Ponyo Revealed: The Real Mythology & Folklore Explained!
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2020
- Ponyo or "Ponyo on the Cliff" is Hayao Miyazaki 's 10th feature film as director. Like most of Miyazaki's films, this tale about a magical Goldfish turned Little Girl adapts mythology and other culture. Miyazaki was quite public about one of these sources: "The little mermaid" fairytale, but I believe there is far more to Ponyo than Hans Christian Anderson's story. In this video I will attempt to break down all those sources. The Myths, Legends and Culture that inspired Ponyo.
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#ponyo #studioghibli #miyazaki #anime - Фільми й анімація
Check out my breakdown of Ghibli's Tanuki film Pom Poko!: ua-cam.com/video/uWKS-8q8sp4/v-deo.html
Also, I'd like to point out a little mistake in the video. I said Disney adapted The Little Mermaid "in the 90's". It actually premiered in November of 1989.
Thanks for all the likes and comments!
Hi.Yes I did. Check Sasuki's mother's car's number plate. It says 333. Check the meaning of 333.
@@anushadias1524 Yes, some believe it's a reference to angles. I actually did write that one in my notes, but skipped over it in the final version for some reason. Good catch!
@@StoryDive notes?? Are you serious
What about the thing one of the elderly ladies says about how goldfish with human faces bring tsunamis? Is that based from anything
@@StoryDive W
In fifth grade I was assigned to bring a movie for our party. So I chose three movies I thought everyone would like and decided I would let them choose between the three. Deep down inside I really wanted to show them Ponyo but I didn't think they would choose it. To my surprise everyone chose Ponyo and all I heard until 8th grade was "PONYO WANTS HAM!!"
Yo nice
This movie is most beautifully created.but it's story is the worst.
@@KingofL85 hrm, id like to know why u think so? genuinely
@@chuvst3r Weird love story of kids.sea goddesses powerful but not wants to protect.weird father n his powers.almost dead humans meaning not expressive. just what kind of humans are not surprised going underwater saved by mystic force watching magical stuff.n then again fate of the world's in stupid kids hands.only a kid would like this story for an adult it's not good.
@My Thought's Even if it did get inspired by the Disney movie,its still amazing.
It's insane how much research gets put into these videos
And to make this film though xD
mew
I wish more UA-camrs would put in this amount of effort.
i knoooooow lol
800th like
I think that the people in Ponyo can't generally see magic, when gisnt watery fish are breaking around the ship, a man doesn't seem to be aware at all. It's like they have some kind of "weirdness filter", like people do in Pratchett's works.
À¹
Most creatures in Japanese folklore are masters of illusions; so maybe they're casting a glamour to avoid being discovered
Carlos Castaneda also writes about magic being like that.
Our brain would filter it out, and pretend to see something mundane in its stead. Making a non initiated person aware of the real magic could be very damaging to him, so its best that way.
mew
Or in Narnia, the first book. The uncle stops being able to hear the animals speak english because he refused to see past illusion and accept the fact that a giant lion was singing songs in front of him.
Nobody:
Ponyo: H A M 👁👄👁
lol
By the power of the gods she will have ham
@@ghostya5572 I know right?
*h a m*
*H A M*
Thumbnail: When your parents are hot and you lose the genetic lottery
So. Sad
😂💀
Ponyo was cute! LOL.
Relatable. 💔
She is so cute, what do you meeeeean
You briefly mentioned the mermaid yokai, Ningyo, which also ties an awful lot to Ponyo having a human face and the flooding. If the Ningyo is caught (and usually eaten) they cause massive natural disasters such as earthquakes or, in this specific case, tsunamis and flooding. Toki, one of the elderly women in the senior centre, makes a comment about this when she sees Ponyo for the first time and starts freaking out saying "It has a real face on it! Hurry up! Put it back in the ocean. Don’t you realize it’ll cause a tsunami? Fish with faces who come out of the sea cause tsunamis- that’s what they always say.!" While Ponyo might not necessarily be a yokai, her design and the story is very much inspired by the yokai tales
🤩
YES. OMG. I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED.
