Is Totoro Peak Character Design? | Wiki Weekends

Added: 2026-04-28

[00:00:00]So, Carl and all the lovely folks at home, what is your favorite just like weirdo fictional character?

[00:00:09]>> Uh, oh, if you're going full weirdo, Volo from the Soulcalibur series.

[00:00:15]>> Okay, think more cutesy weirdo. Okay, Volo when I dress him like a furry.

[00:00:29]You know what? Good answer. But we're not talking about Volo today, Cole.

[00:00:34]We're talking about something arguably cuter than uh Volo in a furry outfit.

[00:00:42]>> Okay. What's that?

[00:00:43]>> Well, that is talking about Torto and the movie My Neighbor Toro.

[00:00:54]So, welcome to Wiki Weekends. I am Lucas Holland. I am joined as ever by my lovely co-host Carl Mwood.

[00:01:00]>> Hello. And on Wiki Weekends, as usual, I have a wiki brought up. And that is the wiki for the movie My Neighbor Toro by Studio Gibli. But yeah, Torto being the titular character here. He's cute, but he's also a bit of a weirdo.

[00:01:26]And it's that like kind of stereotypical character trope of like them being sleepy and just kind of a bit like oh like I'm being a bit grumpy cuz I'm waking up and I'm tired. But >> that's a character trope. I just real life something woke me up. Like Lucas I have stopped over at your house. You are like that.

[00:01:43]>> Yeah I am.

[00:01:58]You know what? It's not the worst thing to be compared to Toro. Right.

[00:02:01]>> Exactly. So, what we why are we talking about this character stay on?

[00:02:04]>> Well, we are talking about 9A Torto today because over on our Patreon, I put up a vote of which kind of kids film should I talk about. So, I just put up like a few different, you know, animation studios and and things like that. So, I put up the options to talk about like a studio Giblly film that we're talking about today or a Disney film, a Pixar film, or a DreamWorks film. And the reason I was inspired to do so, Carl, is thanks to Mario.

[00:02:33]Is it because you watched a Mario movie recently? It's not. But it's because I saw reviews for the Super Mario Galaxy movie where essentially a lot of critics were very down on the film and it was, "Hey, this is kind of no spoilers for the Mario Galaxy movie. I've not seen it." But similar to the first one, hey, it's not got a plot to speak of really.

[00:02:57]It's not really got much character work.

[00:02:59]It's just bright flashy colors and jumping from scene to scene where like look references happen.

[00:03:06]>> Okay.

[00:03:07]>> And >> so are these like reviewers aware of children's films?

[00:03:12]>> They are, but obviously they're reviewing it through their own frame of mind, which >> jaded adult.

[00:03:18]>> You can argue one way or another whether like yeah, jaded adults should be like reviewing kids movies that way. But I also do, >> you know, I'd pay money to see like a kid review one.

[00:03:27]>> And I think a few people have done that online, right, of asking their kid what they thought and the kids like, "Yeah, it's fun. I like Mario." But my argument is that we should hold kids movies to a higher standard because guess what? I grew up with better kids films than just it was bright and colorful.

[00:03:45]>> Ohana means family.

[00:03:48]Family means nobody.

[00:03:51]>> Nobody gets left behind. Oh, forgotten.

[00:03:55]>> I'm actually of the opinion that media made for children should be held to a higher standard than media made for adults because children are so impressionable.

[00:04:02]>> Yeah. And that's thing is I know that I Yes. I grew up with some movies being bad, but I also grew up with a lot of very good movies that are like I would class more as familyfriendly than specifically for kids. Say for example, a lot of early Pixar or you know I argue in this case like my neighbor Toa and a lot of Studio Giblly movies.

[00:04:24]>> Hey mom, dad's talking to the doctor.

[00:04:26]>> I am so happy to see you girls. So how do you like it in the country? Have you settled in?

[00:04:32]>> Yeah.

[00:04:33]>> So we're about 30 years old, give or take. I'm 35.

[00:04:36]>> We'll say 30. We'll be >> I'll be honest. I'm 35. But we're of that age where we grew up with physical media, VHS's, DVDs. And there is a a trend among millennials >> that there is one particular piece of media they enjoyed not because it was of good quality because it's just the one thing they had in the house.

[00:04:55]>> What was that for you? What are you thinking? Mine was two. There was Bugs Bunny in the Looney Tunes. We had a a VHS of Looney Tunes. There was the Mario TV show if you remember that one. The like the live action/carto Mario show. I still have the VHS in my house.

[00:05:18]Then >> there was a show called Trap Doll, >> right? Okay.

[00:05:21]>> And it was like a plaster scene stop motion animated show >> about like this blue monster who lived in a castle and there were just things in the trap door and I've never heard anyone talk about it ever. I was obsessed with it.

[00:05:34]>> No. Yeah, I'm not very familiar with that. But uh a lot of Disney films we had on VHS but >> what was the bad one though? Everyone in the 30s had a bad Disney VHS like Aladdin 2 or something.

[00:05:45]>> Yeah, we did have uh the Lion King 2 that we could afford Aladdin. You got like Jafar's Revenge.

[00:05:51]>> Yeah, we we watch Lion King 2 quite a lot uh on repeat, but then also like Hunchback and Notradam. Not to say that's bad, it's just one of the ones we had. Uh Mulan as well. And then also a surprisingly like not burnt out VHS because we watched it that many times. a promotional VHS for Disneyland or Disney World in Florida.

[00:06:14]>> Yeah. Just wanted to go so much >> where we were just so obsessed with the idea of going to Disney World. We'd been to Disneyland Paris, but it's like but Disney World is like the one that we just watch this promotional video on loop over and over and over again.

[00:06:27]>> It's weird how like a kid's mind works sometimes, right? Well, that's one of the things you do when you're a little kid.

[00:06:32]>> Yeah, exactly right. And yes, me and my sisters were Disney builders children.

[00:06:37]I'm sorry. I can't help it.

[00:06:39]>> I I was trapped door pilled.

