History Anime / Arrietty

* LastOfHisKind: Arrietty's mother references this, fearing that she and her family were the last Borrowers. [[spoiler:Later proven not to be the case.]]

* Defictionalization: A life sized version of Arietty's Hair clip/bow can be bought as an collectible and worn by fans of the Anime.

* DyingRace: The Borrowers, at least allegedly. Borrowers live so far away from each other (in comparison to their size) that they have very little contact, so they can't be sure how many other Borrowers still exist in the world.

* ScavengedPunk: This being a version of ''Literature/TheBorrowers'', it goes without saying. This being StudioGhibli, ScavengedPunk looks more beautiful than ever before.

%% Context Free Example. Please add context before uncommenting.
%%* BambooTechnology

** The pin, which ends up being used [[spoiler:by Arietty to free her mother from a jar]].

* CuteButCacophonic: Homily, Arriety's mom.

* ForbiddenFriendship[=/=]OddFriendship: Between Arrietty and Sho.

* HairDecorations: Arrietty and her little clothespin hairclip. [[spoiler:She gives it to Sho/Shaun in the end.]]

* KindHeartedCatLover: Sho's kindness toward Niya is Arrietty's first real indication of his kindliness.

* OneHeadTaller: Pod and Homily.

* ParentalAbandonment: Sho's parents are divorced; he rarely sees his father and his mother is often working.

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Arrietty and her mother sew together at one point.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Arriety and Homily are a mother-daughter example. Arrietty likes to go exploring while Homily would prefer to stay indoors.

* {{Gaslighting}}: Sho pulls a minor case of this on Haru, moving the dollhouse kitchen back to the dollhouse when she's not looking to convince her that she's imagining the Borrowers.
** He also appears in front of her after she locks him in his room, visibly startling her.

* ShoutOut: Spiller's costume and facial markings are very reminiscent of San's wardrobe and make-up from ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', and his bow has the same coloration as Ashitaka's did in the same movie.

* ShownTheirWork: The way the liquids behave on small-scale. They all have surface tension, so water beads from their teapot in droplets, and melted cheese forms big round balls, among other things.

** [[spoiler:To his credit, Sho later apologies; but by then it's too late.]]

* BambooTechnology
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: All of the good characters are drawn to be normal and decent-looking. Haru, on the other hand, looks rather toad-like half of the time.
** Especially apparent considering that Haru herself looks rather normal at first, and only starts looking like a toad after she demonstrates evil tendencies.

** The pin.
** [[spoiler:Averted with the dollhouse. The Clocks never move into it, and although Sho replaces their kitchen with the one from the dollhouse, his actions scare the family into moving out.]]
** "Don't look down."

* PeopleJars: Or rather, a Borrower jar.

* BigFancyHouse

* {{Expy}}: Nearly every major human character has a counterpart in the original books. Sho/Shawn is The Boy, and Aunt Sadako/Jessica is basically Great Aunt Sophy.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: Just after the Borrower family leaves the house they have to hide from a ''tanuki,'' the Japanese raccoon-dog.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Arrietty and her family ultimately move away from the house, the Borrowers never ended up using the doll house like Sho's great-grandfather hoped, and Sho soon faces his operation. However, Arrietty and Sho tenderly part ways, exchanging tokens to each other, and it's implied that Arrietty and her family will live in a more hopeful and safe place. In the Disney dub, Sho's operation was a success. He was basically preparing to die beforehand, but the ending narration reveals that he's still alive a whole year later. In a tradeoff, though, he never sees them again.]]
** [[spoiler:In the Japanese version it's also implied Sho survives the surgery. The movie begins with Sho's voiceover saying "I'll never forget that summer", which would imply he's remembering something that happened to him some time ago, which would mean he survived the surgery.]]

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arrietty_7797.jpg]]

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Arrietty and her mother sew together at one point while Pod is out.

* TomboyandGirlyGirl: A mother-daughter example between Arriety and Homily. Arrietty likes to explore the outside world while Homily would prefer to stay indoors.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Arrietty and Sho. She's athletic and bold while he's frail and gentle.

* OppositesAttract: Pod and Homily. He's a calm adventurer and she's an anxious homemaker.

''The Borrower Arietty'' is a 2010 StudioGhibli film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and written by Creator/HayaoMiyazaki, in what marks the former's directorial debut. It's based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "Thumbelina" and Mary Norton's book series ''Literature/TheBorrowers.''

Arietty is a young member of a race known as the Borrowers. As one might suspect from that name, they make their living stealing items (borrowing, in their parlance) from the giant "human beans." Their primary rule is to avoid ever being seen by these [[HumansAreCthulhu terrifying creatures]]. However, Arietty meets a human boy who seems to be gentle and kind. Nonetheless, she is forbidden from seeing him.

!!This film provides examples of:

* CatsAreMean: Played straight at first--Sho's cat Niya is a mean predatory thing. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted when he makes his peace with the Borrowers, fetches Sho for Arietty, and parts friends with her.]]

** The crow attack, executed with the sort of intelligence that corvids actually possess. The crow spots Arrietty, caws, and looks away, so Arietty turns away as well, to talk to Sho. Several ''minutes'' later, the "harmless" crow suddenly attacks ''from her blind side''. Only the cawing of another crow gives the attack away at the last second.

The film hit UK and Australian cinemas in June and September 2011 respectively under the shortened title ''Arrietty''. Disney released their own dub in the United States as ''The Secret World of Arrietty'' in February 2012. It ended up making $145.6 million worldwide (with more than 75% of that coming from a $110 million gross in Japan), including $19.2 million in the U.S.

* ShoutOut: Spiller's costume and facial markings are very reminiscent of San's wardrobe and make-up from ''PrincessMononoke'', and his bow has the same coloration as Ashitaka's did in the same movie.
** In the photo of Sho's mother and aunt as children, they look similar to Satsuki and Mei from MyNeighborTotoro. In addition, their mother resembles the mother of Satsuki and Mei.
** The title character is a young woman in her early teens belonging to a mythical race. She wears a mono-colored one-piece dress, has dark(-ish) colored hair, has a bow-like hair ornament, and she befriends a cat. [[KikisDeliveryService Sound familiar?]]

** A rude, spotted fat cat who fights with a crow? [[TheCatReturns That's new.]]

* SoapOperaDisease: Sho has had a non-descriptive heart condition ever since he was a child, and his operation is due soon.

* HumansAreCthulhu: Although Sho and his aunt respect the Borrowers.

* NobleSavage: Spiller certainly looks the part.

* FriendToBugs: It depends on the bugs, but the Borrowers don't seem to mind harmless bugs like crickets. Arrietty seems fond of the crickets and pillbugs that share the space under the floors with her family.

* CuteButCacophonic: Arriety's mom.