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First off, the Ghibli museum was incredible, and this was one of the reasons why. A short that’s borderline lost media because of that fact it’s never been uploaded online, never will be, and you can only watch it in the Ghibli museum in Japan. It’s one of many shorts that’s exclusive to there, and this was the only one I got to see and probably ever will. So for the short…..

Honestly I don’t know if I should put this as recommended or mixed feeling, as I feel like if I go with the former, it wouldn’t make sense considering not many people will ever ... be able to watch it, and even if they do go to the ghibli museum there’s a chance they won’t even see this short, so I’ll go with mixed feelings. Still, it’s cute. The story is really nothing crazy. A boy finds a cane but an anthropomorphic bunny wants it too so they fight over who gets to keep it. The animation is very experimental, with a bunch of dynamic shots that almost feel like practice shots. The whole running scene gave me future boy Conan vibes (I need to stop mentioning this show in every review). It’s a short film where I feel like if it was available online, it could be compared to something like Totoro for their cute simple charms, whimsies, and coziness. It’s just chill. It’s nothing incredible, but a very special short. Still, if you can visit the museum and this short is playing, don’t pass. It’s good and you’ll never get to experience it again.


Also the ticket I used to get into it was the scene in howls moving castle where howl does the thing with the table and it’s one of my biggest flexes

“The way you fell from the sky, I thought you were an angel or something”. Real line from the film I just wanted to add, possibly the smoothest pick up line

If we’re not counting Nausicaä of the valley of the wind in 1984 or even stuff like Lupin lll; castle of cagliostro in 1979, this is the first film under the name of ghibli. Directed by Miyazaki, the film released in 1986, and was a huge hit in Japan. As someone who’s going to Japan in a week, I’ve heard it’s extremely popular over there. Just look up Muskas name in kanji and you’ll understand ... what I mean. But that aside, I genuinely adore this film, I mean, it’s castle in the sky! How can you watch it and not get any enjoyment! I wanted to review this movie a few years ago but I was afraid I’d miss something important, but now that I’ve rewatched it 1092837278 times with every single person I know and love, I’ll give my honest review on this film. Marking this as spoiler because I never know if I spoil moments in stuff.

First off the story. The film is about a girl named Sheeta who after being kidnapped by Muska and his army due to her magical necklace and royal ancestry that can find where Laputa (the castle in the sky) is, falls off a blimp when their ship is attacked by the Dola gang, who also want the necklace. A miner named Pazu finds her and catches her from the sky. He learns about everything that’s going on, and also wants to prove Laputa is real for himself so he can prove his father who saw it wasn’t a liar. Then some hijinks ensue and other stuff happens and tbh I’m not getting too deep in the plot because I want the reader who I assume hasn’t seen it to just stop reading it now, and watch it. But yeah. If you’re familiar with the ghibli lore (or the GCU (Ghibli cinematic universe as I call it), you’ll probably think “hey, this is really similar so far to future boy Conan!”, and you’d be right! I mentioned this film in my future boy Conan review (which is a phenomenal series watch it too) that they have a lot of similarities. The thing is future boy Conan is based on a book called “the incredible tide”, so this film was also inspired by that, and I mentioned in the review that the story for Conan is really good, so the story for the film has to be good right? And it is! Really its just the story for Conan but with magical gadgets, a steampunk aesthetic, and a lot of airplanes. If you liked the story for Conan, you’ll like this film (I think I’ve mentioned future boy more times than the actual film in this review wth). Again, don’t want to get too deep into it since I’d rather have you watch it. Also don’t know where to put this but I love this films sense of humor. It’s one of ghiblis silliest and the slapstick humor, especially during the chase scene, never fails to leave a smile on my face.

Now for the characters. Sheeta is a nice character, and I think she’s cool. I’ve seen criticisms that for a Miyazaki film, she’s more of a damsel in distress, but I honestly think that’s not the case and she is a strongly written character. Wouldn’t say my favorite Ghibli girl (Nausicaa is the only correct answer), she’s still good. Pazu is easily my favorite character in the film. He’s nice, goofy, he says the line I quoted earlier, and I can honestly relate to him a lot. Plus, he’s really strong, this kid could probably defeat thanos if he wanted. Dola is the definition of grandma boss. Shes a really funny character and I love how she proves that even grandmas can kick butt. Her gang is……..there. They’re comedic side characters but tbh the whole scene where they were crushing on sheeta, who’s like 13, was uncomfortable (they’re probably in their 20s-30s). Sure wasn’t an awkward moment when I watched it in theaters with my dad last year! Muska is genuinely a threatening villain. Miyazaki villains like Lady Eboshi (Princess Mononoke), and Kushana (Nausicaä of the valley of the wind), have some redeeming qualities to them that can make you look at them in a different light. Muska on the other hand is just straight up evil. He kidnaps a child, shoots a child, kills his army, and implies on marrying sheeta (muska is like 30 something) in the Japanese version, which I don’t personally remember because I watch it dubbed but I’m going off of what people said. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and the line delivery that Mark Hamill gives is just perfect. Though despite that, I have a really hard time taking him seriously because of all the stupid memes I saw of him on pixiv and Nico Nico Douga, and the fact every time they say his name, im fully waiting for them to go “MISKA MUSKA MICKEY MOUSE”

