Forum - View topic"My Neighbors the Yamadas" underappreciated?
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Steve Berry
Posts: 522 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA |
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I sat down and watched this the other night with my wife, and we absolutely loved it. One of the funniest Ghibli movies, IMO. I thought the animation interesting, different. And there were some scenes, such as when the bikers come, that were very fluid and life-like, animation wise. I also loved the very 'fantastic" almost stream-of-consciousness narrative going on in the beginning, as they switched from one location to another, giving metaphoric resonance to the grandmas' wedding speech.
I dunno-- I just thought it was great. Easily re-watchable. And the episodic nature really didn't bother me at all. I mean, it wasn't like a typical movie at all, but as an anime fan, I've watched enough OVA's to not expect plot all the time. I just went with the flow, got to know the characters, and had a good time relating to how they felt about being married and having family. In many ways, the movie was rather "mature" in context. On a certain level, the feel of the movie really reminded me of YKK, which I also love, and which many people find terribly boring. The Yamadas had more "kick" than YKK, but they both had that easy going feeling, with no real central plot propelling the viewing experience. But then, I really enjoyed "The Ocean Waves", whereas most find it slight and not very deep. Comparatively, I liked "My Neighbors..." at least as much as "Whisper of the Heart" or "Only Yesterday". They're very different films, but those latter two so often get mentioned as "the real hidden gems" in the Ghibli catalogue, where as Yamadas does not. Any other opinions on this? |
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I'm completely with you there. I just re-watched My Neighbors the Yamadas a few weeks ago and genuinely appreciate its beautiful animation and imaginative storytelling. It's definitely one of the strongest Ghibli films, if not the strongest, in my opinion. It's certainly one of the most charming. Its structure is very appealing to me; I like the feel of short vignettes tied together by characters than by a traditional "plot." It feels much more true to life. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Isao Takahata is the true driving creative force behind Ghibli; it's always his films I look the most forward to seeing.
I think my favorite scene might be the Kamen Rider fantasy sequence from the father's imagination. The animation there is so stunning and the way the music is balanced with the visuals is so playful. I also love the sequence at the end where the family sings "Que Sera Sera." It kind of sums up the message of the whole animation, doesn't it? Whatever will be, will be. There are a few interesting tidbits about the animation of My Neighbors the Yamadas in animator Shinji Hashimoto's bio over at AniPages. I think there's lots more info. about Yamadas scattered around the rest of AniPages as well, but I'm not entirely sure how to search for it. If neilworms was around, I know he'd have much more to add. 
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daxomni
 Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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MNTY arrived in the mail one day from my usual rental service and I couldn't even remember ever selecting it. I popped it in only to see some of the most simplistic and childish looking animation I'd ever seen in my life. My initial instinct was to take the disc out and send it back, but I still kept watching anyway. And watching further; all the way to the end, and I'm not the sort of fan who will watch anything just because it's anime. MNTY is actually a highly amusing volume with an appealing understated humor. I can't remember ever discussing MNTY at any length with anyone and I agree that it seems to be rather underrated among even rabid anime fans. Hopefully this thread will garner a few additional converts.
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Necrontry
 Posts: 94 |
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While I agree that MNTY is beautiful animation and imaginative storytelling, the episodic nature to me made it unwatchible in one sitting. I've seen it twice now and I have to say even though it was good I needed a break betwwen the movie. I really think it would have done better as a 3-4 episode OAV, rather than a feature film. The flow of the movie is my biggest complaint.
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indrik
 Posts: 365 Location: yonder |
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Oddly enough, I watched this when my youngest was sick and getting up at all hours of the night, which made the episodic natuer very nice. Actually, I find anime in general good for baby rocking, because it gives you a good reason to keep rocking after you think they're asleep, because they usually aren't asleep enough to put down when you're ready to put them down.
But anyway. I agree that it would work better in generous slices rather than as a two hour sit down. I think a lot of the humor is, as was said, understated, and a lot of it is adult in a very melancholy way that means more to someone who has seen more than one side of some of the humorous situations. (I predict I will get in trouble for that caustically ageist statement, and castigated for my use of annoyingly large words.) I don't think melancholy sells. But right now I am seeing a lot of melancholy in the world, and I don't know if it's real melancholy, or my own melancholy filter making everything look that way. I also think that shows like this, aimed at people at least in their mid 20s, if not early 30s or later, have got a limited audience, and an even more limited audience among internet anime geeks. One of the things that stood out to me in the movie was the choice of music. I've got a dim recollection of bits of Mahler 5 in there. Only hardcore classical music nerds listen to Mahler at all, let alone realize the significance of the piece to Mahler, and why it's a perfect choice for the exploration of the course of a marriage. Everything's not liek that in there, but it's a very smart, poignant, well planned out thingee. Even the "lousy" animation has possible purpose, although I'm too tired to remember what I think it is. Oh yeah. I think a lot of the point of the movie is that life just keeps going, you can't stop it, you can only hope to contain it: the sketchy madness of the animation matches the sketchy madness of life in general. I dunno. I tend to ramble when I'm tired. |
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hanachan01
 Posts: 504 |
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I really loved this movie. The animation style was creative, and I like the watercolor look of it. Also, it felt very realistic and relaxing. It was a very unusual anime. It is easier to watch in seperate sittings, I agree.
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ivorymoose
 Posts: 240 |
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I actually watched this!
 I don't hate it, it's special, different from any other anime I've watched. Promotes traditional family values. Surprisingly, the repitition of the background music never bore me. The narration is very well done. I kind of enjoyed it.
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