[Review] From up on Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から)
I’ve loved anime and manga since I know myself (and that can be considered a very long period :P). Studio Ghibli produces the best animation movies I’ve had the privilege to watch. They are so well done: the plots simple yet captivating, from magical comedies to dreamy love stories; characters possessing the most cliché traits like the bishonen (handsome boy) hero or a turnip head?? (But nevertheless greatly enjoyable to every kind of audience); songs and melodies that make you want to figure out every single note and try to play it on a piano, guitar, violin or sing it out and loud so every neighbour can savour it (not!). To sum it, I’m trying to watch every single movie the said studio did. I hope I can get my hands on “Whispers of the Heart”, “Laputa: Castle in the Sky” and “The Borrower Arriety” soon. I went with my friends to the movies last week. Something went wrong with our plans so we ended up watching “From up on Poppy Hill” (コクリコ坂から Kokuriko-zaka Kara).
Synopsis: 1963, Tokyo and the entire Japan is preparing to host next year’s Olympic Games. To show the world a new image of the post-war country, people are destroying what is considered to be old in order to show the world the new more powerful and strong Japan.
Komatsuzaki Umi, a high school sophomore, living apart from her parents, raises a couple of flags every day on her house on the top of a hill facing a harbour. Kazama Shun gets a glimpse of those flags as he rides a boat to go to school. With nothing much in common, both of them meet in the Quartier Latin, the cultural club of their school, characterized for being a place of irreplaceable memories. With the coming Olympics, the club is threatened to be demolished. Umi and Shun are among the students who want to protect it. Will they succeed? Along their quest to bring the best out of the Quartier Latin, feelings get mixed in the middle of it. Is it love? What if they are not only friends, but something deeper like… siblings?
The plot: 3.5/5
Although is not an innovative plot it had good potential, at least I thought of it when I first watched the trailer. Not my favourite and it was somehow rushed in the end. This last part I blame it on the length. What is wrong in adding some minutes to the film (which was 91 minutes by the way)? Now, without diverging too much, this is your typical high school romance with that little (ok, not so small) twist. But this sibling issue is already so explored in the fiction world I felt disappointed when it came out. Ahh… one small note I have to make. I watched a Cantonese dub version so some things weren’t quite clear for me. Anyway, the entire story was pretty simple: they met, they cleaned that cultural club, they fell in love, and they struggled to discover the truth. The romance was reduced to short eye contacts, a few dialogues and there wasn’t a single kiss scene. Since we are talking about Japan in the 60’s, I supposed couples were more conservative and they (staff) wanted to be loyal to this fact. Yes, it was realistic. This is the best word to describe the entire movie. Realistic. And my disappointment you ask? The innocent I was expecting (probably) a fluffier tone, a more fantasy like atmosphere. The ending was ambiguous (or the dub was actually VERY bad). I still have doubts if they were really siblings or not *sigh* My major critic is that they didn’t want to risk and preferred to play safe with the budget, even if that means being caught in a big black box called “cliché”.
Characters: 3.5/5
I’ll just talk about Umi and Shun since the others didn’t have such an impact on me. Umi, because she grew apart from her parents, nails the word independent with a sheer force. She gets up early in the morning to prepare breakfast for the 5+ people living the house, does the laundry, cleans the whole place and THEN goes to school. Not used to an environment with boys, her first meeting with Shun is somehow awkward but pretty funny nevertheless. She’s straight with her feelings and gets upset when Shun starts avoiding her. I like her a lot. She’s that typical smart heroine yet there’s so much innocence shadowed behind that capable woman figure she portrays. Her longing for her mother and father is a subtle one, not always whining and rebellious (like most stories have). So when her mother comes back and she runs to those protective arms at night, pouring her broken heart is so moving you almost forget that she’s no longer a child. I wish I could hear her Japanese seiyuu, since the Hong Kong dub did very poorly in her case.
Shun is the male lead, a high school senior in charge of the newspaper club. Another typical hero, honest to his feelings and the personification of every good trait a good male character needs. Since the plot is so simple, down-straight and somehow tasteless, I can’t write much about him except that I liked him. Now, one of the things that bugged me was that he was the one who started to doubt his blood relations with Umi but did almost nothing to clear his doubts. Yes, he asked his parents but nothing more, accepting this cruel fate and started to avoid her without a good explanation, true or fake, good or bad I don’t care. One day they are blushing and walking together side by side, the next day he’s what we call an Ice Queen (King in his case).
Art and music: 4.5/5
I had great expectations about the art style and the BGM and it certainly didn’t disappoint me. Every scene is filled with the finest details, the different colours well blended. Even without the fantasy elements like “Howl’s Moving Castle”, everyday actions, the sea, the distinctive multi-floor Cultural Club is extremely pleasing to the eyes. And I was quite surprised to see that Hisaishi Joe wasn’t in charge of the soundtrack (well, I’m just used to associate him with Studio Ghibli). With or without Hisaishi, it was another great work, this time by Takebe Satoshi. Teshima Aoi’s vocal for the main theme - Sayounara no Natsu - is a must listen. I repeat, a MUST! And since we are talking about the film score, Sakamoto Kyu’s “Ue wo muite arukou” (“Sukiyaki”) during some scenes of the animation was so refreshing.
Total: 3.5/5
Don’t watch this is if you’re expecting a silly romance or something magical with the light winning over the dark or the good beating the bad. This plot is down-to-Earth and very realistic. It’s about the love of two high-school students who are taking the first steps towards adulthood. And the slow simple pace is enjoyable by itself. I recommend it for another Studio Ghibli’s fans like myself and to any other person. Go watch it, even if it just for the beautiful art and amazing sound score.