March 12th, 2008: The Month of Miyazaki

The year: 2006. The month: February. Toonami had just finished 2005 strong - perhaps the last strong year the block would ever have.

It was a year of highs... Zatch Bell! kicked things off, dependably supplying decent action and drama even during the slowest months. Then there was the blitzkrieg of new shows in the fall. Naruto was a smash from the outset. Perhaps even more interestingly, it aired with the "TV-PG" label, the first time a Toonami show had sported that rating since Gundam Wing ran uncut in 2000. Bobo-Bo-Bobobo, undeniably the strangest show Toonami has ever aired, also began its run. Teen Titans premiered its final episodes, with the oddly touching - if depressing - classic finale "Things Change". Justice League Unlimited wrapped up with "Epilogue", a superb conclusion to the Bruce Timm DC Universe (if you ignore the third season that aired in 2006.) And then, as if batting cleanup, the excellent first season of The Batman aired as well as the first 13 episodes of the Toonami original series IGPX.

It was also a year of lows... Zatch Bell! was highly edited, far more than it needed to air on Toonami. One Piece premiered, which would have been a benefit if it weren't for the fact that the show had been thoroughly massacred by 4Kids Entertainment. The now-forgotten DICE managed to last roughly a month on Toonami before being shuffled off to 6:00 in the morning. Megas XLR concluded with a hilarious, but rushed, ending. YuYu Hakusho was spirited away from Toonami (pun intended), and finished its run by languishing in a practically unwatchable slot, at the tail end of what I personally called "The Bomb Block". Gundam SEED also finished its run late on Friday nights by kicking off "The Bomb Block", with a surprisingly light edit of its final two episodes capping the show. It then reran on that slot for 20-odd episodes before being taken off for good: a sad, forgotten conclusion to Gundam on US television.

So when 2006 rolled around, no one truly knew what the year would hold. Undoubtedly, most of the new shows, save The Batman, were doing well enough to continue. Justice League Unlimited was going to return for an unexpected third season. Naruto especially looked like a hit. But there was trepidation surrounding the latest Toonami acquisition, the puppet show known as Wulin Warriors. Announcements regarding the block's future seemed few and far between. There was no sign of IGPX at the time.

But then in January 2006, advertisements began circling around Miguzi, Toonami, and even Cartoon Network itself. In February, Toonami would air four movies from the famed director Hayao Miyazaki, one per week. Appropriately, this event would be called the "Month of Miyazaki".

Not surprisingly, perhaps, the Academy Award-winner Spirited Away would lead the charge. Following that would be the three movies perhaps more suitable for the Toonami audience: Princess Mononoke, Castle In The Sky, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The movies were highly promoted, with commercials showing with every end credit on Miguzi, during all Toonami shows, and even during and after many shows on Cartoon Network at large

There was some criticism of the move, of course. Turner Classic Movies itself had aired all four movies in recent memory - uncut and commercial-free, and even reran the movies in the Japanese language with English subtitles for the purists. But this doubt failed to make much headway. How many people in Toonami's demographic would ever watch TCM, anyway? Well, I had...but I was long out of the demographic by that point. Regardless, I thoroughly loved all four movies (and still do), so I intended to watch them again anyway. And then, trouble. At least for me.

Comcast, being the first-rate incompetents/jerks that they are, blocked the broadcast of Spirited Away, as well as the entire Toonami block that day (this had begun randomly since Naruto premiered.) That had to have murdered Spirited Away's ratings in the Chicago market, and thus impacted how well it did nationwide. Thankfully, I had already seen it and so can offer a review.

The movie did not fit Toonami well at all. It is thoughtful. It is gorgeous. It is a heartfelt film with a profound message about kindness and greed. It has one of the most flawed and layered heroines of Miyazaki films, Chihiro. After what she goes through in the course of the film, you can't help but root for her. It has a fairly gross scene where the parents turn into pigs. It has some intense moments, but this is a drama movie - not an action movie. Nevertheless, it is a superb anime and I'm happy it received an airing on Toonami, and at least did well enough to be rerun multiple times on the network. In short, Spirited Away was a bright spot in a blemish-filled 2006.