In my country ponyo was released a half year before the big tsunami hit japan in 2011. I always found this somehow creepy because I watched the movie and one of the grandma said that and then there was literally a real tsunami in japan. My mind was blown. But the movie was already released in 2008 in japan so I think it is not much of a coincidence there.
I would add that the large waves that are trying to retrieve ponyo are like the Namazu. or maybe I'm just overthinking it XD
beat me to it!
Also, look at the Sea Goddess' beads on her necklace. The beads look similar to magatama stones, which are one of the three sacred Shinto objects that are worn in many on necklaces. Only, while most magatama beads are made of jade or are green, her stones are red. Perhaps she's also inspired by a few Shinto gods or goddesses. There are a few kami of the sea, like Susanno and dragons.
True, good catch!
Good point. I thought those 勾玉 like beads were made of red coral.
She looks like Yemanjá
maybe it's made from blood coral? one of the precious resource of the ancient times which symbolizes prosperity and nobility idk
I thought she was based on GuanYin, the goddess of mercy! I don't remember her name in Japanese...
Interestingly, in the concept artwork book “The Art of Ponyo” Miyazaki’s earliest sketches for Ponyo in fish form closely resemble a goldfish as we would understand them to be (with a scales all over, large fish eyes, and a gaping fish mouth). I suspect they changed her design to be more cutesy since the realistic goldfish face admittedly was a face only the mother of the sea could love, haha
So theres a folklore in Japan where if u catch a mermaid (ningyo), it will cause misfortune and storms. Most fishermen throw them back to the sea if caught in their nets.
Basically any fish with a face close to human-like. Which is why the old lady said it was a bad omen.
Really?
www.kcpinternational.com/2017/04/the-folklore-of-japanese-mermaids/
or ya know, u can just do a simple google search or YT search in case u're still curious
@@honeycherries6803 this is exactly what i was thinking about (the old lady part)! i was waiting for the vid to mention it, but the vid went into detail w a looot more parts that went over my head. i appreciate it all, the absolutely phenomenal video and the nice lil addiitonal comments down here hehe
I kinda love Ponyo's mom just being "a giant ocean lady", cuz I love the idea of having multiple cultures taking inspiration from a single being..
Also, not so much a culture thing (or maybe it is?), but the thing that stood out to me, (watching this movie for the first time as an adult) was the fact that Ponyo's father was raising the kids, much like how a seahorse male are the ones to carry and raise the babies..
i rlly didnt question ponyo at ALL when i was younger, huh?
About The Little Mermaid, you literally forget the most important detail, why she became an air spirit. She did so because her sisters bargained for a magical knife, if the mermaid were to kill the prince with it she'd be free of the deal. But because she couldn't bring herself to kill the prince, she was made into an air spirit as a reward for her selfless nature, and as an air spirit she was told she were to receive a soul if she served humanity for 300 years.
Yes, I purposefully skipped over most of the details of the Little mermaid because there are other videos that cover that. For this video, I only pointed out the similarities between TLM and Ponyo and the major differences between Anderson's tale and the Disney version. The point of the video was not to explain TLM.
I thought she turned into seafoam
@@ash_lee_12 No, she gets saved by "The Daughters of the Air" at the end.
I don’t think he forgot. I think the video time limit had to do with the omission
@@ash_lee_12 in one version, the Little mermaid does indeed become sea foam, stepping into the sea at dawn or dusk, the time of transition.
Norse mythology views the nine waves of the sea, each capped with white foam, as primordial goddesses; they are, together, the mother of Heimdall. In effect, the mermaid might be said to become one of, or one with, these goddesses.
Anderson’s tale, though, does have her ascend to a next stage of being - water (pre-birth), earth (life) and then air (post-death existence, a kind of benign Purgatory).
