Hôhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun (1999) Reviews

• Universally funny. Still this is "Grave of the Fireflies" director's work !

  thomas.lajeunesse1999-12-30

  This is a Studio Ghibli movie: The Totoro is displayed at the opening, and the animation is very well done. There end all similarities. The word to describe it is "different". Different graphics, different animation, different kind of story... Nothing my knowledge of previous Ghibli films could have prepared me to see. Especially coming from the director of such films as "Hotaru no Haka" (aka "Grave of the Fireflies") When seeing the very first pictures, I wondered what these drawings were, so far from the characters I got used to see, and like... And then, the magic of its humor took me. The auditorium was fully filled (some people had to sit on the stairs), and everyone was laughing out loud, having no problem at all to follow the jokes (the movie was subtitled) even if we may have missed a few of them, due to a possible lack in cultural knowledge. Yet, I don't think I missed so much... This Yamada family is close enough to us, and their behavior seemed rather universal to me. I spent a great time watching it... But I have perhaps only one regret: I'm afraid I won't find the same pleasure I always find to see a Ghibli film again and again. The graphics aren't the main interest in the film, and when you already know the jokes, well... Therefore, I would rate it differently for the first seeing, and the ones after. A high rating anyway, especially for having been able to make us laugh so much without ever using any "dumb" easy joke as we could now find so (too) often in nowadays films. But I will never watch it again and again as I could do with a "Kiki", a "Nausicaa", or (my favorite) a "Mimi o Sumaseba" (aka "Whispers of the Heart"). So, don't hesitate if you have the opportunity to go and see it. You should appreciate it at least once. Then you could wish to own it, most probably to be able to show it to some friends or family.

• The craziest simplest family

  veed_santos2010-04-17

  What an amazing movie! I was not expecting it! The story is a very simple one, I would even say this movie has an"episodic" nature because it tells the daily-life chronicles of the Yamadas, some shorter, some longer. However its never dull or boring, all these episodes in the Yamadas' lives felt interesting, funny and refreshing one after another, switching the spotlight of the family members in each one. The art style is very unusual, sketchy and fits the story incredibly well. It's undoubtfully different than your standard anime visuals, but beautifully hand-drawn nonetheless. I really liked it. The characters are all superb! To the serious, old fashioned and wise grandma who still thinks she has a lot to give, to the hard-working, day-dreamer and misunderstood father who dreams about breaking the routine and to be acknowledged by his family (that in fact he really cares about). They all have a lot to give and to show through the movie and are constantly being put into ordinary daily-life tasks and obstacles while dealing with them in their very unique and hilarious way. Overall this movie is nothing more and nothing less than a very funny slice of life, with different and refreshing visuals, superb characters and filled with very interesting and thoughtful scenes (Being the scenes with the Father the best and most enjoyable ones for me ^^). The worst thing about entertainment is getting into it expecting a lot and being disappointed. On the other hand, the best thing about it, is getting into it expecting nothing... and ending utterly amused! For me "My Neighbors the Yamadas" was the best example of that, it was just that great. If you like light-hearted comedies or a good slice of life and are opened to unusual art, then by all means, watch this lesser-known Ghibli by the genius director Takahata!

• Brilliant...As usual....

  Pmust-31999-07-20

  The new Ghibli Studio production, Tonari no Yamadakun, is two years after "Mononoke" a new masterpiece of animation. The story... Well, there is no story. Just a superposition of sequences, each being more hilarating than the preceding. Director Takahata, using computers generated "hand-like" drawings, wanted the result to be as close as possible to the original newspapers comic, and he fully suceeded. In spite of the apparent graphic simplicity, the astounding quality of the animation makes the characters so lively that it seems sometimes more "real" than conventional cell animation. The yamadas are a typical japanese family, living in the Kansai area (Osaka). They do not speak standard japanese, especially the Granma, so as almost all of the gags are not visual, so if you plan to see it in Japanese, you should have very strong basis of the language. This is one of the most inventive animation movies I've seen since a very long time...

• fun for the whole family!

  tehcameltoe2012-07-11

  I think this is a pretty good animation film. Some people might not like the animation style, but i think it is refreshing in it's simplicity(i'm honestly sick of the usual "kawaii" very pretty anime style). The "yamadas" are the stars of the show, it all revolves around them and the daily routine of the family members. Its more like a slice of life thing and it doesn't really follow a plot, but there's an overarching theme that links every short bit of the film together. The message that the film is trying to convey is that family should always be united and try to tolerate their differences. The tone of the film is always bright, even when they are "fighting" it's comical. So you can watch this with your kids.

• Takahata once again draws from his bottomless well of creativity.

  JackDavlin2003-08-09

  While Miyazaki is the best known (and most successful) of the non-demon-fixated/violent-porn anime directors, his sometime producing partner and fellow Studio Ghibli alumni easily equals him in breadth of vision, commitment to art and passionate filmmaking. And although it's Miyazaki who alone seems to possess the Midas touch of his uniquely innocent, melancholic, optimistic, whimsical sensibility, Takahata has arguably pushed the envelope further back in terms of Japan's commercial animation vocabulary. Witness the neo-realism of Grave Of The Fireflies, fearless indictment of globalisation in Pon Poko, and now this utterly charming adaptation of the popular manga, My Neighbours The Yamadas, rendered in a style new to Anime features, but utterly faithful to the original text. A series of vignettes rather than one overall plot, it is nevertheless easy to find the running time flying past you as you take in the idiosyncratic characters, semi-bizarre situations (although a moment's thought reveals that your family was probably just like this), and beautiful performances (from animators and voice artists alike), finishing with a sense of the family's strength as a unit through a love for each other that's expressed more through their tolerance of each other's peculiarities than in open declarations of affection. And like Grave Of The Fireflies and Whisper Of The Heart, a popular western song that no one of my generation (20s) would ever dream of listening to seriously is made poignant, rousing and brimming with emotion. Ten out of ten: films this good are rare.