Coquelicot-zaka kara

Atop a hill overlooking a seaside port sits a boarding house named Coquelicot Manor. Since the building is run by her family, Umi Matsuzaki carries out many of the duties involved in managing the small establishment, such as preparing meals for her fellow boarders. When she isn't at home, she is a student at the local high school—one that is currently dealing with a small crisis.

In anticipation of the upcoming Olympic Games, a beloved old clubhouse is set to be demolished to make way for a modern building. As a result, a large part of the student body has banded together, working tirelessly to prevent this from happening. Umi finds herself helping the newspaper club to spread information about this cause where she befriends Shun Kazama, whom she gradually begins to fall in love with. But Shun is an orphan who doesn't know much about his origins, and when the two begin searching for clues to the boy's past, they discover that they may have a lot more in common than either of them could have thought.

[Writtten by MAL Rewrite]

Matsuzaki, Umi Main

Nagasawa, Masami Japanese

Kazama, Shun Main

Okada, Junichi Japanese

Mizunuma, Shirou Supporting

Kazama, Shunsuke Japanese

Hirokouji, Sachiko Supporting

Hiiragi, Rumi Japanese

Nobuko Supporting

Kanno, Toshimi Japanese

Tomoko Supporting

Philosophy Club President Supporting

Hokuto, Miki Supporting

Ishida, Yuriko Japanese

Yuuko Supporting

Teshima, Aoi Japanese

Gen Supporting

Suzuki, Toshio Producer

Miyazaki, Gorou Director, Theme Song Lyrics

Nakazawa, Shintarou Episode Director

Niwa, Keiko Script

Reviews

Nov 8, 2024

Sahil_K_Chandio

Recommended

From Up On Poppy Hill is one of the two Ghibli films I never watched, Ponyo being the other. There is no specific reason as to why, I just never got around to it but recently, I finally decided to watch it. To my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed nearly every minute. As someone who sorely dislikes every film directed by Goro Miyazaki, I feel compelled to write a proper review for a movie of his that has truly earned every bit of my praise.

At its core, this story is a period piece, set in 1963, in Japan. The country is still recovering from the recent ... wars and trying to overcome its regretful past. It is a tale that encourages us to embrace our past, both its virtues and flaws, regardless of their severity. If you are overly adamant about erasing all of your past and pretending nothing happened then you will not only dampen your growth towards a brighter, peaceful, progressive, and tolerant future but you will also be disrespecting all those who were lost to it. As Shun states “There’s no future for those who worship the future but forget the past.” The students doing their best to halt the deconstruction of their Latin quarter clubhouse also symbolizes this message among other things; Willing to change and improve is the correct mindset but doing that by completely deleting everything just because of a jarring dark point in your history isn’t right. So, a personal conflict like the one in the film where the past starts to suddenly haunt the leads fits in seamlessly and it could've been perfect if it was executed and conveyed slightly better. Still, the narrative and the film as a whole hits right. The characters are very charming and the dub is cast with such sincerity that it only further elevates the good writing.

Umi and Shun are amazing leads. I love how effortlessly charming Shun is and Umi's character is such a breath of fresh air too. She is a dedicated, caring, and resilient young woman who tries her very best to balance her domestic responsibilities with her school life. She cooks for the family, she cleans, she makes sure everybody gets up at time and doesnt miss out on their daily endeavours, shes exactly the kind of woman that you find in most of our households here in Pakistan and Asia in general. So, seeing someone like that represented in something felt really nice to see. Even if her turmoil after the main reveal could've had better execution, it fits in serviceably. We can clearly see Umi is more shaken up by this then she has perhaps ever been by anything. Yet she still tries her best not to neglect any of her responsibilities.

The OST and animation are both top-tier. The score in particular is filled with so much joyful energy that I couldn't help but bop along at times. I see myself rewatching this film solely to vibe with the amazing tracks.

I have heard so many weird complaints surrounding this film and all of them are, in all honesty, baffling to me. Forgive me if this sounds pretentious but I strongly believe that the people who complain about this film "promoting" or "normalizing" incest simply weren't mature enough to comprehend any of it. These people would almost certainly unironically paint Final Fantasy 8 in the same light. The critical conversations surrounding this film have been astonishingly stupid to me.

The intent of that turmoil in the story was very obvious. It was to make both you, the audience, and the characters extremely uncomfortable by the big reveal. The chemistry between the two lead characters is so good that most viewers will likely be ‘shipping’ them, and then, suddenly, bam! The reveal happens. So, you would too be just as disheartened as the characters. I do wish there were one or two more scenes dealing with the shock, it would only add to the potency of it all but the subtle discomfort, revulsion, and disappointment these characters felt regarding it was excellent in my opinion.

I also feel that the internal conflict experienced by Umi after the central plot twist/reveal, how she felt betrayed by the past because of her newfound awareness of her father’s potential infidelity and the possibility that he was merely a pretender in all aspects, deserved much better execution. I’d rather that they say all of that outright as opposed to this, in my opinion, failed attempt at nuanced storytelling that was presented in the film. Overall, this is still a very good film. I recommend that you give it a watch when you get a chance, and please go in completely blind, I have even come across its synopses on multiple websites containing spoilers for some essential plot moments. If you loved “Whisper of the Heart” and/or “Only Yesterday,” this film is similar to those with how it writes its characters and how it beautifully highlights everyday struggles and joys of life. 8.5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Oct 11, 2024

Frogfrog_

Mixed Feelings

Since it's a Studio Ghibli film, my expectations were high, but when it was over, I didn't really know what I thought of the film. I thought a lot about what the moral of the story would be and ended up remembering another film that's similar; "Dead Poets Society". The soundtrack surprised me a little and, like all of the studio's films, the animation is perfect.

Original -

Por ser um filme do Studio Ghibli, minha expectativa subiu bastante, mas quando acabou, não soube muito bem oq eu de fato achei do filme. Pensei bastante em qual seria a moral da história e acabei lembrando de outro ... filme que se parece; "Sociedade dos Poetas Mortos". A trilha sonora me surpreendeu um pouco, e como todos os filmes do estúdio, a animação é perfeita.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 25, 2020

oikawa_the_door

Not Recommended

(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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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