This film is a definite departure for Studio Ghibli. It's the first Ghibli film to be 100% digital, and there is no real continuing storyline to the movie. Computers were used to achieve the watercolor-style coloring used throughout the movie. It's a collection of short vignettes based on the 4-panel comic strips by Hisaichi ISHII which continues to run the the Asahi Shinbun (the title of the comic has been changed to "Nono-chan").
My personal favorite is the appearance of Gekko Kamen (The Masked Moonbeam), based on a Japanese TV series by the same name from the 1950s or 1960s (I forget the exact years).
Not everyone will enjoy the film, and because of the many cultural references it will be a hard-sell outside of Japan, but it's definitely worth seeing.
My personal favorite is the appearance of Gekko Kamen (The Masked Moonbeam), based on a Japanese TV series by the same name from the 1950s or 1960s (I forget the exact years).
Not everyone will enjoy the film, and because of the many cultural references it will be a hard-sell outside of Japan, but it's definitely worth seeing.