Films about filmmaking can be surprisingly engaging. Behind the blather about shot composition, editing, and getting actors on their marks, there can be a good subject for drama.Pompo The Cinéphilecapitalized on this with its story about the titular movie producer tasking her colleague, Gene Fini, to turn a high-quality script into an equally high-quality film.
Related:Pompo the Cinephile Review
Still,Pompois just one film. Once its 90 minutes are up, it’s over. What otheranimemovies can help scratch the itch the film gave its fans? Are there any other feature-length anime films about the highs and lows of creative media? There’s quite a few, surprisingly enough. From the least alike to most alike, here are theanime filmsPompofans should check out.
5The Wind Rises
ComparingPompoto Hayao Miyazaki’s finalStudio Ghibli filmseems a little odd.The Wind Risesis loosely based on the real-life history of Jiro Horikoshi, a young man who took up designing planes after his near-sightedness kept him from flying them. However,Pompohas been compared to the film in reviews.Notably by IndieWire, who saidPompo“whittle(d) the wounded beauty of Hayao Miyazaki’sThe Wind Risesdown to 90 minutes of feel-good fun”.
So, it wouldn’t hurt for fans to compare the two. Especially asRiseshas been praised for its visuals and bittersweet story. Unlike Gene, Horikoshi’s desire to design planes gets twisted. Set in the early 20th Century, Horikoshi is made to design fighter planes for the Japanese govt. He has to navigate his way through them, their Nazi allies, and the war on the horizon to maintain his love for his sick girlfriend Naoko, and his love for planes.
4Paprika
On the surface, this psychological sci-fi story (psy-fi, as it were) doesn’t have anything in relation toPompo. It’s about a research psychologist fighting against terrorism through the DC Mini, a new device that lets people look into both their dreams and the dreams of other people. It sounds more like aanime take onInceptionthan cinema. However, it delves in deeper than that.Paprikawould end up being the last finished film its director, Satoshi Kon, would complete before his death in 2010.
Related:Every Satoshi Kon Anime, Ranked According to IMDB
The film shows its love for filmmaking in navigating the line between fiction and reality. Where one ends, the other begins, and whether they’re opposites or not. While it’s part psycho-thriller,Paprikais also Kon expressing his own interest and love for films and creative media. His dreams in his cinematic ambitions, and the realities in his finished work. As odd as its premise is, it does get the audience thinking. Still, there is another Kon film that’s more straightforward in its subject.
3Millennium Actress
Satoshi Kon’s work often covered the ins and outs of media.Perfect Blueused its film setting to tell a slasher story about identity loss and mental strain. His series,Paranoia Agent, talked about the power of urban legends and how they can affect people.Millennium Actressretains the drama ofThe Wind Rises, while sticking closer to the filmmaking topic.
The film follows famous actress Chiyoko Fujiwara as she relates her life story to TV interviewer Genya Tachibana and his cameraman Kyoji Ida. The two find themselves literally absorbed into her flashbacks, watching her fall for a mysterious resistance fighter in occupied Manchuria, and her career as presented through her different film roles (her jealous, older co-star presented as a geisha drama, etc.)Millennium Actressbrings the love of film shown inPompo, witha bittersweet romancethat’ll move even the sternest hearts.
2Animation Runner Kuromi-chan
This one might be a little hard to find nowadays and is technically a 2-part OVA than a solo film. Yet its subject is perhaps the closest toPompoin its cutesy art style and filmmaking topic.Kuromitells the story of an anime fan called Mikiko ‘Kuromi’ Ogura who gets the job of her dreams as an assistant at the anime company Studio Petit. But then things amp up when the director of their big project,Time Journeys, falls sick and names Kuromi as her successor.
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Now Kuromi has to help finish the studio’s projects to schedule while maintaining the quality of their previous works. No cutting corners, or animation frames. The OVA did get a DVD release back in the past via Central Park Media, though this was back in 2004. Still, it’s worth winkling out for its charm and influence. Most notably on the next example.
1Shirobako: The Movie
The originalShirobakoanime told the story of five young girls- Aoi, Ema, Shizuka, Misa and Midori- who made their way into the animation business after heading uptheir high school’s animation club. Through their different talents, they help their studio, Musashino Animation, create two big anime projects. The movie catches up with them a few years later when they have to tackle their biggest project yet: A feature length anime film for cinemas.
Despite Aoi’s doubts about the studio’s resources, they gain a new studio member- Kaede- who helps them make the most of what they have to produce a top-quality film worth of national theaters. The show & film have been praised for their attention to detail and character development, particularly with lead character Aoi. The Anime News Network went as far to say it “brighten(ed) the anime world”. So, in terms of being a feel-good flick about filmmaking with cutesy looks,Pompofans will find themselves most at home withShirobako.
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