart from the CG mess of Earwig and the Witch, the animation is always good. Earthsea was
watchable only because of the animation. Here is no exception. I loved the animation. The backgrounds were so well done.

I loved the bicycle scene. So much attention was put into that scene. Really good stuff.

Music: Also amazing. They struck a chord with balancing music harmony and mixing with the movie. It does not distract me from the movie.


Consensus> I really liked this one. Most Studio Ghibli is supernatural stuff. Spirited Away, Totoro, Mononoke, etc. They are all supernatural. Poppy Hill? It is
based on real life. It is such a calming movie. Although there was a plot, really reminded me of Slice of Life. I genuienly loved this movie.

Final Score: 4.5/5 (9/10) liked it better than Totoro, Ponyo, Castle in the Sky, etc. Still liked Spirited Away and Mononoke better. There was also WHisper of the
Heart I liked as well.

Thanks!
-CyanCheetah

The story starts off relatively slow, but picks up quickly - there is a lot of confusing parts in the middle that kind of stay on the mind until they are explained later. As a whole, it was very good, but just caused quite a lot of confusion towards the middle of it.


The art has nothing to note in particular to note, it was good but it wasn't anything that could particularly be described as "amazing", and would most likely fall comfortably under "average".


The sound in this movie is probably my favourite out of all Studio Ghibli features, the music is incredible and the sound ... design is extremely impressive. I can truly feel how much love was put into the sound design as just the opening song had me automatically bobbing my head along, as well as every other song that appeared within it.


Shun Kazama - Shun is a member of the school newspaper who jumped off the roof of the old schoolhouse to prove a point about something? Plot continuation convenience?

Umi Matsuzaki - Umi takes care of her siblings and does general housework, she manages a lodge next to the sea and likes to raise flags in remembrance of her father.

This is the 3rd time i watch Ghibli film, and IMHO this is a masterpiece. Well i admit that sometimes i can't understand their expression clearly, for example when they are in doubtful situation, their face doesn't show much/drastic change. On the other hand this show bring a deep impact for young generation to always have faith in yourself (WITHOUT WHINING) in order to achieve your dream/ fulfill your mission.

art and sound 10
it brings me to old era, nostalgia

story 10
The story is wide, but the main focus is self development. This is heartwarming and realistic, especially when it shows the dorm life.

character 10
i like ... Umi, she is perfect and discipline, on the other hand she is depiction of real human who also has fragile side. she become fragile after love Shun, but she struggle to overcome those crisis by working hard in community. She isn't sink on the sea of sadness.
Shun is also good man, he isn't try to hide any fact and ASAP reveal his secret to Umi, which make this story doesn't seem like cheap melodrama.

This is a solid slice of life romance movie, however it's nothing special. This is Goro Miyazaki's second film he has directed, this thankfully is a significant improvement from the critically slammed Tales of Earthsea, although From Up On Poppy Hill isn't as good as some of Studio Ghibli's better films.

This movie is about exploring your family heritage, which are shown really well. There are multiple scenes where Umi is thinking about her dad and how much he means to her, like during a dream sequence when she sees him again, or how everyday she raises the sea flags. These scenes show how much Umi's ... family history has impacted her on a personal level, and how these shape her to be the person she is now.

The main plot is about how Umi's and Shun’s relationship, which is shown reasonably well. Watching them learn about their family's histories and how these effect them, the challenges they face as a result of this is shown in a very heartfelt and moving way. Although it would of been nice to see Umi and Shun spend more time together to build up their relationship.

The film also focuses on the high school students trying to save the club house, which doesn't add any substance to the story. This is fun to watch, but it doesn't add much to Umi’s and Shun's relationship because it doesn't focus on them and their personal struggles. During the club house sequence it often focuses on side characters which are easily forgettable and doesn't get much screen time. These make it harder to care about the clubhouse.

This film has some fantastic moments, especially when it focuses on Umi and Shun, however it is bogged down by focussing too much on the club house and minor characters. I would still recommend this movie for Studio Ghibli and romance fans, and I'll be looking forward to what Goro Miyazaki does next.

Constructive feedback is appreciated :)

I like the music. story is a little bit older but music is really amazing. I like the soft sounds to sing the songs. That's really like whisper to you. A simple piano can match the sounds. Overall, great moive

All reviewers here, including those with a positive, neutral or negative opinion, have a common weakness: they are not japanese. You see, the Up From Poppy Hill movie is special as it exclusively targeted japanese audiences with the main theme of nostalgia and cannot be really understood or properly interpreted from an american or euro-centric point of view.

In this sense, Poppy Hill is much like Pom Poko: they are so far removed from gaijin (foreigner) experience that it is hard to grasp what they should be about and exporting or licensing them may even be seen as a mistake. Other Ghibli movies are set in ... fantasy lands or in a romanticized historic setting, thus almost equally approachable for domestic japanese and foreign audiences.

