星をかった日


(all vacation entries)

One of the highlights of a visit to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka is the chance to see an original short animated film produced to their high standards. Currently, it’s Hoshi wo katta hi, a story that becomes only slightly less incomprehensible if you can pick out some of the Japanese dialog.

If you go there while it’s still running, there are two things you should know. First, it’s based on the surrealist paintings of Naohisa Inoue, specifically his Iblard fantasy world. It doesn’t make a lot of sense because it’s, well, surreal.

Second, in the final scene (spoiler warning):


When Noa releases his planet into the universe, he’s told that it will be 60 years before it’s fully grown, and he must come back and see it then. He tells Niinya that it’s a shame she won’t be there to see it with him, to which she responds, roughly: “I’m a magic-user. My grandmother lived to be 200, so I’ll see you in 60 years.”