While it is true that most of the Studio Ghibli classics are epic anime that feature magical stories and fantastic adventures, a number of their beloved releases are indeed ‘smaller films’ that tell realistic stories, like Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday and Tomomi Mochizuki’s Ocean Waves. And Goro Miyazaki’s From Up On Poppy Hill belongs to that latter group. It is a smaller-scale film that is charming and crowd-pleasing.
