From Up on Poppy Hill

Did You Know?

• Umi's father was killed when his Landing Ship, Tank was sunk by mines in the Korean War, and Shun's biological father died aboard a repatriation vessel after World War II.
• An exhibition titled THE ART OF From Up On Poppy Hill, featuring over 130 art and storyboards, was held at the Seibu Ikebukuro Main Store in Tokyo from July 23 to 28, 2011.
• Japanese Blu-Ray release was June 20, 2012.

Plot

In 1963 Yokohama, teenager Umi Matsuzaki lives in Coquelicot Manor, a boarding house overlooking the port. Her mother is a medical professor studying in the United States, so Umi runs the household and cares for her younger siblings and grandmother. Each morning she raises signal flags reading "I pray for safe voyages." A poem about the flags appears in the school newspaper, written by Shun Kazama, who sees them from his father's tugboat.

Umi initially misjudges Shun after a daredevil stunt at the Latin Quarter, an old clubhouse threatened with demolition. She later visits the Latin Quarter with her sister and learns Shun and student council president Shirō Mizunuma run the newspaper. Umi persuades them to renovate the building, and students of both sexes join the effort. Umi and Shun develop feelings for each other.

At a party, Umi shows Shun a photograph of three naval men, one being her deceased father, Yūichirō Sawamura, killed during the Korean War. Shun is shocked because he has an identical photo. His adoptive father reveals that after World War II, Yūichirō brought an infant—Shun—to their home with a birth certificate. Shun avoids Umi, then tells her they are siblings.

They suppress their romance and remain friends. The renovation finishes, but the school board still plans demolition. Umi, Shun, and Shirō travel to Tokyo and convince chairman Tokumaru to inspect the Latin Quarter. Umi later confesses her love to Shun, and he reciprocates despite their situation.

Voice cast

Masami Nagasawa voices Umi Matsuzaki, the eldest daughter running a lodging house and a Konan Academy student; young Umi is voiced by Aoi Watanabe. In the English version, Sarah Bolger voices both versions. Junichi Okada voices Shun Kazama, the school newspaper president; Anton Yelchin voices him in English. Okada also provides the uncredited voice of Yūichirō Sawamura, Umi's deceased father.

Keiko Takeshita voices Hana Matsuzaki, Umi's maternal grandmother and boarding house owner; Edie Mirman voices her in English. Jun Fubuki voices Ryoko Matsuzaki, Umi's mother and a medical professor in the United States; Jamie Lee Curtis voices her in English. Yuriko Ishida voices Miki Hokuto, a doctor-in-training at Coquelicot; Gillian Anderson voices her in English. Nao Ōmori voices Akio Kazama, Shun's adoptive father; Chris Noth voices him in English.

Takashi Naito voices Yoshio Onodera, a ship captain and old friend of the parents; Bruce Dern voices him in English. Shunsuke Kazama voices Shirō Mizunuma, student council president and Shun's friend; Charlie Saxton voices him in English. Kazama also provides the uncredited voice of Hiroshi Tachibana, Shun's deceased father. Teruyuki Kagawa voices Chief Director Tokumaru, the school board chairman; Beau Bridges voices him in English.

Haruka Shiraishi and Tsubasa Kobayashi voice Umi's younger siblings Sora and Riku; Isabelle Fuhrman, Alex Wolff, and Raymond Ochoa voice them in English. Rumi Hiiragi voices Sachiko Hirokoji, an art college student; Aubrey Plaza voices her in English. Eiko Kanazawa voices Saori Makimura, a boarder; Christina Hendricks voices her in English. Toshimi Kanno and Aoi Teshima voice Umi's friends Nobuko and Yuko; Emily Osment and Bridget Hoffman voice them in English.

Production

The film was officially revealed as Studio Ghibli's 2011 project on December 15, 2010, based on the 1980s shōjo manga by Tetsuo Sayama and Chizuru Takahashi. Gorō Miyazaki directed, his second work after Tales from Earthsea. Co-producers included Studio Ghibli, Nippon Television Network, Dentsū, Hakuhōdō DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Tōhō. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, rolling blackouts forced animation to proceed at night, with progress at about 50% instead of an expected 70%.

Hayao Miyazaki assured the public the film would still release on July 16, 2011. Gorō Miyazaki noted some staff experienced mental affectedness from the disaster. He researched Yokohama but chose to depict it as "shimmering and bustling with life" from the characters' viewpoint rather than simply re-enacting historical details. For the Latin Quarter, he worked with art directors who added ideas about clutter and drew on his own college memories. Animation directors included Akihiko Yamashita, Atsushi Yamagata, Kitarō Kōsaka, Takeshi Inamura, and Shunsuke Hirota.

Reception

From Up on Poppy Hill grossed 587,337,400 yen over July 16–18, 2011, placing third at the Japanese box office with over 445,000 viewers. Audience surveys showed 57% female and 43% male viewers; 34.8% were in their twenties, 18.9% aged 16–19, and 32.6% over 30. The film crossed 3 billion yen by August 21–22, 2011. Worldwide, it earned $1,002,895 in North America and $60,456,530 elsewhere, totaling $61,459,425.

It is the 14th highest-grossing anime film and the highest-grossing Ghibli film about Japanese local customs, behind The Wind Rises, and its 7th best-grossing in the United States. In France, it gathered over 287,281 viewers in four weeks, far more than Tales from Earthsea. Rotten Tomatoes sampled 87 reviews, with 87% positive and an average rating of 7.2/10; the consensus called it gentle and nostalgic. Metacritic rated it 71 out of 100 based on 20 reviews.

Mark Schilling of The Japan Times described it as a pure-hearted, melodramatic youth film, criticizing the story as predictable and the direction as pedestrian, but praising period detail. Takashi Kondo of The Daily Yomiuri said it is filled with experiences lost in daily life and called the father-son joint production a wonderful result.