History YMMV / PonyoOnTheCliffByTheSea

** The film's ending shot of Human!Ponyo staring at Sosuke directly in the face. There have been countless altered images about this meme.

* ComedyGhetto: While the film is not downright hated, it has received flak from even Ghibli fans for its very lighthearted and breezy tone, and how it mostly lacks the personal drama that helped to make Miyazaki's previous slice of life films, such as ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro'' and ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService'', beloved classics. It was also completely snubbed by the Academy Awards, unlike Miyazaki's previous and more serious films, ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' and ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'', likely as a result of this.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: This anime film by Hayao Miyazaki based loosely on Creator/HansChristianAndersen's TearJerker FairyTale ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' was apparently popular in Denmark enough due to the fact that Denmark simply gave it its own [[http://www.kino.dk/film/p/po/ponyo-paa-klippen-ved-havet Official Website]].

* ValuesDissonance:
** Leaving five-year-old children alone and unsupervised (in the middle of a typhoon, no less!) could be considered criminal neglect in some jurisdictions. Still, it can be considered as Lisa choosing the lesser of two evils -- either bring them with her where they'd all easily be swept away by a particularly bad wave, or let them stay on high ground in the comparatively safe house.
** The reason why she left them to go to the retirement home may have been the movie's way of reflecting the Japanese value that the young should take care of the elderly, no matter the circumstances. A strong case of ValuesDissonance, especially since in Western culture it's viewed as the other way around.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: To be expected of a Creator/StudioGhibli production, of course, but ''Ponyo'' is particularly notable in that ''none'' of the film was animated with CGI, which makes its gorgeous animation even more stunning.

* ComedyGhetto: While the film is not downright hated, it has received flak from even Ghibli fans for its very lighthearted and breezy tone, and how it mostly lacks the personal drama that helped to make Miyazaki's previous slice of life films, such as ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro'' and ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService'', beloved classics. It was also completely snubbed by the Academy Awards, unlike Miyazaki's more serious ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' and ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'', likely as a result of this.

* BrokenBase: Ponyo, while a good movie in its own right, is considered divisive by several Studio Ghibli fans for having one of the lightest stories in a Ghibli movie and a main character who is hit-or-miss with many fans. Some call it their favorite movie, others believe Ponyo to be one of the weakest ''good'' Studio Ghibli film, while others find it SoOkayItsAverage. It doesn't help that Ponyo also suffers from AwardSnub; ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' won the Best Animated Feature award, while ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' and ''Anime/TheWindRises'' received nominations, but Ponyo was entirely ignored.

* {{Squick}}: Ponyo occasionally engages in squicky behavior, like when she spits dirty water on Kumiko's dress and snuggles a baby's face.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Noah Cyrus voices Ponyo in the English dub.

* TastesLikeDiabetes:
** The theme song. The English version of the song segues into a rockier remix and is consequently less cute.
** Pretty much the entire movie if you're not into that sort of thing, especially the ending shot.

* UncannyValley: Granmanmare evokes this due to her design being slightly more realistic than the traditionally Miyazaki-esque characters that surround her. Also, Ponyo's inbetween human-and-fish form.

** Plus, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SriyS6qN1xY the Nostalgia Critic has a review on Ponyo]], which include lots of funny nitpicks, but the crowd of people and 'Guest Stars' all angrily attack him for simply reviewing the film to begin with.