JConn13

I agree that the show is charming because of the interactions between the two protagonist, but I felt that the show lacked in character development. It seemed to me that our hero Tsubaki-kun never learned anything new. He learned that Urabe is a mysterious girlfriend, but their relationship never grows beyond the physical realm. They don’t seem to deepen their affection through dire circumstance, rather in small and trivial life affairs. It begs the question of whether the show is accurately and authentically portraying a young romance, or does the show fail to demonstrate a believable romantic narrative altogether. The musical score was alluring and created an excellent tone for the story. The left me with a feeling stuck, and a little upset that Tsubaki seems to be the partner that always sacrifices less than Urabe for the sake of the relationship. At the end of the day, I was charmed by the show and would recommend it with the same warnings you’ve included. Cool article.

This is a great article, but I think trying to tackle so many of Miyazaki’s works in a short article does not illustrate the impact of each individual film. In Spirited Away, Chihiro does lose her name and becomes Sai, when she works at the bathhouse, which I think would have been cool to further analyze in the discussion of identity as it relates to the individual, work life, and social life. More importantly, how its loss and recovery impacts the evolution of the character and her development. Growing up, we take on many roles in life, and change who we are, but ultimate we return to a singular name that represents a unique sense of self. In essence we grow into our names and define ourselves along the road of life to fill that name out with individual character traits and choices.

This is a cool article, and you picked some great sources. I just started reading comics and graphic novels, but have found them enlightening. I’ve been drawn to manga, and Tezuka’s work is pretty awesome.