History Anime / PorcoRosso

As TheRoaringTwenties fade into TheGreatDepression, Porco Rosso (Shūichirō Moriyama; Creator/MichaelKeaton in the English dub), the "Crimson Pig", makes his living as a mercenary, flying a red seaplane and doing battle with pirates. Things really start to get interesting for Porco when the pirates, tired of having their butts handed to them by a pig, hire Donald Curtis (Creator/AkioOtsuka; Creator/CaryElwes), a famed American aviator, to take him down. Pursued by the Fascist military he deserted years ago, Porco gains a teenage sidekick, Fio Piccolo (Creator/AkemiOkamura; Creator/KimberlyWilliamsPaisley), and takes the fight to the pirates. What follows is an epic journey of self-discovery and general badassery in the great Ghibli tradition. It's got all the hallmarks of a Miyazaki movie; strong women, flying machines, air-pirates and an undertone of the supernatural.

Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's {{homage}} to the early days of aviation and cinema, the 1992 film ''Porco Rosso'' (Japanese: 紅の豚 ''Kurenai no Buta'', "Crimson Pig") tells the story of a renowned Italian fighter pilot, a veteran of the First World War who has been mysteriously transformed into a pig.

* CoolGuns: Miyazaki again reveals his interest in UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne type weapons like before in ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'', as all the weapons that appear are all of those types, except for Curtis' revolver which was from decades earlier.

Miyazaki has expressed interest in making a sequel depicting an older Porco in the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar, [[DevelopmentHell though if it ever began production or ever will is unknown]].

* TheChanteuse: Gina. She sings a French song to the hotel patrons in her opening scene, wearing the requisite long ball gown, and it's revealed in the next scene with Porco that she's a widow three times over, with all of her husbands being pilots.

** A man in his mid-thirties being with a seventeen year old may seem weird to modern viewers, especially given that this film does take place in the relatively recent past, but it's accurate for the time period. Before women entered the workforce in World War II out of necessity and stayed working afterwards, it made sense for girls to marry older men. Since they couldn't work, it offered them financial stability they wouldn't find in a man their own age. With the high child mortality rate, the earlier you started having kids, the better you chance you had at having kids who'd make it to adulthood and since your husband is financially stable, you don't have to wait to start having them. Nowadays though, the example that happens in this movie could be viewed as more of a PrecociousCrush.

* NoEndorHolocaust: The duel ends up bringing both planes above a crowd, and neither Porco nor Curtis apparently see a problem with maintaining the fight over an area packed with innocent spectators. Tons of property damage ensues, but somehow the stray gunfire only hits inanimate objects.

Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's {{homage}} to the early days of aviation and cinema, ''Porco Rosso'' (''''Kurenai no Buta''　/　紅の豚,''1992) tells the story of a renowned Italian fighter pilot, a veteran of the First World War who has been mysteriously transformed into a pig.

As TheRoaringTwenties fade into TheGreatDepression, Porco Rosso (Shūichirō Moriyama; Creator/MichaelKeaton in the English dub), the 'Red Pig', makes his living as a mercenary, flying a crimson seaplane and doing battle with pirates. Things really start to get interesting for Porco when the pirates, tired of having their butts handed to them by a pig, hire Donald Curtis (Creator/AkioOtsuka; Creator/CaryElwes), a famed American aviator, to take him down. Pursued by the Fascist military he deserted years ago, Porco gains a teenage sidekick, Fio Piccolo (Creator/AkemiOkamura; Creator/KimberlyWilliamsPaisley), and takes the fight to the pirates. What follows is an epic journey of self-discovery and general badassery in the great Ghibli tradition. It's got all the hallmarks of a Miyazaki movie; strong women, flying machines, air-pirates and an undertone of the supernatural.

Like a few of Miyazaki's other works the film is based on an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_the_Flying_Boat earlier manga he wrote]].

Miyazaki had expressed interest in making a sequel. He planned to set it in the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar, and Porco would have been older. However, nothing has come out of it.

** Porco generally refuses to kill the pilots he fights, which is indicated to be a tactic for keeping in business by ensuring there are still pirates left to pirate. During the FinalBattle, however, the boss of the Mamma Aiuto gang correctly surmises that Porco refuses to risk a pilot's life and instead plans to win by tiring Curtis out and shooting up the latter's engine, which he takes to be a matter of showing off, but the film implies his refusal to kill Curtis or the pirate's is a shred of honor.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Pretty much all of the characters get a happy ending except for Porco himself, who disappears after facing off against the Italian Air Force. However, it's hinted by Fio that Porco is living in hiding, having transformed back into his original, and more anonymous human form, and he and Gina ''might'' finally get together.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Pretty much all of the characters get a happy ending except for Porco himself, who disappears after facing off against the Italian Air Force. However, it's hinted by Fio that Porco is living in hiding, and he and Gina ''might'' finally get together.]]

