• @XeroxCool
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    3819 hours ago

    Any relation to the soots in My Neighbor Totoro? Their description made me think they were just eye floaters but since they also appear in Spirited Away with less introduction, I’m curious if they’re rooted in a coal/wood burning era

    • CubitOom
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      1117 hours ago

      This was my first thought and I wouldn’t be surprised considering that My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies was originally released as a double feature. Meaning they were intended to be watched one after the other.

      https://kotaku.com/the-surprising-similarities-between-my-neighbor-totoro-1844747252

      Both movies have direct (sometimes shot for shot) parallels which portray the dichotomy of childhood life. For example, the scene in GotF where they frantically try to evacuate the house vs in MNT where they are playfully searching the house for the staircase. This video does a good job of describing it.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9WJhV1W1pg

    • FartsWithAnAccent
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      1419 hours ago

      I was gonna say they reminded me of the little soot creatures from Howl’s Moving Castle

      • @XeroxCool
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        619 hours ago

        Ah, I still haven’t see that one from Studio Ghibli. Only the two I mentioned. I saw Spirited last year and Totoro last week. Honestly… I can’t say I get them. I’m not sure if I’m too old to form nostalgia, too late to recognize the products of their eras, or too uninvolved with that realm of media to recognize how groundbreaking it was. I can appreciate the vibe and musical score, but it’s not motivating enough to see more. So if anyone loves them and wants to give me pointers, I’m listening.

        I didn’t really enjoy Akira, either. I went in relatively blind in 2020 and thought it was a motorcycle story, so I wasn’t ready for the supernatural stuff. That was clearly not a children’s movie though, so maybe I’m expecting too much depth in Studio Ghibli in my anime adventure route

        • @[email protected]
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          1018 hours ago

          Imo you should at least give Princess Mononoke a watch, before you decide to hang up your Ghibli hat. Still a children’s movie, but with quite a bit more depth than Totoro and Spirited Away.

        • @[email protected]
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          217 hours ago

          I watch Ghibli movies when I am in the mood for some wholesome movies, especially:

          • Only Yesterday
          • Marnie
          • Totoro and Ponyo
          • From up on poppy hill
          • Whisper of the heart

          Chihiro, Naucicaa and Howls moving castle has a different vibe, but they are still amazing.

        • FartsWithAnAccent
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          319 hours ago

          Eh, I gotta be in just the right mood to watch anime (otherwise it just kind of annoys me) but every once in a while their movies just kinda hit the spot, Never watched any of them when I was a kid, I mostly just like them for the vibe.