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Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic [Popverse Jump]
My Neighbor Totoro is the most cozy Ghibli movie out there and it is still moderately terrifying at places.
You don’t have to be an anime fan to love Studio Ghibli. They have a universal appeal that has made the studio and Hayao Miyazaki one of the most successful movie studios in Japanese history. However, every time I hear someone talk about how “cozy” and “wholesome” Ghibli movies are, I wonder if we’ve been watching the same films. A hallmark of Miyazaki’s work is the juxtaposition of comforting slice-of-life scenes with horror that borders on the grotesque at times, and that is what makes them so magical.
I don’t know if I would call this a revisionist history of Studio Ghibli’s legacy so much as it shows how easy it is to remember only the bits of their films that don’t challenge or scare you. Take My Neighbor Totoro, for example. I would consider it the coziest and most kid-friendly of Miyazaki’s work, so much
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