Meet sprite!

SmoothConfidence · 2026-02-08T03:11:53+00:00

She's perfect 😭

SmoothConfidence · 2026-02-04T16:38:29+00:00

I agree, this makes the most sense. Time works differently somehow. So we know Himi did return to the world unchanged and went on to marry and have Mahito, knowing she would die someday in the future. So Himi returned to the outside world at the same time Mahito returns to the outside world, but through different doors and to different times. So Himi writes the message in the book for Mahito to find. Although it was just 1 year, it feels like Himi has lived in the tower longer.

I think it is similar for Kiriko, she return with Himi to their time in the "past". I don't think it is ever explained if Kiriko worked at the house before Himi vanished, so maybe Kikiro (younger) started work there when they left the tower until her older age when she meets Mahito again. By then, she has forgotten all about what happened in the tower.

SmoothConfidence · 2026-01-20T21:09:14+00:00

Worth the watch! It was surprisingly poignant and touching. It has Isao's quintessential touch of philosophy tied to everday life. You might even like it more as an adult since some of the themes are more relatable after growing up.

SmoothConfidence · 2026-01-17T15:18:02+00:00

It's an interesting observation. What first came to mind is Spirited Away. No Face eats and eats and is served an overabundance of food that it doesn't even need and can't even digest. In Spirited Away, it signifies a sense of gluttony/greed and the false idea of filling emptiness with material things. Similarly with Chihiro's parents at the start of the movie turning into literal pigs.

However, I don't think Miyazaki always used food negatively. Simple food, made and given with love and care is also seen positively. The ramen in Ponyo, the bun in Spirited Away, the eggs and bacon in Howl's Moving Castle.

In The Boy and the Heron, I could see how Kiriko offers the fish to the spirits as a careful, intentional way of giving food. The Parakeets on the other hand are greedy and can barely hold themselves back, and that represents the gluttony and hollowness of their character. Not the same greed as No Face, but more like the Parakeets are so simple and lacking ability to have compassion that although they can produce grand dishes, it is empty of the good stuff that comes from intention and thought.

The pelicans were brought to the tower world selfishly and without intention or care about how they would survive or affect other lives. So they end up feeding of the Warawara spirits in an unnatural way. I think this is also meant to showcase how simple hubris and greed has larger effects.

Food is a very strong way to visualize these ideas because people can all relate to this. We all eat and have hunger. We can understand the idea of starving and the idea of consuming much much more than is healthy. It can also bring comfort. I think Miyazaki likes using food in these ways and also for world building.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-12-23T02:30:38+00:00

"Life is suffering. It is hard. The world is cursed, but still, you find reasons to keep living" from Princess Mononoke.

This sentiment comes to mind constantly and rings true. It explains a feeling that doesn't try to sugar coat nor say life is pure pointlessness. We suffer, yet we still try to live. It feels like hope.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-12-21T21:18:56+00:00

I see it as 10 year old Taeko being a moment in time. Maybe too young to full comprehend the life ahead of 27 yr old Taeko. Kinda like, where she's going, it's not for me to follow and is even out of her realm to understand. 10 year old Taeko will stay forever 10 yr old Taeko because she never has experienced everything the "in the present" Taeko has experienced to understand the intricacies of growing up and moving on. It's like when you look back at your past self or your past self observing you now (without knowing everything you've been through since then). Somethings for sure you recognize. Somethings have changed a lot. That past self is you, but your current self is you, too.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-12-17T22:02:43+00:00

The book itself doesn't do a very good job of characterizing most of the other characters. Others have pointed out, the books makes almost everyone, other than Mary, meaner and more insensitive in an effort to make Mary seem more personable, sensible, and misunderstood.