The little mermaid had a 99 sisters in the Hans Christian Anderson version. She was the youngest
I'm pretty sure this is the original Andersen text, at least the English version "She was, however, deserving of very great praise, especially for her care of the little sea princesses, her six granddaughters. They were beautiful children, but the youngest was the prettiest of them all"
www.gutenberg.org/files/32572/32572-h/32572-h.htm#Page_124
@@StoryDive heres something rare online... you're right. I must have read an alternate version growing up. Sorry I was mistaken
@@laynemartin7914 No problem!
And in the Norse Mythologies, the Sea Goddess Rán had 9 sea daughters who were named after elements of the ocean and waves :)
Oh and just FYI, it’s Andersen* not Anderson. Anderson is Swedish, but since Hans Christian Andersen is a Dane, it’s spelt with an E
The reason the kid thinks she is a gold fish is cuz well gold fish is the most common fresh fish in general esp for kids.... I don’t think it has anything to do with folklore. Miyazaki is an artist, of course he gets his inspiration from paintings. And kids stories from folklores and Grimm etc.
If you ever go to the museum in Japan you can see his old workspace and thousands of drawing where he does indeed always draw a tonne of inspiration from different art pieces as well as classical music. He is extremely knowledgeable about old mythologies as a lot of his drawing resemble more historical scenarios before becoming the Ghibli animation we get to see on screen at the end of this process.
My eldest daughter was 2 at the time and she was the same way ALL SHE WANTED WAS HAAAAAM. And she loved the sea . She loved Ponyo. She is 14 and still EATS THE SAME NOODLES AND HAM LIKE PONYO
Ye Ponyo is my childhood movie
That's so cute!
I think you gave birth to a ponyo haha
Sounds like she's growing up wonderfully, great job :) make sure she always keeps that free spirit kindled!
Andersen's tale is disturbing, but remember that he was the one who added the happy ending in the first place. The story of the Nixie who transforms into a human to be with her love but isn't loved back by him was very common in medieval times and was widely reused during Romanticism.
Andersen rewrote it to represent the discrimination and rejection he suffered due to his bisexuality.
It’s Andersen* not Anderson. Anderson is if you’re Swedish, but Andersen was Danish, so it’s Andersen.
Also, there is no concrete proof of Andersen being gay. As a Dane myself, I’m telling you his sexuality is an interesting debate but many historians and the official Hans Christian Andersen website state it’s not confirmed he was gay, but it’s an interesting debate nevertheless :)
@@tan89284 ah, thanks!
@@tan89284 If there is a debate, then it's most likely true. You know how bigoted historians can be.
@@bessieburnet9816 they used to get rid of proof of any sort of "sodomy" going on in peoples lives that they were researching, at least thats what I heard
@@bessieburnet9816 How bigoted historians used to be*. Fixed it for ya. Too many people like to spread rumors that certain famous writers were super gay, just to "piss off the homophobes", so there is debate among many people about the sexuality of some historical people. Just because there's a debate, doesn't mean the side you like is automatically true. It either is, or isn't. And in truth, we may never have a solid answer since that kind of thing was forbidden back then.
Cross-cultural mythology condensed into an animated feature nearly guarantees widespread appeal.
This is my favorite Ghibli movie 🥰 thank you so much for covering it!!
Quick note! In japanese, the elders, as well as Sosuke, say that Ponyo looks like a normal gold fish, but only the old lady with the blue dress can recognize the human face in Ponyo, thats why she says that she is an omen
I love this! Ponyo is one of my favourite ghibli movies and a huuuge childhood nostalgia bait for me but I never see any videos done about it or even people talking about it :(
It tends to take a back seat to some of Miyazaki's other films, but I still thinks its an amazing film
There’s a lot of beautiful Ghibli movies that are not talked about :(
Yeah, it’s crazy. I was 6/7 years old when this movie came out in 2008. It’s still one of my favorite studio Ghibli movies to this day. It’s also one of the movies that really got me into anime. I love learning about the cultural influences that go into the ghibli movies.
