440https://i.ur.com/KaPLp4P.jpg Pom Poko stands out among Isao Takahatas films with a strong central conflict driving its animated whimsy. It doesnt take itself too seriously its chockfull of sight gags and colorful references to Japanese folklore. Reviewers often say that it has a message but I would argue that it has a zeitgeist and not the garden variety environmentalism that its commonly ascribed with. Its the same zeitgeist that undergirds numerous other Ghibli flicks and by extension their brand in one respect it is the truest and most plainspoken of them resembling something of a manifesto. Ironically it is also the most misunderstood and controversial Ghibli film in the west due to the culture shock barrier the tanuki of mythology with their big sack energyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BakedanukiTraits and the metaphorical role they play in the film which may be lost on western audiences unaware of Japans great postwar migration from the countryside to the city. 440https://i.ur.com/q3mpnmR.jpg Tokyos limitless urban sprawl has reached the distant forests of the mythological tanuki woodland critters with a latent ability to shapeshift and a penchant for pranks. As construction projects turn their mountain forests into barren mounds awaiting concrete apartment blocks what remains of the local clans unite and rediscover the art of transformation. With their powers they spook the humans sabotage construction equipment and cause worksite mayhem in a series of increasingly imaginative and audacious stunts drawing on the oni and ykai of folklore. Contrary to Takahatas trademark anime neorealismhttps://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/IsaoTakahataInfluencesandstyle Pom Poko cuts loose with its cartoon comedy and absurd ideas its deft mixture of laughs satire apocalyptic overtones and cultural criticism make it my favorite Takahata flick. Try as the tanuki might to impede it the march of progress cannot be stopped. The old men of Ghibli would know. Spending an entire career in Tokyos concrete jungle as Takahata Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki have may make a person wistful for a simpler imagined rural lifestyle. Ghibli film after film sells this particular fantasy an escape to a faraway Japanese or European countryside where its quietude and natural splendor offers something essential to the human spirit that was perhaps lost in the hustle and bustle of city life. Pom Poko is the most direct expression of this metropolitan claustrophobia here the idealized countryside is at war with Tokyos urban sprawl. The films full name is approximately Heiseierahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisei Tanuki War Ponpoko. In this unwinnable campaign the tanuki undergo stages of grief with the retreat of their heritage to the cold concrete of modernity. They not only wage war but simultaneously negotiate and adapt if not succumb to despair. In one of the earliest scenes they secure burgers from McDs for their first taste of modern living. They procure a functional television from a roadside dump to study human culture and gauge the success of their supernatural terrorism tactics on the evening news. In various outings they shapeshift into humans and try taking on menial jobs. 440https://i.ur.com/ioQADCz.jpg Adapt or die. Pom Poko is not a call to save the nonendangered Japanese raccoon doghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japaneseraccoondog or the extremely plentiful Japanese mountain wilderness. The mythological tanukis plight is ultimately our plight and the film emphasizes their unreality by continually showing realistically drawn raccoon dogs in contrast. Instead the fantastical tanuki are symbols of traditional Japanese culture values and a lifestyle at harmony with nature and its those things that are endangered by urban life argues the film. Their shapeshifting pranks force the witless humans to confront the culture theyve discarded. At one point they use their collective power to cast an illusion across the urban landscape depicting what once was an idyllic Ghibliesque farming village entrancing the cityfolk under a spell of nostalgia. The most skilled tanuki eventually become incognito salarymen chugging energy drinks to fight off the fatigue inherent in the joyless motions of modernity their identity and heritage sacrificed on its altar. But after the workday is done they return to their forests and frolic in the fields. Such probably wasnt the daily routine for a Ghibli staffer but they could certainly dream. 440https://i.ur.com/VBmJUOM.jpg Ghibli store in Kawagoe 2017 their idyllic countryside fantasy beckons. Addendum: Watching it dubbed would spoil the films essential Japanese flavor. The everpresent voiceover narrator is a rakugo master and not a stock anime VA for example. Comment on this reviewhttps://anilist.co/activity/86036801 Also related: Nausica reviewhttps://anilist.co/review/7355