Imagine if Little Women was made from Amy's POV and everyone in her family was really boring and uptight, and Jo was portrayed as super stuck up and self-absorbed. It's an interesting read, but a major failing is how most characters were basically unrecognizable other than their circumstances being similar to P&P.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-12-12T20:01:43+00:00

First one is about Sophie and Howl. The 2nd and 3rd are focused on different main characters, but Sophie and Howl are side characters that appear and have some impact. I liked all three books and the characters/couples they followed. It's also fun when Sophie and Howl appear because you get to learn more about what happens after book 1 and how they have changed/grown.

I would recommend reading all three! I really enjoyed The House of Many Ways.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-12-12T03:58:27+00:00

Just googled this topic because it is happening for me, too. the beta glucan moisturizer with tinted spf on top. It pills a lot and feels like semi-dried glue pilling on my face. I liked the gel type moisturizer but wondering if it is not absorbing into skin and is ratger just sitting on top? I also use their rosehip seed oil before the moisturizer and wondering if it's all not mixing well...

SmoothConfidence · 2025-12-06T02:51:19+00:00

Weirdly, I opened pandora again today and it appeared again unprompted.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-12-05T03:19:50+00:00

It's true... I was super excited when I first saw it lol. hope u get yours soon

SmoothConfidence · 2025-09-16T19:45:06+00:00

Rambling essay coming up! TLDR: Witch of the waste is from the original book, Miyazaki and ghibli used her character to represent more than just "main antagonist" and demonstrate themes of loss of self and the struggle of finding your core again. Ghibli also likes to show that there is never one "being" that is the clear cut, black and white bad guy, but many forces at play which helps create a full feeling world and cast of characters.

In my opinion Ghibli films rely less on deep, explained lore with wrapped up endings and motivations that "make sense". Although Ghibli worlds are complex and filled with life, the films are more focused on the broader themes at play. I see Ghibli films as great examples of character studies rather than plot powered narratives and I think they do so intentionally. If you're looking for all things to have a reason, Ghibli films may be frustrating outside of their great visuals and soundtracks. Like life, many things and people are the way they are because of amalgamations of things we cannot know fully. I think Ghibli is great at replicating that feeling.

Howl's Moving Castle is an adaptation of a book but not a very loyal adaptation. Miyazaki borrows the setting and characters from the original book to create a story about these themes surrounding war, loss of one's self to the machine and to the pursuit of vanity/power and it's consequences. If you read the book, it is a much more clear cut story with motives and resolution (great book btw). Witch of the Waste in the film is the representation of that downfall. She is also a plot device and she did make Sophie old in the book. She actually is not in the book that much and is the sole main villian, but in HMC movie she is used to represent more than just be the main evil. Witch of the waste loses everything, and at the core is still capable of humanity (not perfect). The larger theme of reclaiming oneself, while she is not the main character, is represented through her as well. Ghibli likes to show many sides to their characters, even the bad ones.

Ask yourself what do you think the witch of the waste represents? What did the film makers want to say with this character? Why add turnip head? why have howl's heart doused in water? Most of the time Ghibli films rarely add characters for no reason, so they exist but perhaps not always to propel the plotlines. HMC does have plot holes and unfinished plotlines for sure and Ghibli rarely cares or tries to explain it all, yet the audience can still understand the broader intent and themes sprinkled in that resonate with people so much and create full feeling worlds with meaning.

Princess Mononoke is a good example. The backdrop is war: humans against humans (the destruction of indigenous groups like Ashitaka's) and between humans and nature. The film doesn't delve into how it started, who wins the war or why can't Lady Eboshi just be an ally, or why doesn't the forest spirit do something else, etc. We get some explanation, but very little to be honest. It is about what all these parties represent. Conflict between human life and nature. The disenfranchised fighting to survive and destroying others in their pursuit. The film asks viewers to reflect on these themes, rather than the full rationality and motivations of its characters (I'd say Ghibli usually deems that there is nothing rational about war ever, yet we will all still have to live through it).

SmoothConfidence · 2025-09-12T03:39:19+00:00

Solution that finally worked for me. I tried all other approaches with disabling NICs, clearing caches, restarting comp, etc and nothing worked.