This is one of the most well researched, well made and visually stunning videos I've ever watched. It inspired me to no ends and made me appreciate the genius of Miyazaki's creations even more than I already have. Thank you for making such an in depth dive into the world of Ponyo's influences. I'll be recommending this to all of my friends.
same here, this is epic
Please do one on Howl’s moving castle
I will think about it!
ua-cam.com/video/PttdYdeH20k/v-deo.html This video is dedicated to Howl's Moving Castle. Very emotional video. Do check it out.
Its a book the book is better. Done.
It was inspired by a book of the same name and this book was written after the write watched castle in the sky
@@camic7324 some of yall pressed at nothing
When Brunhilde/Ponyo runs on the waves, their shapes resemble the waves shown in the classic 19th century woodblock print "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa".
Here's something really neat: if you get the art book, you'll find that Granmamare was originally a giant catfish who would turn into a beautiful woman, which would've made her literally a fish. After further research, I found out that goldfish, carp (koi) AND catfish are related breeds.
PLUS it's cannon: Fujimoto was once a "pupil of Captain Nemo", which also matches Miyazaki's comment that he's over a hundred years old. You got it right!
Jules Verne works x ghibli canon crossover=epicness
I love how this story symbolizes the many’s stories and legends told over centuries the way the artist incorporated every detail of each myth is astonishing
Fujimoto and Granmamare's relationship reminds me of Davy Jones and Calypso and how they are depicted in The Pirates of the Carabian movies. Goddes of the sea loves a human and he can't be on dry land. And that they spend so much time apart but are still in love
I think Ponyo is also an Amabie coz she can heal people with their sicknesses and also having some avian features when she’s in her mid-mermaid form
This was the first Ghibli film I ever saw.
Same
Same!
Mine was spirited away
My first ghibli film, watched it with my little sister as a kid thinking it would be “some stupid kids movie” yet when I left the theater, I couldn’t help but feel this deep happiness inside of me. Start of my love for ghibli overall tbh. Thanks for that Miyazaki
The necklace around Grandma Mare's neck also reminds me of the Brisingamr, the magical necklace worn by Freyja.
Yes, good catch!
And of course, to bring it back around to the Valkyries, she was their leader :)
I THOUGHT PONYO WAS A FEVER DREAM
Sammeee
🤣🤣🤣
I just don't understand why the little ones look like fish when the mom looks like a mermaid and the dad is a human.
In mythology, parents' form doesnt really matter, like in Norse mythology, Angrboda (dunno the real spelling) and Loki are both humanoid, but their children are a wolf, a giant sea serpent, and Hel (the only humanoid one).
Or, in Japanese myths, the first children of Gods of creation is a half leech child.
@@moonwillow5420 okay that makes sense. Thanks for clearing it up for me.
@@moonwillow5420 uhm, thry’re both jotunns, why do you think they’re humanoids? Jotunns come in all shapes and forms (and usually gigantic in size)
First if all, Ponyo can shapeshift. Second of all, its a reminiscent of Ponyo’s marine origins. Many aquatic animals go through metamorphosis stage, like fish, amphibias etc. So it’s natural that Ponyo would look like fish at early stages of development and then change her appearance growing up and look more human
@@AT-if2wi so, what are your understanding of the term "humanoid" then?
Im no expert, just reading myths for fun, but my brother do have encyclopedia of them. Loki and her are depicted as humanoids in paintings.
We might say that Fujimoto has a very particular set of skills
Yah this movie is masterpiece.but I like princess mononoke most from studio GHIBLI
Princess Mononoke is my favourite Ghibli film but I love & have seen them all
StoryDive
Will you be covering Howl’s Moving Castle
@@kendallrivera8995 I will think about it. Someone recently did.a detailed comparison of the Movie and Book, but it is different than the video I would do.
