“Might Is Rarely Equal”: 4.4 out of 5 for this animated film that rocked our youth!

Pompoko, directed in 1994 by Isao Takahata at Studio Ghibli, was originally released in French cinemas on January 18, 2006. This masterpiece of Japanese animation returns to theaters in a restored version.

Grave of fireflies and memories drop by drop, Takahata leaves people to stage Tanukis. These are small animals of the Canidae family, which are mainly found in China, Korea and Japan.

Often confused with the raccoon or badger, they are an integral part of Japanese folklore, centering many tales. According to legend, Tanuk can change shape at will and mold surrounding objects to his will.

He is also one of the Seven Gods of Fate along with Ebisu, Daikoku, Fuku, Suku, Dharma and Otafuku. In Isao Takahata’s film, the Tanuks easily share their living space with the peasants.

Riddled with inter-tribal battles, their carefree lives lead them to ignore the ever-closer presence of men… until the day the latter decide to claim their territory and turn the mountain into a city.

Changing shape at will, Tanukis will try to scare people with their extraordinary powers. However, men will need more to stop deforestation. The Tanuk response to the expansionist threat is organized, but the animals are not out of their misery!

An ecological tale and an ode to nature, Pompoco won the main prize at the 1995 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. The story takes us back to the plans to build new cities that proliferated in Japan in the 1960s. ecological balance.

Thus, the story takes place west of Tokyo in Tama Kyuriu (Tama Hill), where a new city was built at the time. It still exists today as the “Tama New City”.

Released in July 1994 in Japan, just days before Disney’s The Lion King, Pompoko ended the year at number one at the box office and became Studio Ghibli’s biggest hit in the Land of the Rising Sun.

He has since been dethroned by Princess Mononoke in 1997 and Spirited Away in 2001, both directed by Hayao Miyazaki, with Takahata as Ghibli’s main backer. The latter, who died in 2018, believed that what was happening to the Tanicus was similar to what we are experiencing.

“We tanukis are forced to shoot in city dwellers! This is especially true of rural dwellers who come to work in Tokyo and are victims of stress, heart disease.”He said in the columns of Positive No. 425.

Coming to cinemas in France 12 years after its release from Japan, the work attracted an estimated 260,000 viewers. Note that the pompoko is the sound made by the tanuki when he beats the drum on his round belly, which is a sign of good fortune.