Gake no Ue no Ponyo

Well, I guess I did attend the screening of Ponyo on the Cliff in the Russian cinema near my hostel after all.

First, let me start off with a question. Have any of you ever went to a movie where there're only 4 people in the cinema? Quite right, a mum, her 2 kids, and me. Literally 4.

But then again, it's little wonder. You can't really expect Hayao Miyazaki's works to actually sell like hot cakes in an uncouth place like Russia. russians would just go "shrug, it's just one of those cartoons, I guess I'd better be off watching Final Destination with my girlfriend/boyfriend blah blah blah."

Which. Is obviously wrong.

If you haven't watched Ponyo yet, I strongly recommend that you do it. Oh, obviously not in the Russian cinema near your house. I'll let you in one something. Dubs of anime generally suck. They really do. I was technically gnawing at the straw plunging into my Pepsi with frustration when the movie started in Russian audio. (I was actually naive enough to expect Japanese audio with Russian subs!)

But scratch that. I forked out what, 5USD, and I was not gonna waste that, so I figured I'd just sit there, sip on my Pepsi and keep watching.

The story of Ponyo on a Cliff tells about a little goldfish named Ponyo who befriends a human boy named Sousuke and aspires to be a human girl. This film has won several awards too, including the Japan Academy Prize for animation of The Year (which, technically makes it on par with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and puts it at a better place than Evangelion 1.0), was released in US and Canada on 14th august 2009, where it promptly hit #9 in the box office on its opening weekend.

Plot was simple to understand, and quite heartwarming.

Well... if you've reached this part, I think it's actually high time you got to watching this show. Seriously.

On another thought though, would Kara no Kyoukai sell if it actually made its way into Russian cinemas? With its dark background, violence and gore, I'm pretty sure those young little Russian pricks would love it. Period.