They feed Anna well with their own grown food and encourage her to have her space and enjoy the fresh, clean air. Aunt and Uncle Oiwa are friendly, inviting, and warm. By recommendation by her doctor, Anna is sent on a vacation, staying with her aunt and uncle to rejuvenate.Īnna’s stay with her relatives is a mess from the beginning, not because of a failure to engage but rather a simple lack of understanding on everyone’s part. Even worse, we find out in this opening that she’s only 12 years old and far too young to have a fuller understanding of her mental health.
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She used to be more expressive.” This, coupled with Anna keeping to herself at school and putting all her focus into a sketch rather than interacting with her peers, makes it clear Anna is likely suffering from depression, without the language or tools to name it. Marnie opens on Anna Sasaki (Sara Takatsuki) suffering from an asthma attack at school, and Anna’s adopted mom notices the mental illness her daughter is struggling with, but can’t place it: “She’s probably a hermit at school… She won’t show her emotions.
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Marnie captures the joys of youth, sure, but it’s anchored not by celebration but depression. Yet the film also defines itself as a heavier look at youth, a childhood marred by stifled emotions and a struggle to create. Marnie marks itself as a film chasing the ghost of its past, an eerie film to end an era of some of the best animated films of all time, films that define joy and imagination in youth. On the precipice of a hiatus, Ghibli gave us When Marnie Was There (2014), directed by Hiromasa Yonebashi.
![anna when marnie was there anna when marnie was there](https://otakubrit.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/bd0ed49a81d063fb193d96139fde38f3.png)
Miyazaki was particularly concerned in creating complex characters for young women to identify with, especially with Chihiro in Spirited Away (2001) and Setsuki and Mei in My Neighbor Totoro (1988), the struggles and triumphs of childhood through a feminine lens define the most seminal work of the studio. Studio Ghibli films, especially those written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, focus on the innocence and wonder of childhood.