StoryDive
Oh yes but your take would be great too
@@StoryDive yeh it would be great if you explain it.i recently watched it...awesome story
My family watches ponyo every time it’s cold and we have noodles for dinner, we also named our dog ponyo and our other dog pazu(castle in the sky)
I wouldn’t be surprised if Gianmamare was one of the inspirations for Rose Quartz. Such a beautiful design, the way her hair flows like water.
Still messes me up whether Ponyo loves Soseki romantically or in a platonic/familial way.
Romantically, confirmed
I always interpreted it as platonic
@@musiccubed2650 same, I always loved it that way. Like friendship is true love
Same, but I like to think of it as platonic.
Sosuke
I love how you put the effort to pronounce all the foreign names properly. Most people just mess up the pronunciation
You have NO IDEA how much this family loves Ponyo.
I barely remember this movie because literally none of it made any sense, but I could appreciate the animation, as even though the little "goldfish" girls looked really weird and *nothing* like goldfish, they still looked kinda cute.
But man, this movie was *far* too confusing for my American child brain.
For me, my little american brain loved this movie. I rewatched it so many times that I'm pretty sure my parents started to hate it lmao
You should realllly rewatch..
it's actually very complicated even for an asian like me🤣🤗
I actually had the privilege to see Ponyo in 2018 in cinemas when Edward theaters was having a Studio Ghibli Marathon screening.
I really enjoyed it and wish that there were children watching the film in the big screen.
Oh my god the wave of nostalgia that hit me, this movie was beautiful I honestly started crying once I saw this once again... a HUGE part of my childhood right here!
watch out for strikes, studio ghibli is very unforgiven on youtube
Yes, they striked my videos on Princess Mononoke & Spirited Away. I'm expecting another one on this but I'll go through the appeal process like I did last time. Hopefully I will be able to get the video back.
@@StoryDive Does a strike on a video mean a strike on the channel too?... because if so, wow- do you have two strikes? ):
To tell the truth... I thought this a fever dream when I was younger XD
Can we talk about how gorgeous and beautiful the music in this film is? ITS HEAVENLY!!!
Ponyo was my absolute FAVORITE movie growing up, I still remember screaming to my parents “Ponyo! I wanna watch ponyo!”
I remember watching this movie over and over again when I was really little. I remember it somehow, but couldn’t find the title for so long. It was always a small memory that stuck for so long.
I never thought there would be so many references in Ponyo! I love that movie, it's lovely. As always thank you for your research!
I love how when he mentioned valkyries ride of the valkyries started playing, not many people know the name of that song so kudos
So just like the writers of Airplane scoured every airplane disaster movie for jokes and clichés, Miyazaki scoured every sea myth for something useful to make his story more marketable?
- Sounds like doing research into different cultures' stories and experiences might help you in making a successful product. A good lesson that Tolkien himself technically gave us.
ponyo looks like the nyngo - a Japanese mermaid. Has the body of a fish and the face of a person
AHHH omg Ponyo was my CHILDHOOD.
I loved that movie and I spent years looking for it.
Ponyo is a favorite of mine 🥰 I appreciate you putting so much effort into a video about it
This was and still is my favorite movie❤️
Ponyo is cute! The whole anime is just wholesome.
In my opinion, Once on this Island and The Lure are the best retellings to Andersen's Little Mermaid.
I want a prequel about Ponyo parents.
IKR! Fujimoto and his wifey are so freakn interesting.
@@melissavaldez5334 I know right?
This was the first movie I ever watched. I remember being so scared of the villain, that my mother had to get me out of the theater beacuse I wouldn’t stop crying.
Ironic how the "villain" is arguably the most precious thing in the movie.
@@anitamihholap5926 We stan Fujimoto
Ponyo is my favorite movie I can watch it almost every year and not get bored of it. I wish they put it on Netflix.
