Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is the latest film by Hayao Miyazaki, and it’s been quite an event here in Japan. It’s the story of a curious fish named Brunhilde who decides to sneak away from her father and sisters and see what’s on the surface. There she’s befriended by a human boy named Sosuke who names her Ponyo, and the two become fast friends. Because Ponyo licked a cut Sosuke had, she acquired the magical ability to assume human form, and she makes up her mind to leave the sea and live with her friend forever. It’s a simpler film than Miyazaki-sensei has made in the past, closer to My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery Service than to more plot-driven action films like Laputa. Just as his famous character Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was based on a character from Homer’s Odyssey and a Japanese folk story of a princess who loved insects, Ponyo is a fusion of multiple sources, namely The Little Mermaid with its core elements rearranged; the local version of mermaids, as drawn in a famous woodblock printing from the Edo Period; a reverse version of Urashima Taro, the tale of a Japanese fisherman who visits a magical undersea palace; Little One-Inch, the story of a tiny child who goes to live with a Japanese couple, eventually attaining full size after many adventures; and The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, about a child who emerges from a bamboo stump who turns out to be the Moon Princess. (This last tale is, I am certain, the basis for E.T. as well,) As is usually the case with Miyazaki’s films, there’s always one song that you can’t get out of your head, and the Ponyo theme (iTunes link) has been the most popular song in Japan for months. Ponyo, Ponyo, Ponyo…sakana no ko…