Poppy Hill is slow-paced exactly because it wants to convey nostalgia towards the pre-1964, slower paced and allegedy more wholesome Japan, as opposed to hyper-ness of the "economic marvel" era of 1970-80's or the depressing and increasingly decadent "lost decades" since 1990.

Note how several wide agle scenes glorify soot-spewing factory chimneys or smog rolling over the harbour or the endless stream of rickety moto-rickshaws and mini cars negotiating unpaved roads. All those things however, only mean something to (older) japanese people themselves and those foreigners who have long followed proceedings in the island nation.

Anyhow, the movie itself isn't flawless, even if we only consider its culture-neutral elements. The bespectacled student council president is easily 10x as cool a guy as the protagonist and quickly grabbing the younger sister, they easily steal the show from the main couple. The ship captain's participation in Korean War isn't really explained, may be even perceived as contradictionary, considering Japan's well known, post-1947 strict "peace constitution". The role or significance of Umi's apparently extra wealthy grandma remains unexplored.

On the other hand, Goro Miyazaki seems to have greatly improved as a director beyond the Earthsea shipwreck. He definitely has an eye for comedy, those slap-sticky school club scenes work for all audiences of Poppy Hill. Maybe he should focus on Porco Rosso-like projects, stories that don't try to take themselves too seriously? I feel Poppy Hill somehow owes to Porco Rosso, more or less the student posse are the former air pirates? Yet, the more desperate parts of Poppy Hill sometimes feel forced, as if drama wasn't Goro's strong point.

***THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW***

Grazing through my "want to watch" list I found an animated movie that I had been dodging for years. The reasoning was quite arbitrary but the important thing is that I finally took the time to sit down and watch it. My verdict? :D

Story: 7/10

This movie really does not have a lot going on but how it moves from scene to scene was quite well done. The basic premise of the movie is a following of the relationship that begins to form between Umi and Shun. Throughout the story we see them get closer and closer as they help save ... the school's clubhouse from getting torn down. What I did not see coming was a sub plot added around 30 minutes into the film that becomes the real purpose of the film. When the resolution is met, I was very happy for the main characters. This ninety minute film had me interested all the way through and I am glad that I finally watched it.

Animation: 7/10

This is a 2011 movie which means it has to go up against some pretty amazing looking anime films and shows. While the colors were not eye popping, the scenes were fluid and interesting. The character models were detailed and the facial expressions were well done. It's not overly flamboyant like a Shaft production but it doesn't need to be.

Sound: 9.5/10

This movie hit it out of the park with its overall sound presentation. Amazing voice actors, music, and ambient noises. I personally liked the way Shirou and Shun communicated with each other. The music was soft but very suitable for what was occurring on screen.

Characters: 9/10

Loved, loved, loved everyone of them. Shun, Umi, Shirou, Sora, and all of the club members were all very unique and pulled off some really great scenes. Nothing felt generic about any of the characters and the growing romance between Shun and Umi felt believable even with the problem they eventually had to face.

Overall: 8.1/10

This movie will not wow everyone since there is no magical action adventure type elements within its ninety minute runtime. What you get is a very heartfelt slice of life with some romance brewing as a group of kids try to save a broken down building. If you are looking for a more realistic type slice of life then I highly highly recommend this film.

Enjoyment: 9.3/10

Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page!

Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer

Firstly, let me tell you the morale of the movie. Every Studio Ghibli has a morale that reflects the society issues in the view of a more naive perspective, yet addressing the underlying subtle darker truth. Similarly, this movie was done in a clever way in addressing the rapid industrialization of Japan during the 1960s, by creating an analogy of the government trying to tear down an old but cultural building of the Extra-curriculum block of a school. It teaches us that old and culutral monuments doesn't always have to be destroyed to make way for newer developments.

They did a very good job with the ... music and BGM as well, the scenes are very memorable.Together with the plot twist of the subtle romance were portrayed very well to address how simple times were.

Me: *Mocking the characters' sleeping* I need sleep. Come back in a month."

I get that Goro was trying to improve from his last film, Tales from Earthsea and I'm proud at him for this but this film just didn't make much sense.

I had started this film off two years ago when I was 15, I liked what I saw but then as the film went on, its story and characters started to feel inconsistent.

The films' melodrama was too much. Umi can sometimes be annoying in the film's dramatic tone and it would probably be better to just drop her off in a better story. And ... her family did not provide anything other than just being there as Umi's family.

The script is so inconsistent and the directing was so awkward, it doesn't feel like a Ghibli film.

This film had potential to be a great film. It started off great with funny moments but was filled with generic friendship: two characters don't like each other, then they make friends.