Just an idea that came to my mind regarding the size of Ponyos family. It is kind of simplyfied but they are depicted as fish girls and fish normally have a huge amount of offsprings (because most fish don't show parental behavior) ranging from 1000 to even millions of eggs. So maybe thats the reason for Ponyo having so much sisters because they all emerged from a huge spawn and the reason why they all are alive and didn't die is because other than fish Fujimoto (growing up as human and being used to humans parental behavior) took care of all of them :D
This is awesome! I looked for a video just like this after watching Ponyo and came up short. A few months later this excellent video popped up in my recommendations! Thank you for this video! It's made it all the more clear how much love and care was put into this film! Miyazaki and team are not only artists but scholars as well!
This was incredible!!! 🤩 I love learning other cultures' mythology, especially the myths that stick around long enough to appear in modern media.
AWESOME work! You drew from so many sources and gave good explanations for each one.. Truly fascinating. Loved the video; keep it up 👍
I’ve been waiting years for a video like this! Thank you for all your research 🙏🏻
If you happen to be near Fukuyama in Hiroshima prefecture, don't miss the small port town of Tomonoura. Its cove inspired Miyazaki for the scenery in "Ponyo".
Ponyo was so fascinating when I first watched it, it somehow holds such an important spot in my heart
Wonderful. As ever, your level of detail continues to astonish me
.... Ponyo was my childhood... Favourite anime with Totoro
HEY SD. - Story Dive, your video analysis is, as always, concise, very well researched, eloquently spoken, great work. ; )
Great video and theories ! Loved it! Ponyo is a favorite of mine so this was super fascinating !!!
Saw this movie back when I was around 4, and still now that I’m 17 cannot stop re-watching it. I love ponyo!
Loved this video, thank you you for posting!
I loved it - so many references- absolutely fantastic! Great job!
You’re crazy awesome! Thank you for making the video!
Thank you for the hard work you must've put in this video :)
I love all Miyazaki movies. I've collected them all and watched them countless times🤗😍❤️💕
OMG THIS IS SO GOOD AND WELL RESEARCHED 💖💖💖💖
Amazing job 💖🙏🏼🌊
This is awesome, I would never have guesses there are so many origins for the film. Thank you very much!
I’ve been trying to remember this show forever. Thank you
So interesting! Great video essay as always.
Wow, you've really done great research! Appreciate this. ❤️
I can't believe how much research you have done ❤💖💜
Something about Ponyo back when I was younger and even now Just give me a sense of Nostalgia more then any other kid movie I don’t know what it is
Talasa makes sense as THE godess for one more reason. Granmamare mentiones Devonian sea of all seas, which is known as the Pantalasa (all sea in Greek).
Amazing breakdown as always ^_______^
So entertaining.
Thank you for this beautiful analysis ✨🐬✨
Great stuff! Thank you.
Ponyo her self is based off the yokai "Kingyo no yūrei". A ghost who was murderer by drowning fish bow with a goldfish in it. The goldfish’s body takes on some of the features of the soul stuck inside of it, becoming a comically grotesque amalgamation of human and fish. This is why she is mistaken for a goldfish but looks really weird. The story you listed falls under how Kingyo no yurei.
That was so detailed! Thank you.
I can't believe I didn't see the connection between ponyo and the little mermaid 🙈
Great video btw ☺️💕
Put this on my watch later list days ago, watched the movie for the first time just now and now its time for your video
Subscribed! Awesome content. Greetings from Brazil!
This is indeed super interesting and well researched 👍
what an amazing video , so informative and interesting 👍
hayao miyazaki: *makes a film*
pigs: aw shit, here we go again
Que trabalho incrível, você está de parabéns!!!
Really interesting & comprehensive. I was about to comment about Tethys because she is used to name the Paleo-Tethys Ocean which is one of the primary oceans in the Devonian Period and is the mother of the Oceaniads who reminded me of Ponyo's sisters, but then you mentioned her in a later section.
This was amazingly in depth 👍
Incredible! You broke this movie down like a kitkat bar!
Love it! New subscriber 🙌😻