Bodysuit 23 #167

Here's one of those strips that's based more on my own experiences than anything, and also for more KevinxElaine interactions.

So yeah, over the years I always wondered when Only Yesterday was ever gonna come out in the US. One of the things rumored was Disney didn't want to release it due to the long segment of girls reaching the age of having their periods, but who knows if that was really true or not. One thing I do recall was Justin Sevakis (@worldofcrap) saying on the ANNCast was that Only Yesterday was his favorite Takahata film, so my expectations for the film was on the high side.

It was okay. At least I thought so. The bits of showing Taeko in her late 20s was to have some sort of plot for the film that would connect her childhood bits, which the manga the film was based on was entirely. However, I felt that having her flash back to her 10 year old self repeatedly (even at the end of the film, she literally says "Next time I visit I won't bring my 10-year-old self) was kind of eh.

After finally having watched it, I've seen all of Takahata's Ghibli films (I've also watched Horus). My Neighbors The Yamadas is still my favorite Takahata film. It did a better job at animating a gag manga, where it didn't make up some sort of plot for excuses to show all these vignettes, but instead just showed them. Princess Kaguya is my second favorite on animation alone, then Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, and Pom Poko (I need to revisit it as I watched the film as part of a Studio Ghibli film festival, with this one being the last one for the first night after watching My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, and it back to back to back. I can vividly recall when at the end of the film, one of the racoon dogs goes "Okay guys, let's give it one more shot," and I was like "Just fucking end so I can go home and sleep!")

So how about you guys? What's your favorite Takahata film if you've seen any?