[00:06:41]>> You were trapped door pilled. You know what? I'd rather be Disney build than trap door build.

[00:06:45]>> I'm gonna look up trap door while you tell me more about my neighbor Toro. Is it Toro or Totaro?

[00:06:49]>> Uh I always said Torto.

[00:06:51]>> I've always said uh Totoro. Yeah, I've watched it. So most of my experience with Studio Giblly movies is I watched a bunch of them when I got to like, you know, kind of like uni age. Um and watched a lot of them with like anime friends that I had. Uh sorry.

[00:07:08]Did you have the experience that a lot of men our age had of you just had a girlfriend in university who was obsessed with Studio Giblly and made you watch all the movies?

[00:07:16]>> Cole, you met me in university. You know I never had a girlfriend.

[00:07:21]>> Fair enough. Don't say like that.

[00:07:24]>> Come on, man. You had you had something approaching RZ.

[00:07:29]>> Oh, no. That was not what I was saying.

[00:07:32]I just said I never had a relationship in uni.

[00:07:34]>> Fair enough. I was in like anime societies and stuff. I was like in every society you can think of back in uni. So anime was one of the many things I was uh you know trying to be sociable around and ended up watching a lot of um anime including a lot of Giblly films. And >> I'm going to say Giblly. You can correct me in the comments if you want. I don't know whether it's Gibli or Giblly. I also don't know whether it's Tataro or Toro or whatever you want to say.

[00:07:59]>> I bet it is. I bet both are acceptable but one sounds more Japanese. I think to um like Naruto.

[00:08:06]>> Well, I say Naruto because that's how John Boyyga say.

[00:08:10]>> Go go go home. Lock your doors. Watching Naruto.

[00:08:13]>> Go home. Lock your door. Do your homework. Watch Naruto. Stay inside tonight. Get me.

[00:08:18]>> But yeah. Uh going back to the the Ghibli movies. Like >> Yes.

[00:08:22]>> You say Jibli, I'll say Giblly. There we go.

[00:08:24]>> There we go.

[00:08:26]>> Everyone's unhappy.

[00:08:27]>> I I watched For some reason, thinking back on it, it was a bit weird. For some reason, when we're going to anime society, we watch them all dubbed, which is not what you expect out of that kind of scene.

[00:08:39]>> Maybe it's just what they had cuz anime is notoriously difficult to get a hold of.

[00:08:42]>> Mhm.

[00:08:43]>> Or it was at the time. I I remember trying to watch Dragon Ball.

[00:08:46]>> Yeah.

[00:08:46]>> In university, I was like, you know what? I want to rewatch Dragon Ball.

[00:08:49]>> Okay.

[00:08:50]>> Ball >> season one on DVD is like 40 quid in CX.

[00:08:55]Luckily nowadays, uh, at least in the UK, I was like, "Okay, you know, our Patreon picked that pick a Ghiblly movie." And I was like, "Okay, go on to Netflix. I know there's a few on there."

[00:09:05]There's like all of them on there now, and they're all in sub and dub and presumably in like maybe remaster quality and stuff like that. So, that was >> Netflix wants that like they want to be an in Netflix.

[00:09:17]>> Yeah, like they do. And I've got to respect them for it because like I appreciate how easy it was to find this movie. And I think more people should watch it because I specifically did pick my neighbor toro because it is very specifically a kids movie. But watching it as a person in my 30s is still thoroughly enjoyable. And I think one of the most interesting things is that I just assumed I'd b like forgotten a bunch of the movie because I was like, well, I remember this plot beat and this plot beat. But that's kind of the movie.

[00:09:51]There's not actually that much to it.

[00:09:53]It's a lot of >> It's a very simple story. It's also a very charming story that is immaculately told, animated, and uh >> Exactly. That's what I was going to say.

[00:10:02]It is like it's a beautiful film in every way that you can think of and it just thrives in its simplicity.

[00:10:24]It's something that like um like Gibli is well known for, isn't it? And I I forget the exact term for it. There's like there's a Japanese term for animating the mundane.

[00:10:34]>> Yeah.

[00:10:35]>> Where they give characters just a moment to breathe.

[00:10:40]>> Mhm.

[00:10:40]>> And it's something you'll notice in like good anime, like it happens a lot in like Cowboy Bebop where just >> Yeah.

[00:10:46]>> Like for example, the character of Spider occasion just stop for a cigarette. It's not important to a story, but it's important to the character.

[00:10:53]>> You get to see them not actively like engage with the narrative as taking a moment for themselves to basically you're getting a glimpse into their lives outside of the main narrative that's being um uh shown. Yeah, there's so many little moments in here that just like they just take a minute to give that extra little detail, do that extra little animation, that extra little just unnecessary moment that gives a little bit of character. And that's essentially what this movie is as like say there's very little in terms of plot. It's a very charming plot and the the characters are incredible and I love this movie, but like there's not that much going on, which is kind of I guess um appropriate considering that it's a story about like this family moving to a Japanese countryside where there's kind of not much going on, but it gives off such a specific specific vibe. This This movie is like 87 minutes, 86 minutes running time, sorry. And it is just serene throughout all of it. It's just do you want to chill out and just vibe for an hour and a half with this beautiful animation. Like My Neighbor Toto, as the wiki says here, is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayomiaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tukuma Shoes. The way that this looks better than the majority of things I watch now is incredible.

[00:12:32]>> Oh wow. Look, >> Dad, hurry.

[00:12:40]>> Studios and companies have been trying for literal decades to convince us like, "No, we can move away from handdrawn."

[00:12:47]I'll never forget when I was watching the Super Broly movie and literally the first 5 seconds of the movie made me go, "This looks like shit." Because they show this 3D animated cube car that looks wank.

[00:12:57]>> Oh no, that maybe you're thinking of like superhero >> superhero movie.

[00:13:01]>> Superhero cuz that one would it went way too far. I was like this looks god awful.

[00:13:07]>> It looks terrible.

[00:13:08]>> And there are moments where that movie looks good in the action but it's not worth the payoff of like the rest of the movie looking like crap in my opinion.

