The 2011 Studio Ghibli film “From Up on Poppy Hill” is definitely my type of story, it was just realistic and nostalgic. It wasn’t really that deep but every minute you spent on watching it will make you think to re-evaluate your daily lives. When I first saw it, the first thing that comes into my head is that, it might be similar with The Whisper of Heart because I don’t really have any idea yet about its story. Yeah, it was weird that I watch a film without seeing its trailer or even just reading its plot yet because, I’m that type of guy that will only watch a certain show or film if I like the plot after reading it first. Well, my friends said that I am weird doing that, maybe it is because sometimes, I love some spoilers that I don’t want to surprise myself at all. Alright, let’s go back to the film, From Up on Poppy Hill reminds me of my childhood days, those stage of my life when I am around 13-16 years old and just focusing on my study while continuing to live my life searching for some romantic relationship to inspire myself. The entire film is cheerful though I admit that there are some parts that I don’t really understand or shall I see, not clear because of the way the story was delivered. For example, I can’t see any emotion when it comes to the scene where Shun revealed to Umi that they have the same father. It was like missing the necessary emotion or impact but all in all, From Up on Poppy Hill was delicately made for people of different ages who fall in love for once on their lives. It brings back memories of those days where you are trying to impress someone you like, wishing to join with him/her on a ride, and walking on the rain together with a special someone. The conflict in the story does not have that much of intense, especially the part about Shun and Umi’s parentage because I feel like that there are some missing emotions in those scenes. Yet, it was a very enjoyable film that it will make you think of the past, it was very natural, simple and realistic that every teenagers out there who grew up in similar culture can actually relate to.
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I know that this may sound pathetic but I'm one of those people who are dreaming of spending the rest of their lives travelling the world, especially those remote areas, learning different cultures, trekking mountain ranges, walking along the wide long beach, and encounter many breathtaking works of nature. Well, travelling is one of my dreams and I am just too ambitious of bring one of the most special person in my life with me. Yeah, I'd been longing to have an amazing adventure together with someone who know my best and worst. With that kind of set up, we'll traverse any adventurous places on Earth, experience the thrill of living in the wild life. For me, a life where you interact with mother nature is what I call "life on the edge", it sounds obnoxious but maybe that was part of weird personality as a terribly unique and pathetic human being. Watching the sunset while you are resting on the edge of a cliff or spending your night on top of a mountain witnessing how beautiful the moon is. That was kinda a hopeless romantic dreams but isn't it amazing? Alright, I'm running out of words to express myself once again, haha maybe I'd better end this random post. :) YUKITO KUNISAKI: IF YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'VE COME FROM, AND YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'RE HEADED, THEN YOU ARE NOT ON A TRUE JOURNEY. WHEN YOU'RE ON A TRUE JOURNEY, YOU'VE LONG FORGOTTEN WHY YOU LEFT IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND YOU'VE NO IDEA WHERE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO GO. AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT I BELIEVE, NOW THAT I'VE BEEN ON THE ROAD SO LONG. The story of Air is not really that appealing to me but god dammit, Yukito and Misuzu's chemistry are just awesome. Plus, both of them have astounding characteristics that only add to their funny yet romantic chemistry. Well, I'd seen my vulnerable side on Misuzu's character but Yukito's nonchalant behavior greatly shows my cynical side on which one of the reason why I enjoyed watching the movie. I really feel that my title for this post kinda suck but I just can't find any words that will suit to my feeling after watching Studio Ghibli 1995 feature film "Whisper of the Heart". It was like leading me back to my high school days which I can say as my glorious days too (lmao) where everything is just fun and not worrying that much about the future. Just doing what you and pursuing those dreams that your heart desire. The film simply relive some forgotten chapters of my life especially the romantic side and the funny sides as well. Obviously, everyone will enjoy watching a film where teens just keep on teasing about their crushes, talking about their dreams as well as dealing with some issues on their studies, it is like reminiscing our teenage years and escaping the reality of adult life. I supposed we all deserved a break and Whisper of Heart was light and full of fun anime to spend our free time. Shizuku is the name of the protagonist character, she's not the typical teenage girl that we usually seen nowadays. She embodies a youth with a cheerful personality and guess what, she's a bookworm which I thought is just cool. It was really hard to find some bookworm which is cheerful and loves to talk to other people too (based on my own experience). At the beginning I though that the progress of the story is just slow and I don't even care that much about that boy name Seiji despite of the fact that I know from the very start that he'll be the love interest of Shizuku. I didn't have any idea yet but I just feel it that he'll be the knight in a shining armor of our cheerful bookworm. Their first meeting is just awkward and probably, the best part of the story too (based on my personal preferences). So, Shizuku have this book she borrowed from the library and there she sat at a bench near the training ground for the baseball players together with with her best friend named Yuko. So, one of their classmate which is a baseball player is Sugimura who happens to be the crush of Yuko. Well, the two girls are discussing about this boy who sent a love letter to Yuko and Shizuku simply keep on teasing her best friend 'cause after all, it's the best that she can do since she don't really care about love anyway. Both girls go home, when Shizuku realized that she forgot the book she borrowed from the library at the bench earlier so she returned to the school to retrieve it. There, she found a guy sitting on the bench and reading the book. The guy noticed her and boom, that's how Shizuku Seiji first met, Seiji give the book to Shizuku and go after telling our girl about "Concrete Roads" which is actually the funny parody John Denver's song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" created by Shizuku. And her reaction to Seiji is just priceless and really funny. Shizuku's life is not really that boring despite of just spending most of her time reading books. She has a very demanding and kinda bossy older sister and her parents are just busy and I supposed that she don't even bond that much in the entire film. Well, her life simply changed when she encounter this really