The Miyazaki-Is-Disturbing Scale
Hayao Miyazaki has made a wide range of wonderful fantasy anime, and they each seem to be tailored to a particular age group. His major feature films seem to fall on a scale of Totally Germane For Toddlers to I'm An Adult And I'm Cringing Slightly. This is how I would rank his films on this scale:
Somehow I have missed seeing Porco Russo [sic], and thus cannot place it accurately on the scale. I should rectify this. I suspect it's in the middle somewhere, since it's about a flying ace pig.
[EDIT: I have since seen Porco Rosso and have placed it]
- My Neighbor Totoro, 1988 (Any age can watch this and enjoy it)
- Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, 2008 (This actually has a "bad guy" in it and thus is one step higher)
- Kiki's Delivery Service, 1989 (Kiki has a lot of challenges within herself to overcome, and some conflict)
- [EDIT: Porco Rosso, 1992 (Nobody dies, very little conflict besides dogfights where no one gets hurt)]
- Laputa: Castle in the Sky, 1986 (Lots of conflict, actual bad guys and high stakes adventure)
- Spirited Away, 2001 (Many nightmarish monsters, but nobody actually gets hurt)
- Howl's Moving Castle, 2004 (Depicts war, people get hurt)
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, 1984 (Psychadelic monsters and situations, blood and conflict)
- Princess Mononoke, 1997 film (Lots of blood and death and suffering and weird shit)
Somehow I have missed seeing Porco Russo [sic], and thus cannot place it accurately on the scale. I should rectify this. I suspect it's in the middle somewhere, since it's about a flying ace pig.
[EDIT: I have since seen Porco Rosso and have placed it]