History Anime / PonyoOnTheCliffByTheSea

* WhenAreYouComingHomeDad: A unique variation involving Koichi and his job. Sosuke is cool with it but Lisa is clearly upset.

* WhenAreYouComingHomeDad: A unique variation involving Koichi and his job. Sauske is cool with it but Lisa is clearly upset.

* EverybodyHelpsOutDenouement: After the flood, the towns people form a boat convoy / Sōsuke's parents, the goddess of the sea, the wizard and the residents of the retirement home get together to bring the movie to a resolution.

** Sosuke is always barefoot when he's not attending nursery school.

* OverprotectiveDad: Fujimoto all the way, insisting on keeping Ponyo in her small fish form to keep her away from the humans. He eventually lets this go.

* OtherworldlyVisitsYoungestFirst: does this twice over. Sosuke is the first person to encounter the titular Ponyo, a rather unconventional mermaid. On the flip-side, for Ponyo thinks of the surface world as a magical place, and she is the youngest of her sisters. Both sides quickly learn of the existence of the other when Ponyo decides to try and stay in the surface world.

** Sosuke's parents both love him deeply but have other responsibilities outside of him. His mother is dedicated to her job at the senior center, gets frustrated enough with his father's absence to become despondent and need Sosuke's comfort, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg drives like a maniac]].

''Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea'' (''Gake no Ue no Ponyo'') is a 2008 film by {{anime}} master Creator/HayaoMiyazaki and Creator/StudioGhibli. ''Very'', '''''very''''' loosely based on the Creator/HansChristianAndersen story ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'', the movie follows the adventures of Ponyo, a sort of...[[BuffySpeak goldfishy thing]], and her quest [[PinocchioSyndrome to become human]] and be with [[InterspeciesRomance the boy she loves]].

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Ponyo is fed the ham from Sosuke's sandwich, and immediately it becomes her favorite food to the point that Sosuke tells his mother that "all she thinks about is ham".

* GrumpyBear: Fujimoto, who (understandably) cannot get past the pollution thing enough to be optimistic about ''anything'' where humans are involved.

** Sosuke, sometimes UpToEleven. Beyond the heroic scenes he gets, it's impressive how he mans the signal light - he reads, writes and mediates between his parents who just had a fight because his father had to stay out at sea.

* RapunzelHair:
** Ponyo's mother has never-ending hair!
** Even Fujimoto's easily reaches his knees.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Lisa, crossed with BadassDriver, doesn't exactly follow rosd safety laws at times.

* InsultOfEndearment: When Koichi tells Lisa that he will not be able to return home, she types out "BAKA BAKA BAKA" in Morse code back at him.

* ABoyAndHisX: Played straight at first with Sosuke and his goldfish...
* BoyMeetsGhoul: ...until she [[spoiler:[[BecomeARealBoy becomes human]].]]

* InsultOfEndearment: When Koichi tells Lisa that he will not be able to reeturn home, she types out "BAKA BAKA BAKA" in Morse code back at him.

* AdaptationTitleChange: ''Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea'' is very loosely based on ''The Little Mermaid''.

** Fujimoto's ship looks like a boat crossed with a [[Anime/CastleInTheSky flaptor]].
** The old ladies' knick-knack shelf has a mini-[[Anime/SpiritedAway bird god]] in it.
** When Sosuke puts his captain's hat on he looks a lot like [[Anime/MyNeighborTotoro Mei and Satsuki's friend Kanta]], or like [[Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies a young version of Seita]].
** There's a [[Anime/MyNeighborTotoro Totoro]] magnet on the refrigerator in Sosuke's house, Lisa briefly sings a line from the opening song of the same movie ("I'm happy as can be!"), and Ponyo flashes Totoro's signature smile the first time she grows teeth.
** When Sosuke and Ponyo traverse the flooded town, they come across a tunnel remarkably similar to the one in ''Anime/SpiritedAway''.
** The little girl, Kumiko, who Ponyo drenches with water, resembles a young [[Anime/KikisDeliveryService Kiki]].
** The family with the baby resemble Satsuki, Mei and their father from ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro''.

* VillainDecay: Assuming Fujimoto was a 'villain' to begin with.

* MickeyMousing: Music/JoeHisaishi's music follows Ponyo's movements in a couple of scenes. This ia unusual for Ghibli movies.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Lisa. It certainly does not help that Sosuke is in the car for most of her road antics. In his review, the Nostalgia Critic actually points this out as one of the movie's flaws, in that her reckless driving with her son in the car makes her come across as a bad mother.

* EvilMakesYouUgly: Mostly subverted. The two, well off looking as they're not ugly, is the old woman at the retirement home and Fujimoto. But the Old woman is just kinda cranky and Fujimoto certainly isn't evil. Just overworked and wanting his daughter back.

* MickeyMousing: Music/JoeHisaishi's music follows Ponyo's movements in a couple of scenes.

* WeirdnessCensor: Nobody seems overly amazed at any supernatural event that occurs. In fact most of the adults continue to believe that Ponyo is a 'goldfish'. See also UnusuallyUninterestingSight. It's implied (but never outright stated) that humans have a hard time perceiving magic, (the big example is that the fishermen comment on the waves, but not that they are made of watery fish) and that Sousuke never saw the eyes, and other than the one woman, nobody noticed that Ponyo had a human face.