** Porco also has a somewhat backward view of women's role in society, freely admitting that he doesn't want a female mechanic working on his plane. He gets over it when he sees how good Fio is at her job while drawing up schematics, and gets increasingly more impressed from there. He also has concern for Piccolo's female relatives working on rebuilding his plane. See StayInTheKitchen below.

** Porco also has a somewhat backward view of women's role in society, freely admitting that he doesn't want a female mechanic working on his plane. He gets over it when he sees how good Fio is at her job while drawing up schematics, and gets increasingly more impressed from there. He also has concern for Piccolo's female relatives working on rebuilding his plane.
when See StayInTheKitchen below.

* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: The sky pirates, and the ''Mamma Aiuto'' gang in particular.

** During one of his visits to Italy, Porco is confronted by an old friend (still serving in the Air Force) while watching a cartoon in a darkened movie theater. The cartoon depicts a Mickey Mouse {{Expy}} striving to save his girlfriend ''from a villainous pig in an airplane''. The obvious metaphor is that the cartoon pig represents Porco himself (his noble but simplistic friend obtusely mentions at one point that he thinks "This movie's really great"), but beyond the movie being outright anti-Porco ''propaganda'' is the subtle fact that Porco himself has gone to see it, which in the light of his own self-disdain transforms the propaganda into a reflection of how Porco sees himself -- an ugly, bloated fiend who doesn't deserve a happy ending.

'''Friend:''' What's so funny?\\

* SpaghettiAndGondolas: Every stereotype you know about pre-WWII Italy is milked, although it's done so well you can't complain. Miyazaki's

* WeirdWest: Invoked. In the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue mentioned below, we see a poster for a movie Donald Curtis made in which he plays a cowboy who apparently meets a ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex''.

** Porco's Savoia S-21 is one of the most beautiful planes on film and Curtis' Curtis [=R3C-2=] is based on the airplane that Jimmy Doolittle flew to win the 1925 Schneider Cup.

* JustPlaneWrong: Porco's plane is identified as a Savoia S-21. That's a real plane, but it doesn't look like the one in the movie; the real one was a biplane rather than a monoplane. It was also pretty much the flying equivalent of TheAllegedCar-- difficult and unforgiving to fly, to the point that only one pilot ever had any success with it. Porco's plane has more of a resemblance to the Macchi [=M.33=], which competed against the Curtiss [=R3C.2=] for the 1925 Schneider Trophy.

** Curtis -- pointedly known as "The American" -- and his well-meaning but ham-handed attempt to curtail some rudeness. When a couple of loudmouth reporters try to interview Porco in the middle of Gina's song, Curtis walks over, hoists them into the air, carries them away, and then slams them down at another table with a parting warning to shut up, inadvertently causing a much larger scene than the one he was trying to prevent.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: A man in his mid-thirties being with a seventeen year old may seem weird to modern viewers, especially given that this film does take place in the relatively recent past, but it's accurate for the time period. Before women entered the workforce in World War II out of necessity and stayed working afterwards, it made sense for girls to marry older men. Since they couldn't work, it offered them financial stability they wouldn't find in a man their own age. With the high child mortality rate, the earlier you started having kids, the better you chance you had at having kids who'd make it to adulthood and since your husband is financially stable, you don't have to wait to start having them. Nowadays though, the example that happens in this movie could be viewed as more of a PrecociousCrush.
** Porco also has a somewhat backward view of women's role in society, freely admitting that he doesn't want a female mechanic working on his plane. He gets over it when he sees how good Fio is at her job. See StayInTheKitchen below.

* MeaningfulName / ThemeNaming: A lot of the characters' names are sly references to early aviation.

** With all of the men in Piccolo's family gone from the city to find work, Piccolo has his female relatives work on the plain. Porco complains about it, claiming women can't handle the job, but Piccolo insists that they do good work.

* CynicIdealistDuo: Gina and Fio, respectively. Gina, [[ChildhoodFriends who's known Porco since they were kids]], is numb to the pain of being thrice-widowed, and not only does she tolerates crime, her Cafe Adriano is a place of comfort and hospitality for air pirates where they can safely lounge around beyond the reach of the law. Fio, who is meanwhile only just a woman herself, is ambitious and filled with admiration for the glories and stories related to her by her grandfather; her presence and forceful innocence lead her to constantly challenge Porco and the pirates to be better than they are, and they all find her quite inspiring in turn.

