this is kinda sad tho. touching, even. one of the few unpopular studio ghibli movies I watched.

Wonderful in many levels, this long movie is a classic. Only for people who don't dislike long and slow films. It has a lot of japanese touch too.

I liked it more the second time. It's possible that I like it waaaaay more than everybody else does.

Thanks to GKIDS, I was able to see Pom Poko for the first time in theaters tonight. I even brought along my younger sister who also enjoyed the film (she's reading subtitles, yay! train 'em while they're young). It has a similar message as in _Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind_ (1984), the first Studio Ghibli film. We get a view of nature (tanuki/racoons) co-existing in harmony with the modern cities (humans). There were some comedic moments as the tanuki were in training, and some instances made me think of Super Mario Bros. 3 how Tanooki Mario can turn into a statue. I liked the scene with the Yokai (goblins) invading the city at night. There's even some well-known ones (the umbrella, long-neck lady) that I've seen in the 60s Yokai Monsters films like _Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters_ (1968). Just before that as the magic was brewing, I spotted some quick Easter egg cameos of Kiki from _Kiki's Delivery Service_ (1989) and Totoro from _My Neighbor Totoro_ (1988) flying about. See if you can catch them ;-)

Honestly, I believe this is my favorite non-human ghibli film.

It really makes you think about how humans don't think much when doing something; this can cause whole ecosystems to collapse or even unintentional consequences of harming wildlife. Or, corporate greed harming whole ecosystems, like we see happening with the Amazon River.

so many minutes, so many raccoons, so much boring, too many balls...