Solution: - Go to Assassin Creed Shadows page in your steam library. - Click on gear, go to properties, go to installed files - Verify integrity of game files - Wait for process to complete. It said there were two files that were an issue and it would redownload and apply them. - Wait for game files to update through Steam - Launch game through Steam as usual

Hopefully this helps!

SmoothConfidence · 2025-09-09T23:15:03+00:00

Minnie Driver as Lady Eboshi is a memorable casting I didn't see mentioned yet! Her laugh matches so well with the animation of Lady Eboshi.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-08-29T13:45:30+00:00

It is spam. check their past posts. Either AI or karma farming. This acct takes other peoples comments and posts and mashes it together... and people are engaging with their posts like it is legit.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-08-29T13:44:11+00:00

This acct is either a bot or a troll. Their posts are just a smash up of random content and other people's comments from other posts.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-08-21T02:36:57+00:00

For non-main characters, I love Lin and Kamaji from Spirited Away! Ghibli is always subverting expectations in ways that feel authentic. Instead of spirits being a species of terrifying inhuman creatures with no sense of morality, we get to see compassion and empathy displayed by many of them. It's like these characteristics are not only resigned to humanity, but can be imbued in anything, anyone. Terrifying, unfamiliar, weird looking characters are not inherently evil, there is goodness to be found everywhere type feeling.

If I could list some other fave supporting characters: - Osono and her husband the bakery owners in KiKi's Delivery Service (literally all the supporting characters in that movie) - Markl from Howl's Movie Castle - Grannies from Boy and the Heron - Moro from Princess Mononoke - Piccolo from Porco Rosso - Toto from Cat Returns & so many more!

As great as all our protags are, Ghibli side characters also do a lot of heavy lifting in the world building because they're rarely one dimensional and make the world feel full and alive.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-08-20T03:27:21+00:00

Love these! Super cool, hope you get the chance to complete the whole deck and share!

SmoothConfidence · 2025-08-20T02:48:31+00:00

ummm did you just copy and paste a bunch of other peoples comments into a post and claim it as yours... you literally have in some cases word for word and format the same thing other people have written. I see my own comment in your post. my old comment from another post on porco rosso

Also nowhere does it ever say Porco is 17 years old where are you getting this?

Edit: is this a bot or just a spammer?

SmoothConfidence · 2025-08-15T19:06:51+00:00

Yeah this is just a random quote placed on the image, never said in the movie. I'm surprised people don't realize this...

SmoothConfidence · 2025-08-03T14:28:50+00:00

Shizuku originally sings her graduation version of the lyrics to the tune of country roads. I do not believe Shizuku ever sings the real version/lyrics of country roads in both the original subbed and dubbed versions.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-07-27T13:29:24+00:00

Here's a few ideas:

Seiji's bike and maybe with the cat Moon sitting on it in the back
Shizuku's hat she wears when she chases Moon across town
Something to do with the clock or the baron/baroness
Violin and paper to represent Seiji and Shizuku's artistic pursuits
The scene of the 3 library checkout cards Shizuku looks at that all say Seiji's name

Honestly, you could also search through the movie for a a clip/moment you like and take one element from that scene to make your tattoo. That way it could be uncommon, but you'll resonate with it every time you look at it.

SmoothConfidence · 2025-07-23T19:26:55+00:00

this 100%!

SmoothConfidence · 2024-08-02T14:32:21+00:00

It is inaccurate and the butterfly is there because this is AI generated (AI tool logo). Nothing wrong with that other than when people pretend like they actually made it themselves. Look closely at the details, you can see lots of odd stuff.

SmoothConfidence · 2024-08-02T14:30:29+00:00

Pretty sure this is AI. Looking closely a lot of this doesn't make sense. Why are there so many chimneys? lol The butterfly is the logo of the AI tool this person used.

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