I liked how realistic it is but there was also some fantastical moments that didn't really blend well.

Personally, I'm always hesitating on watching Ghibli movies. The same things happen with Kaze Tachinu and Omoide no Marnie. However, in the end, i end up loving them, including Kokurikozaka Kara. There are always one or two brilliant things on each movies which hook me up and for Kokurikozaka Kara, the music and story do hook me up. That doesn't mean the other aspects are bad.

Story :
The story is mainly about a young boy and girl daily lives which happen to have romance between them, but be careful with the plot twist. Simple? Yes, the story is simple and light. Just because its story is ... simple and light, that doesn't make it's a mediocre anime. No. Personally, i think for movie class anime with a simple and light kind of story, its story is well written and worth your time.

Art :
Maybe this is the thing which make me hesitate to watch every Ghibli movies. Mostly, Studio Ghibli movies have the same kind of art, so does Kokurikozaka Kara. The art is so unique that it makes me hesitate to watch. Retro? No. Bad? No. Great? can't say. I get the feeling that Studio Ghibli kind of art is the mixing result of Anime and American Cartoon. But, don't mind that. The art is good enough and fit the story so much.

Sound :
11/10, If only the review rating system would support this. The song theme and other music background are well placed and good to listen. They fit so much with the story. I even save all of the soundtrack to my phone so i could listen to them all the time i want to. It's so rare to find movies or series like Kokurikozaka Kara which have a great composition of music soundtrack.

Character :
There's not much comment on this part since i really don't have anything to review on this part (if you have read my previous review, you will know the reason). But, one thing for sure both of the MC are lovable.

Enjoyment :
I do enjoy this movie since i love this kind of story, eventhough i hesistated to watch it first.

Overall :
The movie is great and enjoyable. The music is perfect. The story is so simple and light, yet entertaining. I see this as an absolute win. 9/10

(may contain minor spoilers)

I had high hopes for this anime movie as a huge fan of cute romance anime movies, but I was extremely disappointed. This would have been such a better movie if they removed the whole "sibling" arc, which made me feel uncomfortable, and even after it was sorted out, made me not support the relationship as much I would have. Instead, they should have focused on the actual characters, because after watching this movie, I can barely tell you even one of their personality traits. As with all Studio Ghibli movies though, the art and music were absolutely amazing.

Would not waste your ... time watching this movie. Go watch Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, or any of Studio Ghibli's many amazing movies.

This may be my Ghibli bias coming out. This should be an 8/10 movie, but the Ghibli charm is enough to bump this and any other movie up some.
There is so much love put into the animation. Every setting is so meticulously detailed and beautifully drawn that every frame looks like a painting. And there are not mystical elements whatsoever in this movie. All of this beauty comes from the love of the mundane and the ordinary. They make the common street and the average house feel so magical to be in because of the love they put into drawing it. All of the animators ... pack as much detail into every facet of the screen making you realize the beauty in daily life. This is the power of Ghibli.
The music is whimsical and fun. My goodness did I love the score. It really encapsulated the energy of youth and I was smiling throughout.
Nothing is dramatized. There are so many scenes of simply getting ready in the morning, daily routines, and the actual drama is done so realistically. This all creates this connection that no other studio has been able replicate. These are all real, relatable people, who deal with the drama of life in a way that makes you feel like it's part of your own. Changes to your person and to your life are usually subtle. I moved, I started college and I barely know anyone and it feels like nothing changed. I'm still the same me. Ghibli understands that and because they don't dramatize anything, because they handle everything with maturity, I can connect to these characters and these stories in a way that feels so personal.
These movies are fun, they always have me smiling from start to finish, and I can feel the love of everyone working on it. This is the Ghibli charm. This is what makes a 7/10 story, an 8/10 movie into the 9/10 it so rightfully deserves. And this one isn't even Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata.
Damn I love Ghibli.

1 word to describe this Movie, Youth.

From Up on Poppy Hill is a heart warming story and lovely characters as well as a wonderful display of complications within families & friends post-World War.

-spoiler-
The story focuses on a young girl who has grown to be independant due to the absence of her parents. While living with not just her main family there are other members living under the same roof, which she has taken up the responsibility of helping out with daily house chores. A very typical high school MC whose independant and hardworking.

A faithful encouter with a bold ML whose trying to fight for ... their high school clubhouse in order to prevent it from being demolished. The 2 then began their journey of self-discovery despite the complications of both their families, the demolision of clubhouse and their feelings for one another.

One setback i must say about the whole story development was how the misunderstanding of the parents which leads to the complications of both ML and MC. But thanks to the return of the MC's mother (THANK GOD), which helped cleared everything up between the 2. Eventhough i felt that was kinda extra by making the whole story going one big circle, but nonetheless i truly enjoyed it as it all worked out in the end.