->This motion picture is set over the Mediterranean Sea in an age when seaplanes ruled the waves. It tells a story of a valiant pig, who fought against flying pirates, for his pride, for his lover, and for his fortune. The name of the hero of our story is Crimson Pig.

--> '''Opening text.'''

As TheRoaringTwenties fade into TheGreatDepression, Porco Rosso (Shūichirō Moriyama; Creator/MichaelKeaton in the English dub), the 'Red Pig', makes his living as a mercenary, flying a crimson seaplane and doing battle with pirates. Things really start to get interesting for Porco when the pirates, tired of having their butts handed to them by a pig, hire Donald Curtis (Creator/AkioOtsuka; Creator/CaryElwes), a famed American aviator, to take him down. Pursued by the Fascist military he deserted years ago, Porco gains a teenage sidekick, Fio Piccolo (Creator/AkemiOkamura), and takes the fight to the pirates. What follows is an epic journey of self-discovery and general badassery in the great Ghibli tradition. It's got all the hallmarks of a Miyazaki movie; strong women, flying machines, air-pirates and an undertone of the supernatural.

During TheRoaringTwenties, Porco Rosso (Shūichirō Moriyama), the 'Red Pig', makes his living as a mercenary, flying a crimson seaplane and doing battle with pirates. Things really start to get interesting for Porco when the pirates, tired of having their butts handed to them by a pig, hire Donald Curtis (Creator/AkioOtsuka), a famed American aviator, to take him down. Pursued by the Fascist military he deserted years ago, Porco gains a teenage sidekick, Fio Piccolo (Creator/AkemiOkamura), and takes the fight to the pirates. What follows is an epic journey of self-discovery and general badassery in the great Ghibli tradition. It's got all the hallmarks of a Miyazaki movie; strong women, flying machines, air-pirates and an undertone of the supernatural.

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Porco vanishes without a trace during the pursuit from the Air Force, leaving the other characters to wonder what has become of him. It's also never made clear whether he and Gina reconnected to each other (Fio seems to know the answer, but decides to keep it as a secret).]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Pretty much all of the characters get a happy ending except for Porco himself, who disappears after facing off against the Italian Air Force. However, it's hinted by Fio that Porco is living in hiding.]]

* DayOfTheJackboot: There are underlying hints of this, modeled on UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini's forces--the uniforms, parade colors and fascist emblem when Porco goes to the bank to finish reimbursing his loan are more than obvious, though.

* DoubleTake: In the ending, Curtis gives one looking up at Porco, whose face is hidden. It's strongly hinted the curse was lifted.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment

* {{Expy}}: Curtis' appearance, flying skills and Texas origin are a clear homage to aviation pioneer and filmmaker Howard Hughes.
** It should be mentioned that, in the original Japanese-language version, Curtis says he's from Kentucky rather than Texas. Possibly the change was to make the "Cowboy" moniker make more sense, as Kentucky, while it is known for horses, has never been known for cowboys.

* GeniusBruiser: Boss, a mild case. Not exactly a genius, but surprisingly enlightened nonetheless.
* GhibliHills: Shown passing under Porco's plane as he and Fio escape Italy.
* GlamorousWartimeSinger: Gina, who ''owns'' the Hotel Adriano.

* GoldfishPoopGang / {{Harmless Villain}}s: The sky pirates.

* InformedSpecies: Or "Informed Airplane Model", as the case may be. Porco's plane is identified as a Savoia S.21, but looks nothing like one.

* LoveTriangle: Porco's relationships with both Gina and Fio have romantic elements in them, but the film pointedly refuses to answer how it resolves.
* MagicalRealism: Porco is magically transformed into a pig, but how and why is never explained, though he has a theory for the 'why' part.

* MeaningfulName: Gina is named after the G-91R aircraft's nickname, manufactured by FIAT. The series it belongs to? "Ghibli", which is where Creator/StudioGhibli's name comes from.

* RiddleForTheAges: Did Porco eventually [[spoiler:come to Gina's garden and confess his love for her]]? Fio seems to know the answer, but she says it's not up to her to reveal it.

* SpaghettiAndGondolas: Every stereotype you know about pre-WWII Italy is milked, although it's done so well you can't complain.

* TranslationConvention: The characters can be presumed to be speaking mostly Italian with some English here and there but the film’s native language is Japanese.

* UglyGuysHotDaughter: Piccolo is a mildly wizened midget with a family filled with beautiful women.

%%* WifeHusbandry: Isn't Fio a ''little'' young for Curtis?