[00:13:16]That's a harsh term to use, but it doesn't look right to my eyes. But compare it to, like you said, a Giblly movie where, as they say, every frame is a painting.

[00:13:26]>> Now, I would have any still from this movie on my wall. You're not going to get a bad one cuz every single one is literally a handdrawn work of art.

[00:13:34]>> Yeah. Not many of them are going to have Toro in it. Cuz again, like that's one thing that surprised me is like the movie My Neighbor Toro has a shockingly low amount of screen time for Toro.

[00:13:46]>> Well, it's it's because he's a little woodland spirit. Yeah.

[00:13:49]>> And you got to believe to see it.

[00:13:52]>> It's only seen by the little girl at first, but then as more people believe, as more people come connected to nature, they get a little glimpse as well.

[00:13:59]>> Yeah. Like her her older sister ends up like seeing Toto as well. And then like there's a a lot of, you know, different readings that you take from this movie of like how much of each person actually seeing this spirit Tooro or are they just being like a supportive family?

[00:14:16]Because >> yeah. Is it real? Is it that they're seeing the wonder of nature and it's being personified?

[00:14:22]>> Yeah. It's like the movie is kind of about the fact that these two girls and their dad moved to a Japanese countryside as I say and essentially just their mother has a long-term illness is in the hospital and they've moved out there to presumably like you know be closer to her or be supportive of her or whatever. Um again a lot goes unsaid within the movie. It's just got to be your own readings. But the spirits like Totoro and like the the like dust bunnies and things like that within the movie are essentially just a way for these kids to try and get through the like tough time they're going through in their life and find like joy >> in what is a very tough scenario >> and how much of the movie is allegorical or metaphorical is open for interpretation as all good media should be.

[00:15:11]>> Exly. Yeah. I don't want to go too deep into like the plot necessarily because I would >> like four paragraphs surely.

[00:15:18]>> Yeah, I would say that like it's worth just going and watch it. As I say, it's less than an hour and a half long. It's quite easy to find. It's worth just giving it a go yourself and enjoying like the the beautiful story and the the like just the positivity as well, the vibes. And I say the plot is literally like three paragraphs long. There's not much to it, but basically as I say, you need to know that like the the parents going through a long-term illness and the dad is trying to like struggle and get along with essentially being a single parent and supporting these kids through a tough time in their life. And it's just a really nice story about like how the kids imagination, potential imagination, all these spirits can help them get through the community support that they get from the other few characters that you see as well. And the fact that the movie doesn't end on a bump note was like so shocking. Like I was waiting for the Oh god. When when it's it's an anime. It's set just after the war.

[00:16:21]>> Yes, it is.

[00:16:22]>> When's she going to die of cancer? Cuz she's she was next to >> 1950s Japan. This is set in.

[00:16:29]>> And it's like, oh no, she's fine. She gets better. I was like, oh, thank God.

[00:16:32]>> Yeah, that's the thing. Is it set up of like, oh no, mom's coming home. She's going to be better. And like halfway through the movie, it's turns out mom's got a bit of a cold and she's going to stay in hospital and she's not coming home, but like maybe you can make her feel better by like getting her some like some of these nice like homegrown veggies and stuff like this. And you're oh no, the mom's going to die. The mom's going to die. And then it's like no. And then at the end they all lived happily ever after. It's like thank you just once.

[00:17:01]>> Look at mom. She's laughing. Everything must be okay.

[00:17:04]>> Yeah.

[00:17:07]I've got a question for you. Since we're talking about, you know, good, wholesome, and family entertainment.

[00:17:11]What's the last piece of media you watched where the ending was and they all lived happily ever after or some variation thereof? I think like probably a rewatch of like Lilo and Stitch or something, but aides from rewatches, it's really hard to remember anything that just ended as simply everything was okay.

[00:17:29]>> Mhm. And sometimes it's nice to just watch something where everything is okay. Well, that's that was going to be my point of like as adults, we don't tend to watch much media intended for children cuz we watch stuff intended for us. And how much media intended for us as adults aimed at us.

[00:17:46]>> Yeah.

[00:17:46]>> Has endings. Oh, it's a realistic DA ending. It's like >> I wonder how much that weighs on people emotionally because media does have a observable impact on people. That can't be good for your mental health to constantly bombarded by realistic quote unquote media.

[00:18:03]>> It was one of those things where I genuinely, as I say, like it' been a while since I watched it. So, I was like maybe I'm just forgetting that there's a horrible ending to this because like it's clearly setting it up for like the twist at the end to be that the there's your cynicism. There's your adult cynicism coming through. That's the same kind of cynicism that makes reviewers watch a Mario movie, look around, see kids flipping their [ __ ] having the time of their life, and go, "Shit, >> enough?" Not even close.

[00:18:39]>> But they've lost that spark of innocence. And a way to, you know, keep that spark of innocence alive is to watch things that heal the soul.

[00:18:45]>> Yeah. And this did heal my soul a little bit, especially like in the year of 2026 with everything going on. And I'm just like, it was really nice to just watch these young girls come to terms with moving into a nice little countryside house and meeting Toto.

[00:18:59]>> Simple story as well. Like there's no wider universe. There's no multiverse.

[00:19:03]There's no sequel. There's no My neighbor to like to redux. It's there's no My neighbor to Carl.

[00:19:11]>> Oh, I missed it. No, one man himself missed it.

[00:19:15]>> Oh, my neighbor to coming out in 2027 if we all survive. Oh, [ __ ] I I I I will always respect I've not watched much like Studio Giblly stuff. I probably should. I get as I said like heal my soul, but I will always be like a [ __ ] ride or die stand for Miazaki [ __ ] hating AI.

[00:19:34]>> Yes. And especially when you know there was that filter I want to say a few months ago. It was probably like a year or two ago and now like oh hey turn my profile picture into a studio Giblly film and everyone's like perfect. We don't need animators anymore. You no just the the only thing Hayomiaki hates more than AI is his own [ __ ] son. You got to respect it.