Another unforgettable scene in the Movie was truly how all the student body came together to help refurbished the ClubHouse. I must say the use of soundtrack in this whole movie and this particular scene truly make me reminisce my days in High School. It really is a movie which shouts "Youth" whole-heartedly to me.

I think i might have found my new favorite Studio Ghibli film.

Thank you.

From Up On Poppy Hill actually has a really simple story, an ancient building at school is going to be demolished and a student movement rallies against it, following a boy-meets-girl trope, the story ensues to be a light melodrama and overall cute and sweet romance-- with a sudden twist !

This film was not that great, it lacked the magic and the nostalgic aspects that are usually present in Ghibli Animation movies. It felt very flat and the colors were also very dull. The really simple and short story is not carried out very well because you probably won't care very much about the rickety, ... gross building the students are fighting for. It's just very bland and lackluster.

But, a saving element in this story that makes it quite unique are probably the main characters. Umi and Shun are one of my favorite couples in the Ghibli world due to their strength and simplicity. Both are mature for their age and are active in their households, carrying a lot of responsibilities in their shoulders and still up for more challenges. I liked their dynamic together and I rooted for them to be together, I guess the film centered so much on their relationship that the plot isn't as important. Then the film takes an odd detour that forces you to rethink whatever you were probably thinking.

Anyway, this movie wasn't at all spectacular, just another one off my list to watch but I did enjoy the characters in the end. I think I would recommend this for people who enjoys watching a sweet slowburn. v cute.

From Up on Poppy Hill was a very good movie, with modern Ghibli style and typical attention to detail. The characters were fairly charming, the music and art were lovely, and the story was enjoyable. There was very little of the whimsical side of Ghibli works that I like to see, but that didn't really take away from my enjoyment. As my partner and I move up through the movies, we're starting to see much more expressiveness in the character animations, which makes me very excited to continue watching the Ghibli filmography even more. If this movie is in the studio's lowest-rated third, that speaks ... immeasurable volumes about how phenomenal Ghibli is overall.

Story: 6/10. The story is fairly uninteresting, to be honest. It's a romance that follows the heroine and her love interest through a little self-discovery, with an attempt to save a school club building in the background. There isn't anything particularly novel to the story, other than the lead characters' continued interest in each other after they find out something that really should be putting them off, of course. It all ends up okay in the end, though, so whatever. The cleaning scenes were really nice but short-lived. There just wasn't really anything in the story that caught my attention, although my partner and I were incredibly worried about how little the school staff cared about what the students did on school property haha

Art: 9/10. With gorgeous backgrounds and expressive animation, this movie is a delight for the eyes. The character designs were simple but clean, and the whole visual side of the movie was just lovely.

Sound: 9/10. The sound is also wonderful, with lovely music throughout. The voice acting was really good and the foley work was impeccable. I was never jarred out of the movie at any point by the sound and I commented multiple times through the viewing on the lovely soundtrack.

Character: 7/10. The characters were nice, with some really tragic stories. However, That's all they really were, nice. They didn't stand out, really, and I can't say I'll be pointing to any of them as being among my favorite Ghibli characters. They weren't unlikeable but they never truly made me *love* them. The biggest compliment I ever gave the cast was that the main character was very hard-working (and pretty).

Overall: 8/10. An enjoyable film well worth the time investment, if only for the audio/visual spectacle. I can't speak for the romance as I'm not really into most romance in anime, but everything else came together quite well. I would recommend this movie to those who want a nice story with some complex situations, beautiful art, and a very enjoyable soundtrack.

Goro Miyazaki returned with his second Ghibli film, which was written by his dad. Instead of doing another fantasy like Earthsea, which didn’t work, he directed a slice of life romance and drama about a high school girl in the 60s. She then met a high school boy who was fighting to restore the school’s clubhouse and fell in love. However, a shocking discovery made the relationship complicated.

Even though the story was down to earth, I was interested in it because when the twist hits, the story became almost like a mystery. The plot was definitely unique and made me curious about the relationship ... between the two main characters.

Amidst the main story was the plot about saving the clubhouse. I also like this aspect because it showed the students working together, hoping that their effort would pay off. There were some funny moments, and the end did make me happy because I cared for the students.

The two main characters were interesting, although I wished that there would be more interaction between them. There wasn’t a lot of romantic moments, but that’s understandable considering the plot. Their relationship was pretty complicated, even though the story seemed pretty simple and down to earth.

The theme, even though not as strong as in other Ghibli movies, was about preservation and importance of the past. I liked to see that the past was what led to the present, and understanding it can have major impact.

Overall, a solid and interesting drama. Love to see father and son worked together to make a good movie. 8/10