Tora Cat Money Box

I have to share this. A cat coin machine. Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

£14.40 from House of Fraser, Christmas present anyone?

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Peers+Hardy+Crafty+cat+coin+bank/153443842,default,pd.html?cm_mmc=Googlebase-_-Children-_-Toys-_-Crafty+cat+coin+bank&istCompanyId=17910aed-1bae-4362-9580-b523eb87a91e&istItemId=iilqqtwl&istBid=t ahhh long url.

I Love Ghibli

So I thought I’d start my first ever blog with something I find pretty easy to talk about and that’s Ghibli. I love Ghibli. Ghibli Ghibli Ghibli. And if you’re wondering what Ghibli, or more Studio Ghibli is, well it’s a Japanese animation studio that has produced some of my most favourite films of all time. Most of my friends know that I’m a big lover of anime and this love started smack bang when I saw Spirited Away for the first time.

Spirited Away (or Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi meaning ‘The Mysterious Disappearance of Sen and Chihiro’) is a film produced by Studio Ghibli about a young girl, Chihiro later renamed as Sen, who is moving house with her parents. On the journey to the new house they stop to try and find somewhere to eat and they come across and abandoned amusement park. As they look around they find lots of food seemingly there to help yourself to. Sen wonders off and finds an interesting bath house leaving her mum and dad to scoff the food, but by the time she returns her mum and dad have turned to into pigs….Sen finds herself trapped in a world inhabited by spirits and monsters, she begins working in the bath house bathing spirits, meets a boy who can turn into a dragon, and essentially is on a mission to find a way to get her parents back. Sound crazy? Sounds AMAZING.

Spirited Away have some of the BEST characters, one of my favourites being the soot sprites (susuwatari).

These guys are so cute, they shovel coal onto fires and hide your shoes.

There is also a guy who is a radish. I was going to say like a radish but no he’s actually a radish. Well he’s a radish spirit anyway.

The Japanese really like radishes, not too sure why.

And who can forget No Face. I swear if more people knew about Ghibli I would have gone out dressed as No Face for halloween a long time ago. No Face can be quite calm and peaceful, if not slightly eery like this.

No Face can also go freaking mental if you get on the wrong side of him. Like this.

He eats some people

Ghibli films are so wonderfully drawn and some of the scenes genuinely take your breath away. I think other Ghibli fans would agree when watching these films you would ideally like to cut yourself out and insert yourself straight into the landscape.

The characters from My Neighbour Totoro just chilling

Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫, Mononoke-hime) is another one of my favourite Ghibli films. Not only is the animation beautiful and incredibly detailed, but the story tells a tale of love and fighting and spirits; exactly the kind of thing I like. The trailer is below, I would have liked to show the English one but the American voice over is far too annoying and the content of the trailer doesn’t really do justice to the film.

You’ve got to admit, the music is pretty amazing.

As ever Princess Mononoke has it’s own cute little characters called kodama which sit in the trees and tilt their heads from side to side. A kodama is a spirit from Japanese folklore. Cutting down a tree which houses a kodama is thought to bring mistfortune and such trees are often marked with shimenawa rope (Wikipedia). You can buy cute little kodama toys although I don’t have one just yet 😦

Howl’s Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城 Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) tells a story about an 18-year-old hat maker called Sophie who is cursed by a witch and turned into an old lady. Sophie decides to run away, but discovers Howl’s castle which happens to have legs and can walk around due to the magic of Calcifer, a talking flame who is mysteriously connected to Howl. Howl, in my opinion one of the most handsome Ghibli characters (and has the voice of Christian Bale in the English version, just by chance), is a young wizard who is too cowardly to fight in the war and the story follows his escape from the royal courts magician and eventually breaking the spell that ties Howl and Calcifer together.

Howl asleep in his room full of magic

And finally the last one I will talk about is Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ Gake no Ue no Ponyo, literally “Ponyo on the Cliff”). Ponyo is a fish-girl that doesn’t really look like a fish at all but she certainly is CUTE.

Ponyo longs to be a real little girl and falls in love with Sosuke, a boy who lives in a house by the sea. Ponyo is magic and slowly she begins to grow arms and legs. After a great flood hits the land Ponyo and Sosuke spend lots of time together on a little candle-run boat; my favourite part of the film. As Ponyo used to be a fish she starts to become accustomed to objects in daily human lives which is also pretty cute to watch.

Ponyo uses her magic to increase the size of the boat so they can ride it

I think one thing I love about Ponyo is all the water in the film. Although I am terrified of the sea I also find it fascinating, even in animated form. In one scene Sosuke and Ponyo put their heads under the water to look at all the weird and wonderful fish. Lovely. It also helps that the film is about love, and I’m a sucker for love.

I urge you to watch any and all of the Studio Ghibli films. But if you don’t like them don’t tell me, cause in my head they are perfect!

When I have children I think I will bring them up on a combination of Studio Ghibli and Disney films. Ghibli films are so magical, spiritual and fun, they would be amazing for fuelling young children’s minds. Disney films also have their place; Mulan, Pocohontas and Hercules are fantastic Disney films…but that’s for another blog post. 😀