[00:19:57]>> Oh god, I didn't know about that. But yeah, surprising as well considering that like that a lot of this movie is kind of based off experiences that he may have gone through as a kid, had a similar experience with like a parent suffering with long-term uh illness and >> to the point where he said he couldn't have made the movie, I believe, if the uh protagonists were little boys because it would be >> too like to his own memory and experience. Yeah.

[00:20:25]>> You know what? That's nice for a creator to be that vulnerable.

[00:20:28]>> Yeah. and admit that vulnerability.

[00:20:30]>> But the film explores themes such as animism, Shinto symbology, environmentalism, and the joys of rural living, which is, you know, very fitting for the fact that it's set in like Japan in 1950s, right? Yeah. Let's get to worrying about the environment and just enjoying like living a a simple war life. And >> well, it's something that's recommended.

[00:20:51]Like a lot of um uh advocates for mental health have highly recommended that people take like a break from all of this [ __ ] >> Mhm.

[00:21:03]>> Of just go outside, maybe wear headphones, but don't listen to anything aggressive like maybe listen to like, you know, an audio book or something. Just go outside and just sit.

[00:21:12]Try doing something where you're not being actively bombarded by sensory input and um >> like go for a walk in the park.

[00:21:20]>> Like literally go out there and touch grass.

[00:21:22]>> Mhm. It says a lot about my uh mental state. I guess that when it was like, "Oh, hey, we've moved to the countryside." The neighbor comes and introduces himself and it's, "Oh, hey, like I'm your neighbor."

[00:21:36]>> You're Mac right from Always Sunny.

[00:21:38]>> Boy, it sure is a hot one today, huh?

[00:21:44]Okay. Nice to meet you, boys.

[00:21:50]>> No, no, it wasn't that. It was that the neighbor is like all the way down the road, like a mile away.

[00:21:57]>> Oh, okay.

[00:21:58]>> And I'm like, "Oh my god, that that sounds luxurious."

[00:22:02]>> Especially like you're living in a city where your neighbor is in some cases like less than a dozen paces away, but through a brick wall. But I always thought you wanted to go a different direction. Like you were like like like Mac in all like sunny when the neighbor's like howdy neighbor how you doing? Mac's like [ __ ] that guy's problem.

[00:22:17]>> What the hell was that all about? Just comes up and starts talking to us.

[00:22:19]>> Some guy comes up to me. I don't know what he's I don't know what he's up to.

[00:22:22]>> No, it's like the whole time I'm staring at him. I'm thinking does he have a knife? Are we going to have to take this [ __ ] out right now?

[00:22:26]>> You got to avoid that, man. You got I said you got to let heal your soul. In that vein, Lucas, any other things you recommend for people like just good, wholesome entertainment that you would recommend to heal the soul, as it were?

[00:22:37]Have you ever heard of a movie called the Super Mario Galaxy movie? No, I'm joking. Like, do you want to be bombarded with lights for 90 minutes?

[00:22:44]Well, for me, one thing that I'm a proud owner of is um a like two disc LP of the CLA obscure soundtrack. Like Expedition 33's music is incredible. And a few days ago when I was just like, you know, I just been working like long shifts at work and stuff for a couple of weeks and I just turned on the music, lit a couple of scented candles and just kind of lay down and listen to it for a bit. And I know that that's not a very specific experience that most people can do, but just something similar to that of like just giving yourself an excuse to like go take a bath and like chill out with some music or something, right? I wouldn't recommend this unless you're like confident in your ability to maneuver your way around your bathroom.

[00:23:28]It's the dark shower.

[00:23:30]>> You want a dark shower?

[00:23:33]>> It's a shower where you turn the lights off. Maybe put a candle somewhere or like, you know, put a small lamp on something like that, but just a shower in the dark. It's almost like a It's like basically just pseudo sensory deprivation.

[00:23:45]>> Mhm.

[00:23:46]>> Where you have to focus on just like the noise and the feel of the water hitting your body. do at some point in my life want to try out one of those like um sensory deprivation pod things and just like see what happens. Just like lie in nothing for half an hour.

[00:24:00]>> Experience a new reality.

[00:24:04]Experience a new reality.

[00:24:08]>> It would probably cause me a lot of anxiety know in my brain, but it I like the idea of it may be just super relaxing for your soul. Yeah. For me at least, it's nice to just like put on a movie or like play a game that isn't challenging to me and is familiar to me.

[00:24:26]Like, you know, say for example, like I've played Ocarina of Time on the N64 like a countless amount of times at this point. Sometimes it's really therapeutic to just turn it on, start up a new save, and play for a couple of hours. And it's like it's just that sense of kind of nostalgia and homeliness, right?

[00:24:46]>> Yeah. It's like a lot of people have um happens more often around Christmas time. We've talked about this in the past of >> around Christmas time there's movies that people watch that just you said fill with that feeling of nostalgia.

[00:24:55]>> Like for me like watching like Wallace and Grommit always reminds me of being a kid on Christmas morning.

[00:24:59]>> Oh, do you know what? You asked me earlier what other things I watched on repeat.

[00:25:05]>> Yeah, Wallace and Grommet with the wrong trousers. Like I watch that VHS like constantly. One of the most satisfying images of all time is just Feathers McGroin.

[00:25:17]>> You got to explain what you're doing cuz you're not even on camera for the people who are watching.

[00:25:21]>> Yeah, I'm just like flapping my uh I'm like making like a little flappy noise with my hands. It should probably not be my mic and then looking directly at camera.

[00:25:31]If I could own any movie still for real, it would be the still of Feathers McGra in the Milk Ball at the climax of Ron Trousers. I would adore that.

[00:25:47]>> I think a really good one would be just that still of Toro and Satski at the bus shop, right, with the umbrella.

[00:25:56]>> It's the most iconic image from the movie.

[00:25:58]>> It's one of the most iconic images in like anime history, right?

[00:26:03]>> Media.

[00:26:05]>> Maybe media. Yeah, >> I'd go one step further and say media.

[00:26:08]And what's very shocking about this, I obviously didn't know I wasn't born at the time.