Animation on the other hand is incredible. I genuinely think this is one of the most visually stunning hand drawn animated films. The lighting especially is incredible. I know saying a ghibli movie has phenomenal animation is like saying the sky is blue but I really mean it. In the third act of the film, the characters are flying in a hurricane and the animation is so detailed and the lightning strikes are so impressive that it makes the scene great, but there’s one specific part I want to mention during this. The music goes completely silent and while Pazu is flying, he sees the vision of his deceased father in the dark hurricane, because calling out to him, and then it’s not silent anymore, but the way it’s animated and and that fact despite being silent, you can really feel his emotions in that scene makes it so it’s easily one of the most, if the, the most powerful scene in the film. And the scene after where pazu and sheeta finally arrive on Laputa is just a breathtaking moment. The way you see these two characters happy that they’ve finally achieved their goals and the music that plays when the robot offers them a flower makes it so the viewer especially feels satisfied and feel like they went on a journey with these characters and that it all led to this. Music is good too, Kimi o Nosete might be my favorite song ever.

Finally, voice acting. The Japanese version has good acting. The protagonist’s actually sound like children and everyone sounds like how I’d imagine them to. And…Pazu is voiced by Monkey D Luffy? Yeah I was shocked too. There’s one scene in the film where Pazu goes “I’ll never become a pirate” which I believe is just foreshadowing to ONE PIECEE. I couldn’t even watch one piece without hearing him the entire time and losing it. As for the dub, it’s alright, but definitely the weakest ghibli dub. Sheetas voice changes accents every other scene. One line she’ll be British, then Australian, then American, it’s kinda funny tbh. Pazu just sounds like a 47 year old man, and the rest of the cast did really well. Also something to note is that Laputa actually means a REALLY bad word in Spanish, can’t say it here probably but look it up, and considering they say it a billion times in the film, it gets funnier every time. Don’t know what this has to do with voice acting just thought I had to include it somewhere.

With all that said, Castle in the sky is truly a phenomenal film, and dare I say it, not only is it my favorite anime of all time (if it even counts as one), but also my favorite movie of all time. It’s one that really left a huge impact on me, and helped inspired my art and my desire to become an animation historian, and learn traditional animation! But hey, that’s just me. Whether or not you like the film is up to you. Go watch it, and make your own thoughts and feelings on it. Don’t let me yapping about this film constantly to everyone I know decide what you think, I just hope when you do watch it, you have a really fun time

I feel like if this show were to be summed up in two words, it would be Criminally underrated

We all know Hayao Miyazaki. Made some awesome films that are still some of my favorites. I wanted to watch some of his earlier works to see if they were as good as the ghibli movies, and future boy Conan caught my eye. I had been planning on watching it for years, but I didn’t know he worked on it. So in the span of about two months (I’m a slow anime watcher I know), I finished the series, and it’s easily a hidden gem. Future boy ... Conan is pretty similar to some of his future works, like Nausicaa and Laputa, but especially the latter. The two have similar plots, the two main characters of both works are basically the same just with a few changes to their designs, and of course, both were directed by Miyazaki. You can say it’s a precursor to Laputa since it came out 8 years before that film did. Now, for my review

Let’s start off with animation. Ghibli films are known for having incredible animation. Heck, everything Miyazaki and Takahata worked on had incredible animation, check out castle of cagliostro from 1979! The animation in that film is unbelievably great! But is the animation in this show good? Yeah! Not the best animation ever, it was a tv series that aired in the 70s, so they didn’t have the biggest budget ever, but for what they had, the animation is good! There are some really good perspective and camera movement shots and really fluid moments and it’s just really impressive, especially considering the whole thing was done with cel animation. Again, not the greatest animated ghibli related thing ever, but it’s still good. I would like to mention something about the art. In the earlier episodes, the design of Lana is noticeably off. It’s a bit hard to explain but watching the show you’ll know something’s wrong. It can be a bit off putting at first, but luckily her design gets better. I also love the shows expressive characters. Every character seems so full of life and a ton of goofy and realistic expressions, especially with Conan, Jimsy, and Dyce

The story is good. Like I mentioned earlier, very similar to castle in the sky, but I’d say that’s a compliment since I loved the story for the movie. The one thing I do like about Conan’s story better than Laputa is that it actually has a satisfying conclusion instead of them laughing and flying off into the sunset, and how you’ve seen how the characters have grown
Throughout the story. It’s incredibly entertaining and easy to get into. The final episode especially is fantastic, but I’d rather leave the viewer to watch it. The Characters are also great! Conan and Lana are incredibly likable and fun protagonists, jimsy was kinda annoying, monsley is a girl boss and some of the other minor characters were really funny, Dyce in particular. The villian however I think is fine, disappointing at worst. A bit forgettable most of the time, but he’s cool in the final episodes he appears in. Music was good too

