Anime Review: Porco Rosso #blogpost

Thank you for clicking this post. I know it’s not a car related anime by all means. But, it’s a damn great plane anime. Directed by the Hayao Miyazaki, it is a must watch anime if you’re in to Studio Ghibli or any animated movies. If you didn’t know, Mr. Miyazaki is a plane enthusiast. He never wanted to make this movie because it was far from family friendly fantasy movies Studio Ghibli was famous for. He himself told that it was too plane oriented. But by popular demand, the concept became real. This is one of those “every scene is beautiful” anime. But unlike Redline, which I reviewed few weeks ago, this anime is very realistic… except for the fact that the main character is a pig.

But we’ll talk about that later. Let’s talk about the anime itself first. I can feel that Mr. Miyazaki put his heart and soul in to this because it is romantic. Not because it involves love(it does though), but it captured the romance of flying. With it’s beautiful 1930’s Adriatic sea in Italy and oh so beautiful planes, it is romantic. I’m not plane guy, let’s clarify that. I’m just in to mechanical stuffs, mostly cars and engines. Oh look, an engine! A 34.6 liter 1000hp V12 Fiat AS.3 engine.

If you’re not hooked yet, I guess I’ll tell you a lick of the story. The main character is a WW1 veteran who has become a pig after all of his friends died during a dogfight. After realizing about the Fascism and Mussolini, he became a freelance bounty hunter. He became famous for his flight skills and shooting only the engine to allow enemies to safely land at sea, then negotiating. The major part that made me to write this review is his connection with his plane. It is just like how we love cars. He even calls his engine ‘Engine-chan’ like it was some sort of being.

(Warning, Spoilers)

Later that night, rivalry happens, got shot down by the rival because of a leaking engine, does a great restore and engine swap moment just like the Initial D or the Fast & Furious 3, meets this cute girl companion, the rival falls in love with this companion, and offers the pig to a dogfight. The deal was that he’ll pay the pig the engine swap cost if the pig wins and if the rival wins, the pig has to give up the girl.

(Spoiler Free)

Unlike other Ghibli’s works, this one is light and more of a cliché story than a vast fantasy story with deep, secret meanings. So sit back, maybe grab a cup of tea instead of popcorns, and enjoy this classic.

The next review will also be about planes because it was the Miyazaki’s last work and I believe the greatest work.

Kaede out