[00:26:15]Uh My Neighbor received worldwide critical acclaim and grossed over $41 million worldwide at the box office, which isn't that much. Let's, you know, it got critical acclaim, but it wasn't that popular at the time. And then it kind of grew over time with home video sales and merchandise sales and things like that. And it merchandise sales are through the roof.

[00:26:40]>> Honestly, to this day, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Japan a few years back and not only did I go to the the Studio Ghiblly store, but there was a lot of Toro still over 30 years later, but uh yeah, there was also just like Toro kind of everywhere still.

[00:26:58]And it's it's incredible to see that like Jibli movies have this like, you know, test of time. And they they do stand that test of time, I'd argue. And yeah, just the fact that to this day Toge is still this lovable goofball character that people want to buy plushes of is incredible. Yeah.

[00:27:16]>> Yeah.

[00:27:17]>> Very very merchandiseable, which is probably not what they had in mind, but no doubt they've seen benefit from creating accounts like that, >> made that money, right? Like >> get that back.

[00:27:27]>> I don't personally see the idea of like merchandising things to, you know, heaven and back as necessarily being that cynical. It's like, hey, sometimes you just make something that's completely iconic and if if you don't profit off it, who else is going to?

[00:27:44]>> People want to show their fandom.

[00:27:46]>> It's I totally see the Super Mario movie. As much fun as I had with the first one, as much fun I'll probably have with the second one being like, you know, with a [ __ ] Leo meme pointing at the screen like ah the references.

[00:27:58]But like it's a cynical movie.

[00:28:01]It's it's it's clearly >> it exists to sell Nintendo World. It is.

[00:28:05]It exists and Nintendo World exists to make fans of children that will then grow up to buy more Nintendo products.

[00:28:15]That's that's what that is. But, you know, just because people want to make and buy merch of Jibli films, I still see them to this day of like, no, Miyazaki is making a movie that Miyazaki wants to make. Not ever with the grand intention of like, oh, well, I specifically made Todoro cuz he'd be this cute piece of merch that's going to sell everywhere.

[00:28:47]And it's surprising because it got a lot of critical acclaim obviously, but it also got a lot of awards. Um, you know, >> I think I say it got a lot of criticisms then. I was like, who?

[00:28:56]>> Yeah, that's thing. What reviewer had no whimsy in their song?

[00:29:01]>> We've got to check, right?

[00:29:03]>> I'll do that. I like doing this. I like being cynical. So, I'm going to find the IMDb/ Rotten Tomatoes reviews for My Neighbor. So, the film is widely regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time, ranking 41st in Empire magazine's the 100 best films of world cinema in 2010 and the number one animated film on the 2012 Sight and Sound Critics poll of greatest alltime films. Uh, after working on 3,000 leaks in The Search of Mother, Hayomiaki wanted to make a delightful, wonderful film that will be set in Japan with the idea to entertain and touch its viewers, but stay with them long after they have left the theaters, which it inarguably has done over the past like 30 odd years. Yeah. Nearly 40 years at this point. Yeah.

[00:29:50]>> Oh, you're going to like this one. Joe Norm is like when we read a bad review for a movie that's beloved and universally acclaimed. It's from like >> stevejenkins.com movie reviewer. This is from Leonard Clay. Variety obviously aimed at an international audience. The film evinces a disorientated combination of cultures that produces a nowhere land more confused than fascinating. So a story written by a Japanese guy about his specific experiences growing up in postwar Japan. obviously aimed at an international audience, even though it was specifically written and made and voiced in Japanese.

[00:30:28]>> That's an odd one. And obviously, it does depend when they're producing this cuz there have been English dubs. Uh it mentions here like there's one in 1989 and one 2004.

[00:30:39]>> Yeah. So, these reviews could be for like the English voiced one.

[00:30:42]>> It could be. I don't suppose why you would know, but do you happen to know who got cast as the two sisters in the 2004 Walt Disney Pictures version of the dub?

[00:30:52]>> I did look up some clips of like the English dub. One thing I'll give them credit for is whoever they got to voice the little girls are very convincing as little girls to the point where I was like, they must have um monsters in this, right? And got actual little girls to do it cuz there's no way this is an adult voice actress putting on a voice.

[00:31:09]>> Out of the way, May. I can't close the door with you sitting there. Acorns.

[00:31:13]>> Hey, Dad. Acorns are falling from the ceiling.

[00:31:16]>> Falling from the ceiling.

[00:31:17]>> You may have heard of the little girls that were voicing them at the time because they were uh Dakota and El Fanning.

[00:31:25]>> No. Oh, that's awesome. I love Dakota in I think it was El Fanning in Predator Badlands when she plays a robot.

[00:31:34]>> So, yeah, little kid Dakota and El Fanning played Satski May. Mate, Lucas, speaking of, you know, the voice acting, Steven Holden, New York Times, splat, too much of the film is taken up with, and I quote, stiff mechanical chitchat.

[00:31:54]I I don't remember the dub version, but I I watched the sub version last night, and I cannot agree with that statement in any way.

[00:32:15]Cole, you tell me whether it sounds like stiff dialogue when Frank Welker plays both Toro and Catbos. Thing is, I think Cat Boss should be like the more merchandisable character. Like, there must be and if he doesn't exist officially, there's an Etsy store selling it. There has to be a purse out there that looks like that, right?

[00:32:37]>> Yeah. A cat carrier.

[00:32:42]>> That's got to be a thing. A cat boss cat carrier.

[00:32:47]>> That'll be incredible.

[00:32:49]>> Essentially a cat boss. Cat boss.

[00:33:04]But yeah, I do think there's still quite a lot merch out there for cat boss. It's just not Toro cuz like Toto is such an easy. It's basically a big teddy bear, right?

[00:33:13]>> He's round.

[00:33:14]>> Round as [ __ ] >> Obviously, there's like multiple sizes of Toto and kind of like all the the the spirits, the trolls. Like Torto is not his actual name. It's just a name that May makes up because it kind of, you know, makes some weird noises and she's like, "Oh, right, Toro. Cool. It sounds like troll." One of the themes of the movie is about childhood innocence, right? That's such a little kid thing to do.

