It seems the whole country is eager to get rid of the old and make way for the new. But some of us aren't so ready to let go of the past.
—Umi
From Up on Poppy Hill (
Kokuriko-zaka kara/コクリコ坂から) is a 2011
Studio Ghibli film by director Goro Miyazaki. It is Goro Miyazaki's second film for Studio Ghibli. In contrast to his first work,
Tales from Earthsea, his new effort was rather well received. It's based on the 1980s manga series
Kokuriko-zaka kara by Tetsuo Sayama and Chizuru Takahashi.
The heroine, Umi Matsuzaki, is a high school girl in Yokohama of 1963. From her home on Poppy Hill overlooking the bay, she raises flag signals every morning meaning "I pray for safe voyages". One day, she receives an answer, as it turns out, from Shun Kazama, one class above her.
In preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and generally with the developing economic miracle, amidst growing student movements and social unrest, Japan is quickly modernizing, often razing the old to make way for the modern. At Umi's school, the old building of the Culture Club, nicknamed "Quartier Latin" by the students, is decided to be torn down. Can the students, including Umi and Shun, really do anything against this decision?
Disney didn't want to release it because of certain themes in the movie, which left the job to GKIDS. Eventually, a dubbed version was released into American theaters March 2013, with a DVD and Blu-Ray release to follow in fall.
This film provides examples of:
- Adorkable: Sachiko.
- Bonding Over Missing Parents
- Brother-Sister Incest: Averted and then subverted. Shun was adopted, and discovered he and Umi shared a father, Sawamura, who died in the war. The two conclude that although they love each other, their siblinghood makes any romantic relationship impossible. Later, it's revealed that Shun's real father is Tachibana, who died previously in the war, and that Sawamura legally registered him to avoid him growing up in an orphanage. For practical reasons, he decided to give him up to the Kazamas, who had recently lost a child.
- Cue The Rain: Right before the Second Act Breakup.
- Cry into Chest: After Umi's Mother reveals that Umi and Shun could not be siblings.
- Everyone Can See It: Between Umi and Shun.
- Ghibli Hills: Due to being by the Trope Namer, of course!
- Gratuitous French: Especially "Quartier Latin" and "Kokuriko" (from "coquelicot" - corn poppy)
- Happily Adopted: Shun
- Hot Dad: Sawamura.
- Umi's mother is quite a Hot Mom as well.
- Large Ham: The philosophy club guy. Quite literally too, he's at least a head taller than everyone else.
- Arguably, most of the boys in Quartier Latin could be this, judging by their meetings.
- Let's Just Be Friends: Invoked and then subverted.
- Love Letter: In the form of a short poem in the school newspaper.
- Manly Tears: Again, the Philosophy Club guy tries to evoke this. But early on he goes over to Inelegant Blubbering.
- Men Can't Keep House: The all-male-occupied Quartier Latin is filthy.
- Not Blood Siblings
- Parental Abandonment: Neither Umi's nor Shun's birth parents are around, most are dead. Umi lives with her grandmother, Shun with his foster father.
- Averted later in the film when Umi's mother returns from America.
- Replacement Goldfish: Umi's parents decided to give the orphaned newborn Shun to a couple who lost their child. Needless to say, the couple loved Shun right away.
- Scenery Porn: Naturally.
- Slice of Life
- Stuff Blowing Up: the chemistry club causes an explosion as an Establishing Character Moment.
- Surprise Incest: Invoked and subvverted.
- The Sixties: The time period the film is set in, amplified by real songs being in the film, such as Sukiyaki.
- Troubled Fetal Position: What Umi does in her bed after the revelation that Shun could be her brother .
- Tears of Joy: Umi cries heavily after her mother reveals to her Shun's background which proves they are not related by blood.
- Umbrella Of Togetherness: Umi and Shun at one point in the movie. Unfortunately, this is followed by their Second Act Breakup...
- Will They or Won't They?
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