Ghibli Update

My 9 movies in 18 days is going quite well, as I've already watched  4 in the past 7. Just 5 more and I have 11 days to do it, so no worries here.

I have to tell you about the wonderfulness that is Only Yesterday. I've owned this movie in my Ghibli set for at least 6 years now, but I had never watched it until this week. It's amazing. It was released in the US this year, so you all have no excuse not to watch it.

It follows Taeko, who is 27, unmarried, and working in Tokyo. She takes a vacation to go to the country and work on a farm because she feels more at home there. She begins to remember, for some reason, her 5th grade year and the film is interspersed with scenes from when she was 10. It's delightful and the ending is maybe one of my favorite Ghibli endings now. It also got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes if you need any more convincing.

I also feel it my duty to tell you to steer clear of Ocean Waves (Umi ga kikoeru). Please save yourself the hour of listening to whiny teenagers and watch Only Yesterday instead.

I'm thinking I'll have to do a Studio Ghibli ranking when I'm finished with this, and Ocean Waves is definitely in the bottom spot so far. We'll see how it fares when I re-watch Tales of Earthsea. Bluh.