[00:33:37]>> Like you can read Toro is like a madeup imaginary friend, right? Where could he do anything cuz the imagination of a child is infinite.

[00:33:46]>> And that's the point, right? like literally to the degree where the bigger sister kind of goes in and out of trying to like play a more adult role in the house. Like she'll make breakfast and stuff like that because she realizes how good does our [ __ ] breakfast look as well?

[00:34:03]>> The the Jibli food always looks phenomenal. The thing is, I am absolutely in love with this like I don't know how true it is, but I'm I'm inclined to believe it because it's funny, but supposedly there was like an anime made years and years and years ago where the food in it looks so [ __ ] ugly and was so poorly animated that it was clowned on by the entire rest of the industry who on principle just from that day onwards endeavored to make all food in anime look good. And apparently that's the reason why all anime has really ridiculously good-looking food.

[00:34:40]>> I'm not sure how true that is. I've heard that story before. Like there was just one >> that idea. But like regardless, every Jibli film seems to always include one scene at least of food and it always looks glorious.

[00:34:54]>> Well, it's like a really distinctly Japanese thing. Like I think like >> it is even Japanese video games and stuff like Dragons Dogma 2 has some of the most beautiful food scenes you will ever see.

[00:35:06]>> Well, Lucas, you can put a couple of examples in right off the top of my head. Go put in any scene from Monster Hunter of your pelos making your lunch.

[00:35:13]>> Final scene where they're [ __ ] at the campsite, right?

[00:35:16]>> I remember in Final Fantasy 15, you know what? I want to make [ __ ] toast.

[00:35:19]These dry ass boring milk toast characters can have plain unbuttered toast for their lunch and it came the most immaculate looking toast I've ever seen. It's like I want that toast.

[00:35:32]>> And even in like Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, it's like just little PGs of the food that Link makes and it still looks incredibly good.

[00:35:42]>> Yeah. It's like in Metal Gear Solid 4, right, of just all the scenes of Sunny making eggs and it's like >> Sunny making Sunny side up eggs. Yeah, >> that's a real egg. And I think that's what they did with the dragons dogma 2 stuff is like they real went out and got real footage of them cooking like glorious steaks in the middle of mountain sides.

[00:36:00]>> Yeah, I I presumably it must be a cultural thing. It's the same like when you go to Japan and you go like I love the thing in restaurants where like okay here's like a perfect like epoxied version of the food in the window so you know exactly what it looks like.

[00:36:13]>> I love that. That's like such a great way of like >> I don't know what that is but that looks nice. I'll just order that. And it always comes out looking like that.

[00:36:21]>> Exactly like the thing, right?

[00:36:22]>> Yeah. It's not like when you go into like, you know, a chain restaurant over here where it's like, oh, all those, you know, Mackey's pictures where the burgers look like actual burgers and not like just the saddest thing you've ever eaten in your life when they come out real.

[00:36:36]>> Okay, Lucas, what is the saddest burger you've ever had?

[00:36:40]>> I've had a couple of McDonald's burger like the council made it. Don't you open like a Big Mac? It's like, of the bomb squad had a go at this before they delivered it to me. The [ __ ] is this?

[00:36:50]So, I got a pizza the other day, actually, and the delivery driver handed it to me upside down and I didn't realize. So, when I opened up the box, all the toppings and cheese came, for [ __ ] sake, this costs like 12 quid. I think we've all experienced like that one takeaway or delivery or whatever that you've got. We just you get the pizza and request like one thing off it and it comes with like just cheese or something and it's like >> I did once. Yeah. Please don't put any olives on. And apparently the guy heard put every olive in the restaurant on my pizza. I opened it up and like it had the [ __ ] bubonic plague. I was so mad. It's like you can't even pick these off. It's more olive than cheese at this point.

[00:37:32]>> Oh, and olives are the kind of thing where even if you get them off, that flavor is sinking in. What food would you want? Heyo Miyazaki in your next whatever you're making. This is the food I want to see made in the animated and highest quality.

[00:37:47]>> I mean, I really do love Japanese food.

[00:37:50]Uh, so obviously my first thought goes to that. However, obviously that's already pretty much all been done >> before. So, I think I'd really want to see just Miyazaki animate a lasagna being cooked.

[00:38:07]>> Okay. So, I'm thinking beans on toast.

[00:38:09]Elevate that.

[00:38:10]>> Oh, you [ __ ] god damn it.

[00:38:12]>> Elevate that [ __ ] cuz like the thing is it's a challenge.

[00:38:16]Every now and again like people point out like, "Oh, here's that anime where they animated fried rice and it's like each individual grain of rice was animated by hand." It's like >> that guy didn't see his kids for 6 months.

[00:38:27]>> There's a interpretation, fan theory, whichever you want to call it. Uh, part of the plot is that like May goes missing and her old sister Satski is like looking for her and finds a shoe in the lake and it's kind of like h that might be May's shoot. She might have fallen in the lake and died and there's a lot of people that >> it's another part like your your heart goes into your throat and it's >> Yeah. And Sansk's like no no that's not her shoe. That's not her shoe. dismisses it, continues searching. But there's like that interpretation that kind of between that and then later scenes where like there's like a scene towards the end where like there's like an inconsistency in the shadows and stuff.

[00:39:10]It's like is this all a metaphor for May passing on and like that's kind of being like almost like um kind of like a grim reaper character like moving on to the afterlife or like a god of death or something.

[00:39:24]>> All right. Film theory.

[00:39:25]>> Yeah, exactly. [ __ ] off back to game theory with that. Let me enjoy this.

[00:39:29]Like >> it's like let me just have a cute story to the point where Miazaki put out a statement of like no >> no I'm sure this that is not what happened. I don't care whether you like to think that you've got an interpretation that's different than me.

[00:39:44]No, >> this is a cute film with a fun nice ending.