adorable and mysterious cat while she was in the train. It was kind of stupid or maybe some weirdness that Shizuku chase the cat when they got off the train and believe, she's kinda crazy and I like it 'coz I have that tendency too, I mean chasing someone who is human and not a mere cat. On her way, she ended up in the front of an antique shop and there she encounter the cat figurine called "The Baron". So, the story then just move forward and the progress just simply start to rise up as she finds out that the shop is owned by Seiji's grandfather. But what really excite me and give me lots of dosage of laughter is that Shizuku doesn't even know Seiji's name yet but she go with him inside the shop and they even bond together. Seiji play violin while she sang a song and then, Seiji's grandpa just showed up with some friends and they accompany the teens by playing their respective instruments too. Then, when Shizuku finds out about Seiji's real name which is Seiji Amasawa, she recalls the name of the guy that was written on the library card of the every book she borrowed. She even think that this guy who reads the same book as her might be her soul mate. And for the second time, Shizuku's reaction was priceless and genuinely funny. Actually,there are some twists in the story too including Sugimura's feeling for Shizuku on which the latter didn't reciprocate. In fact, Shizuku tell the boy that Yuko likes him and that she only wants her relationship with Sugimura as friends. Well, that was kinda dramatic and just a scenario that was really hard to deal with in real life situation. So, let's back to Shizuku and Seiji, the boy tolds our girl that he likes to play violin but it was his dream to be a violin maker. He told her that he was planning to go to Italy in pursue of his dreams to become a violin maker even his parents are against to his wishes. The next day, Seiji goes to Shizuku classroom and believe me, this is probably the funniest part of the film where Shizuku's classmates just freaks out after finding out that there's a guy looking for Shizuku. It was like they are totally surprised as well as happy that Shizuku finally fall in love when in fact, Shizuku and Seiji are just friends. Both of them headed to the rooftop and wait there until the rain stops and they talk about Seiji's plan of going to Italy since his parents finally agree to his desire but with a certain condition. They gradually fall in love with each others but they keep their feelings on themselves only and trying to prove something first is the test that they need to pass. Their struggle for independence as well as control from their parents is a twist in the story that most of us can easily relate to. In fact, those struggles as well as Seiji's decision to pursue his dreams drive Shizuku to think about her future. Seiji became her inspiration to write a novel and probably, she'll gonna be a good writer in the future. Her novel titled "Whisper of the Hearts" connotes about her suppressed feelings for Seiji, but the novel is about "The Baron" on which Shizuku decided to make as the protagonist character in her story. A lot of things happened to Shizuku until Seiji's returned in Japan after 2 months. One of those things is her performance in school on which she gets some sermon from her mother and sister. It was good thing that her father was stoic but it was shown that even her father wants her to study hard and go to high school. I supposed that this struggle is just normal for every teenager. Striving for parental independence and seeking for some freedom is what we desire the most during our youthful days are teenagers. I'd been there and I can say that it was really hard, so I can understand Shizuku that much. The denouement of the film is when Seiji returned to Japan and it's like a magic that he goes to Shizuku's apartment and the latter just woke up and exactly look in the window. There she finds Seiji calling for her, I don't think that it was just coincidence that Shizuku will wake up that early in the break of dawn and just open the window then see her prince charming waiting for her. Well, that's just a product of fantasy that we all wanted to happened to our real life somehow, but let's face it, real life sucks. So, let's back to the story, Seiji take Shizuku to his secret hide out which is located somewhere above the hilly place in the city. There, together they witness the sunrise and Seiji finally confess his love for Shizuka and asking the girl to marry him in the future. Shizuka happily answer that it was her own wish too, to be with Seiji for the rest of her lives. Well, isn't it a happy every after story? Probably, I'll gonna give some space for Whisper of the Hearts in my favorite list of movies. Typically, I watch sad movies, especially those directed by Makoto Shinkai but this one is just different, it's not like the rest of the fantasy anime films that Studio Ghibli are famos for. I can't say that it was one of the best anime film around but for me, it was worthy of the time I'd spend laughing out loud and also shedding some tears while watching the entire film. It was awesome. So, here we go, this is my first post for my new blog "myfouluniverse.weebly.com" which also happens to be my first personal blog. I still feel nostalgic because as an introvert, creating a personal blog and posting anything you like is typically usual but sharing it to the world is another story. But believe me, an introvert does not seem quiet most of the time, perhaps there are thousands of things and words that keeps going around in our head. But restraining it inside our head is probably a talent that only an introvert has and we obviously want to say it out loud too but sometimes, we just have to choose carefully those people that we want to share those things.
I'm not really good when it comes to writing and I'd like to tell everyone to be patient with my articles because I know that I definitely sucks with words. I love random stuffs and believe me, many of my friends won't believe that an introvert like me have wide range of interest. But of course, talking to random people and strangers is something that I really don't like but somehow my brains keeps telling me that I need to socialize. However, socializing or talking with people is one of my weakness that really consuming my efforts lately. So, I'm hoping that I may be able to find some avid followers and willing to read all the random ideas that I'll gonna post here asap. By the way, everyone should expect a lot of Animes here because I will surely talk about it random anime films or series or even manga all of the time. Tattoos, adventures, and some 'emo' quotes are also something that everybody should watch out for. |
AuthorFrank Calinao an aspiring blogger who likes anime more than anything else in the world. Among his favorites are Gundam Seed (series), GetBackers, Saiyuki, and Code Geass. An introvert who loves to spend his time in the silence of the night watching animes, writing random stuffs on his Tumblr and playing online games. His personal blog - My Foul Universe is the sanctuary of his random thoughts and words that he wants to share to the outside world. If you like my blog, you may subscribe to my feed. Archives
January 2019
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