What more can I say about this show? It’s insanely good! The fact this show has a little over 50,000 members makes me sad, because it’s genuinely one of the best anime I’ve seen, which I wasn’t expecting for a show that’s almost half a century old. Incredible show and I couldn’t recommend it enough. Check it out when you get the chance! Trust me, you won’t regret it

And then he turned himself into a frog. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen

KeroKero chime is probably the most obscure manga I’ve read so far, and I mean, yeah, it’s not perfect, but it’s really cute. The series is about a boy named Aoi who is transported into the frog land by some magician I think and now anytime he touches water, he turns into a frog. He meets a princess named Mimori who I love so much and they go on a journey to find the magic books missing pages in order to lift Aois curse. There’s a lot of other stuff that happened, but ... since I read the entire series in raw Japanese, I might have misread something so I’m not going too deep into it (I can speak a little bit of Japanese and I’m learning kanji right now). The art style is so adorable and I think the characters are decent, though mimori is definitely the best one. I found the manga set online for 20$ and considering that it’s such a rare series, I know I had to get them, and I might be one of the only few people outside Japan to actually own at least one volume of it. Honestly I think it was money well spent as I really enjoyed reading it. My main problem outside of me misunderstanding some things is that it did get and feel repetitive and I can’t say any of the other characters outside of aoi, mimori, and the wizard were great. Still if you’re able to find it, I’d recommend giving it a try, though unfortunately, it’s never been translated before, so it might only be a more enjoyable read if you’re able to read Japanese. Still a really cute read.

Alright so when I tell you I was obsessed with Pokemon as a kid, I’m not kidding. I discovered the Pokemon anime when I was eight and it became my personality for the next year or so. I watched every single episode of the anime that was out at the time, though I kinda stopped at sun and moon, I didn’t grow up with a game boy so I only got to play the ds games with diamond and pearl still being one of my favorite games of all time, I used to to torture everyone I knew with my Pokemon knowledge. The anime was ... my favorite show for a while and since I finally got a gba sp recently and how I almost beat fire red, I thought I could revisit the anime with my mom bevause she also loves Pokemon. She’s never seen the anime but has played the games and plays Pokemon go anything we go somewhere. But is Pokemon good? Well…

Despite me giving it a 7/10, I honestly think it’s a great show (the first season that is, everything else I didn’t care for)

Yeah, Pokemon has problems. The animation is mediocre and reuses animation a lot (which I guess is the case for a lot of retro anime, but it is really noticeable in Pokemon), the characters are ok and can get pretty annoying, it’s repetitive and even though I don’t mind when shows are repetitive but in Pokemon, while the episodes are enjoyable, aren’t really interesting and are only really good when you want to watch the show out of boredom.
Despite that, it has a lot of pros
The characters are incredibly memorable and team rocket is easily the best and while I don’t think ash is a great character, his entire existence gives me so much nostalgia to when I would watch the show and think ash was the coolest thing ever. The soundtrack is great and I get the music stuck in my head a lot, and the Japanese version of the first opening goes hard and my god, anytime I hear the English opening, I basically die of nostalgia. Some episodes and arcs are great and my favorite episode is definitely the one where ash leaves pikachu, it did make my eyes feel watery, but I cry at everything so I don’t know if it’s a problem with me.


Is Pokemon a great masterpiece? No. But is it a good show that I hope kids love as time goes on? Yes. I rewatch Pokemon anytime I want to relive the days of when I wasn’t stressed out about anything and it’s one of the few shows I watched as a kid that really impacted my life. I do honestly recommend Pokemon if you haven’t seen it so you can get a taste of what true nostalgia is like. Not an amazing show, but a good one and it will always have a special place in my heart

“Anime was a mistake, it’s nothing but trash”

The first ever anime folks, and I gotta admit, it’s not too special, but it’s kinda cute. Don’t go into it thinking it will be the greatest anime ever, it’s over a century old, so watch it knowing this is where it all started

Story: Non existent/10
There’s no story other than some guy writes on a board

Art: 7/10
Not the worst art, it’s pretty charming and simple

Uhh, 5/10 I guess. If it wasn’t the first anime ever made, then I’d probably recommend you skip it, but I’d give it a watch if you want to see an important part of ... anime history. It’s only three seconds so you should be fine. Highly recommend if you’re a history nerd like me

Urusei Yatsura is just a really fun and hilarious anime and I don’t have much to say unlike a lot of other anime. For an anime adaptation of Rumikos first manga, it was really well done. Lum is a really solid and cute character, Atari starts off annoying but becomes a better character later on, Shinobu is awesome and she’s one of my favorites, oyuki, Benten, ran, Ryunosuke, and the other girls I love, Mendo is really funny, and I really like ton. Really the only character I didn’t like was Ryunosukes dad. The songs are bops and I listen to them regularly, and there’s ... really no story, it’s just a fun episodic series that’s hard to hate. Urusei Yatsura is really good and I highly recommend it, especially if you like stuff like ranma, or any of rumikos works really