[00:39:49][ __ ] you. What's like the I think it's the dude who wrote like Puff the Magic Dragon >> and like everyone always it's a song about smoking drugs right the guy came like no it's [ __ ] not it's about a magic dragon or like Lucy in the sky with diamonds.

[00:40:02]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:40:03]>> Like the Beatles song like John Len or Paul McCartney. It's like it's literally a little girl called Lucy that he knew who drew a picture of her in the sky with diamonds. Was it about LSD? No, it's about a little girl who wants to live in the sky with diamonds. If people haven't heard it, like people think Lucy Star diamonds means LSD.

[00:40:23]>> LSD >> and like, oh yeah, look at the fun of having drugs and the joys of drugs and all that. And it's like, sure, Be probably made a lot of songs like that.

[00:40:31]Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is not one of them. He was like, no, a a kid called Lucy gave me a cute drawing and we sang a song about it. One of my favorite like Beatles stories is where like Paul McCartney and um the other one we're getting like high in the studio.

[00:40:47]>> Would you like three other ones?

[00:40:50]>> The two wrote most of the songs.

[00:40:54]>> They're in the studio and they got a letter from a student >> uh an English student at university was really pissed off. Like basically an angry hate letter >> saying look I'm so [ __ ] sick of having to analyze your songs in my English class. Stop writing stupid songs. Is this where I am the walrus came from?

[00:41:10]>> I am the Walrus. Yeah. They said, "Let's write the stupidest song we can think of and see if people still try and analyze it in their wrote I am the walrus."

[00:41:18]>> And you know what? It's still a good song.

[00:41:20]>> It's still a pretty decent song.

[00:41:22]>> It's dumb as [ __ ] but it's great. And yeah, I I do really appreciate uh Mia Zaki just being one of those stalwart creators that is like, "No, I'm not, you know, moving past like my animation style. I'm not giving into AI. I'm not letting other people twist my stories in the way that they see fit. It is just every single time been like, "No, I I do things my way." And you might not agree with it, but hey, watch someone else's movies.

[00:41:53]>> I'm occasionally a fan of an interesting interpretation of a piece of media. Like there's a couple that I'm aware of like that like that's that's cute, but no, that's not how it happens. Like one is like Angelica is we talked about Rugrats earlier, very popular one about that is Angelica is the only real baby and the rest of them are all like still born and she's very imaginary friends. It's like >> Yeah. Yeah. No, there's plenty of room for interpretation in media and I like a lot of fan theories and stuff like that, but >> some of them can be fun. Yeah. The idea that you're taking this cute story about these girls just like using their imagination to get over the illness of their mother and going like, "But why have one of the girls died?" It's like, "No, no, we're not letting you have that one."

[00:42:36]>> Go watch Grave of the Fireflies if you want to have your [ __ ] song annihilated.

[00:42:39]>> But yeah, thank you all for watching.

[00:42:41]Let us know what your favorite Ghibli film is and like kind of just in general what some of your favorite like, you know, kids movies are. And for all of the [ __ ] in the comments that want to be like, "Oh, adults watching kids films, [ __ ] yourself and have the day you deserve." But everyone else, thank you for watching and have a lovely day.

[00:43:01]I also love when people do that. It's like, "Oh, you're sat there in a YouTube video talking about a kids movie." It's like, and you're watching it. There's if there's if this is there's layers to this sadness, >> at least we have joy and whimsy in our lives still. So that classic one is like there's a picture of [ __ ] um Jack Nicholson's on a yacht with like a supermodel and he's got like big fat man tits cuz he don't give a [ __ ] anymore.

[00:43:22]It's like oh he's let himself go and it's like yeah and you're sat on the internet and he's on a boat with a supermodel.

[00:43:31]>> Oh, thank you all for watching.

[00:43:36]>> Ow. My bones are so brittle. But I always drink plenty of >> liquid from this carton with the Patreon supporters for the YouTube channel Wiki Weekends inexplicably written up on the side of it.

[00:43:57]So Carl, another weekend, another great video from OS, I presume.

[00:44:01]>> What do you mean presume? We make good content.

[00:44:04]>> We make good content, but we're recording this before we've made any of said content.

[00:44:09]That's true. I also like all people now get a glimpse of our different setups and they're basically the same. Both a green screen. I've decided, [ __ ] it.

[00:44:17]Hoarder mode activated.

[00:44:19]>> Get as many knickknacks in there as possible.

[00:44:22]>> I've got a new one. Do you want to see my new knickknacks? Great. This a It's a It's a cat and it weighs five apples.

[00:44:32]I found it in a charity shop.

[00:44:34]>> That's not even your cat or anything.

[00:44:36]No, look. Look, it's a cat that weighs five apples.

[00:44:40]>> Let's give a shout out to our Patreon producers, shall we? Our PP.

[00:44:42]>> We should indeed. Cuz we can't give a shout out to that random cat cuz you don't even know it name.

[00:44:48]>> You know what, folks at home, think of a name for this cat as me and Lucas give a shout out to our big pee peps, our supporters over on our highest tier on our Patreon. And we start with this is a name. This I feel like I'm about to like enter into like, you know, the intro to a power metal album. Amidst the fading light, B wakes. Everything appears normal. and B feels mostly the same except one thing feels missing. Imagine that was Christopher Lee saying that and you basically got the intro to a rap city of fire album.

[00:45:18]>> Well, the next one we have to keep it nice and simple as always with our next big PP. Who is Daddy Grunt? So, thank you Daddy.

[00:45:28]Don't say like that. Never say it like that. Have you got I'm a big fan of all those tweets from like like millennial favs of like my kid called me daddy.

[00:45:38]We're going to have to change this. You have to call me bro or something. I can't deal with this.

[00:45:42]>> It's not okay.

[00:45:44]>> It's not okay.

[00:45:45]>> He's not my boyfriend.

[00:45:47]>> Might be a bit warm. The cooler is off.

[00:45:49]Thanks babe.