Next up, Princess Mononoke. The first TV-14 animated production to find its way on Toonami, Princess Mononoke fit the theme of the block better. It was intense in places, kicking off affairs with an awesome, well-choreographed action sequence against a parasitic warthog-demon. It dealt with more mature themes and subjects than anything else on Toonami. And it also aired completely uncut, with every severed limb (and even a severed head) left in. This made Princess Mononoke a groundbreaking event for Toonami in many ways, solidifying earlier announcements that the Saturday Toonami would become Cartoon Network's teen block.

The third movie is perhaps the most charming of the four: Castle In The Sky. I just adore this film. The steampunk setting of the movie, its breathtaking environments, the World War I-style clothing... Like Princess Mononoke, the movie piled on the action, but with a much lighter touch. The emotional torrents and rage of Princess Mononoke are not present. Instead, it is a straight-ahead fantasy opera, much like Star Wars, in the way it combines action, humor, and drama. Thanks to characters that have multiple motivations (and will definitely surprise you), and the glorious sight of Laputa itself, this is perhaps the most imaginative of the "mainstream" Miyazaki films and one I would recommend alongside Spirited Away for a younger viewer.

The event concluded with the very first Miyazaki movie, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It's probably not surprising that it's the most flawed movie of the four. It has several rough edges - this was Studio Ghibli's first production. There are a couple of subplots that are dropped or feel tacked-on to make the movie longer. The mixture of medieval vibe and science fiction technology isn't well-explained, but it makes the movie distinctive. And the animation doesn't always hold up, especially during non-action sequences. There is even some mild (and I mean mild) Nausicaa fanservice.

That's not to say it's necessarily bad. It has a lot of themes that are frequent in the "serious" Hayao Miyazaki movies, and even some later, unrelated animated productions made by ex-Ghibli members. It has a quality story and decently-defined characters that you root both for and against. But it gave me the feeling that Miyazaki originally had a lot more planned for it, but was unable to include it all.

Overall, it was a good, albeit slightly flawed selections of movies. But I won't be too hard on Nausicaa and Spirited Away. They're both good, and Spirited Away was inevitable as an Oscar winner. They also aired with frequent, and long, commercial breaks that at times made me wonder if the movie would ever come back on. But I suppose that was to be expected, considering how much this event was being hyped. Advertisers would want their products hawked as much as possible.

The aftermath: not much happened, yet a lot happened at the same time.

Nausicaa and Castle In The Sky have never been seen again. Spirted Away has aired multiple times and it seems Cartoon Network is intent on keeping the license renewed. Princess Mononoke reportedly will air again late this March. The Month of Miyazaki also made the arrival of Howl's Moving Castle possible, with that film due to air this month on Cartoon Network. Hopefully, Howl will do well.

But the Month of Miyazaki was the swan song of Toonami in 2006. After these movies aired, both Miguzi and Toonami began long declining periods until both blocks were having identity crises and being mere shadows of their former selves. I don't think the movies themselves were responsible for this, but I do think these movies are indicative of a trend, however.

This was the final time Cartoon Network entrusted Toonami to be the headliner of their network. Every movie aired afterwards has the feeling of an afterthought - because there is no other place to put it - and were barely promoted outside of the block. After a while, movies vanished off of Toonami completely...like everything else has.

In the end, Month of Miyazaki may be remembered as something it was never intended to be. It may be, like Giant Robot Week was to mecha almost exactly three years before, that the Month was the beginning of the end for Toonami's era of feature films. But unlike Giant Robot Week, which can be viewed as a total (or at least partial) failure, I don't feel that way about Month of Miyazaki.

I think of the Month as something special, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that may never happen again, that enchanted many people and gave them something truly special and different from everything else on television. It was reminiscent of the old Cartoon Network spirit, and embodied the initial goals of the channel.

In that regard, Month of Miyazaki was a complete success.

 

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