[00:45:50]>> We move on now to shout out our next big PP and that is Philopian Starship and the Tunnel of Life. They're returning supporter and their support is very much appreciated. They're like the kind of person in like Marvel Rivals like just lock in straight away. Um Adam Warlock just support right there. Let's go. No messing around. No insta pick DPS support all day.

[00:46:11]>> Born again.

[00:46:13]>> And the next big PP we've got to shout out is a big PP with a little PP and the name explains itself because is Kyle Fatlog CEO of Slong Incorporated.

[00:46:24]>> This is yet another attempt to steal my identity. Right. I am Carl Smallwood, the the the MD of Big Wangs Incorporated, which is a real thing.

[00:46:31]Give me a sec.

[00:46:33]>> My YouTube play button from fact >> play button.

[00:46:37]>> It says right here.

[00:46:39]>> No, see it.

[00:46:41]>> Calm Smallwood, MD of Big Wangers Incorporated.

[00:46:45]>> Real.

[00:46:46]>> They really just let you put anything on those things.

[00:46:48]>> They do. I've been tempted like put like a big chain around my neck club or something like that. But you know what?

[00:46:54]We move on now to shout out another returning longtime supporter of Ranar Sour and that is from an anime. It's an anime neither myself nor you are familiar with Lucas. So I guess just like give me a clip from an anime that you think is cool >> that's going to get this end of video clip copyright struck.

[00:47:10]>> Okay. I'm feeling Attack on Titan today.

[00:47:12]So give me Levi doing something cool.

[00:47:16]>> So just Levi.

[00:47:16]>> Just Levi doing anything Levi does cuz it's Levi.

[00:47:24]And then we move on to our next big PP who is once again a returning supporter.

[00:47:28]Thank you all as always. And that is Roselindis Memphis. So Carl, you're going to have to explain to me once again how you going to get around the walking in Memphis thing.

[00:47:39]>> Well, I've been learning to play piano for like the last like year and I might be able to play the intro myself. So I might record myself like really really badly just playing the intro to Walking in Memphis. icon.

[00:47:52]>> I'll dedicate it to this Memphis. Um, one of our longtime supporters. If not, I might just play like a really basic ditty like do the classic like D.

[00:48:01]>> I >> Either way, I'll play a DY and dedicate it to you.

[00:48:12]It's about as much as I can do.

[00:48:14]>> And speaking of baller as all hell, the next we have to shout out is Splitcream is out of money this month. That is not a problem. like the support like this is very much appreciated but never expected myself and Lucas are greatly appreciative of fans who give us this level of support but it's not expected in any way shape or form.

[00:48:31]>> Yeah. I hope that means that like that you're out of money from like going forward and will uh yeah not feel the need to keep going because I don't like the idea that it's like well I can't afford you know to put food on the table or something but I can afford to support news and it's like >> it's it's appreciated but never expected and I I do like the idea though of someone like with their last possible ounce of strength like sending us the money.

[00:48:56]>> We want you to have this dollar we were saving. Please, I I don't deserve this.

[00:49:01]>> And uh Carla, I believe you have to shout the next person. Of course.

[00:49:05]>> Of course.

[00:49:05]>> No, I don't. This is you. We agreed.

[00:49:09]I have I have shouted out to the quad chatter multiple times on the bounce.

[00:49:12]And do you want to explain why?

[00:49:14]>> Uh it it's just because it's a language that is uh not one that I'm very familiar with slashfamiliar with pretty much at all. And the last time I tried to shout out chatter, call did shame cam on me.

[00:49:28]>> Yeah. So I won't do shame chat. I'll do I'll do zoom in on cat c >> so people can appreciate this cat weighs five apples. So while you shout out tinhata just absolutely butcher every single word just here. So thank you to aimati not teet one samp I'm sorry I'm trying >> can you imagine if you call a cat that >> is Is that the name >> you're never getting that cat back. That cuz that you let that out like you know a [ __ ] once. It's gone.

[00:50:12]>> It's just gone. Bro, >> you're not getting that cat back when you shout after it. We move on now to apparently the alter ego/ rival of the first person we shouted out of Zap. His counterpart shocked by what he sees be of evil takes his first steps free of his original flesh for the first time.

[00:50:31]And what is this Team Rocket ass shenanigans going on in the shoutouts for our Patreon? The patrons have gone meta meta.

[00:50:42]>> Is this two Patreons who've decided to just start beef with one another? Are they teaming up or is it the same person but they had a schizophrenic break but still decide to support our Patreon?

[00:50:53]>> I either way it's incredible. I kind of don't want to know. I kind of want the story to keep evolving.

[00:50:59]>> Never never tell us. Never tell us cuz the story that we come up with will always be way more fun.

[00:51:03]>> Exactly. And then Carl, speaking of anime type shenanigans, we now have what is literally an army of ghosts because Carl, you uh you made fun of the fact that oh, little ghost might have enough ghosts to make a 13 ghost reference. And quite literally, we do have that now because we have little ghost, little ghost, little ghost, little ghost, little ghost, little ghost. The words little ghost, then little ghost, little ghost, little ghost, little ghost, little ghost, little ghost.

[00:51:31]>> That's 13 ghost. including the name LITTLE GHOST. OH NO, MY CAMERA FROZE.

[00:51:36]OH, THE GHOST GOT ME.

[00:51:37]>> The ghost. The ghosts got caught.

[00:51:40]>> I don't like how my camera keeps freezing, but always freeze in the on on quue. The most unflattering way.

[00:51:49]It's one scary move from like that Simpsons bit where like they freeze frame Homer and just make him look like he assaulted somebody. It's like, "No, Mr. Homer, go.

[00:51:58]>> Don't attack me. No.

[00:52:01]>> No. Mr. Mr. Simpson, don't take your anger out on me. Get back. Get back. M Mr. Simpson, dramatization may not have happened.

[00:52:08]>> Thank you to everyone who supported us.

[00:52:09]Thank you to all people who shouted out.

[00:52:10]And thank you to all people who just watched the video, especially if you watched it this far.

[00:52:12]>> Hell, god damn. Have a lovely day, everyone. See you all next time.