From Up on Poppy Hill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids From Up on Poppy Hill |
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Japanese theatrical poster by Hayao Miyazaki
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| Directed by | Gorō Miyazaki |
| Produced by | Toshio Suzuki |
| Screenplay by |
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| Music by | Satoshi Takebe |
| Cinematography | Atsushi Okui |
| Editing by | Takeshi Seyama |
| Studio | Studio Ghibli |
| Distributed by | Toho |
| Release date(s) | July 16, 2011 (Japan) |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
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From Up on Poppy Hill (Japanese: コクリコ坂から, Hepburn: Kokuriko-zaka Kara, "From Coquelicot Hill") is a 2011 Japanese animated drama film directed by Gorō Miyazaki, scripted by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, and Toho, and distributed by the latter company. It is based on the 1980 serialized manga of the same name illustrated by Chizuru Takahashi and written by Tetsurō Sayama. The film stars the voices of Masami Nagasawa, Junichi Okada, Keiko Takeshita, Yuriko Ishida, Jun Fubuki, Takashi Naito, Shunsuke Kazama, Nao Ōmori and Teruyuki Kagawa.
Set in 1963 Yokohama, Japan, the film tells the story of Umi Matsuzaki, a high school girl living in a boarding house, 'Coquelicot Manor'. When Umi meets Shun Kazama, a member of the school's newspaper club, they decide to clean up the school's clubhouse, Quartier Latin. However, Tokumaru, the chairman of the local high school and a businessman, intends to demolish the building for redevelopment and Umi and Shun, along with Shirō Mizunuma, must persuade him to reconsider.
From Up on Poppy Hill premiered on July 16, 2011, in Japan. It received positive reviews from most film critics and grossed $61 million worldwide. An English version was distributed by GKIDS; it was released to theaters on March 15, 2013, in North America.
Plot
Umi Matsuzaki is a sixteen-year-old high school student living in Coquelicot Manor, a boarding house overlooking the Port of Yokohama in Japan. Her mother, Ryoko, is a medical professor studying in the United States. Umi runs the house and looks after her younger siblings and her grandmother. Each morning, Umi raises a set of signal flags with the message "I pray for safe voyages".
One day, a poem about the flags being raised is published in the school newspaper. Shun Kazama, the poem's author, witnesses the flags from the sea as he rides his father's tugboat to school. At first, Umi gets the wrong impression of Shun as he does a rash stunt on behalf of the "Latin Quartier", an old building housing their high school's clubs that's being threatened with demolition. Upon her sister's request, Umi accompanies her to obtain Shun's autograph at the Latin Quartier. She learns that Shun publishes the school newspaper, along with Shirō Mizunuma, the student government president. Umi convinces Shirō and Shun to renovate the Latin Quartier, and all the students contribute, both boys and girls. Umi and Shun start having feelings for each other.
At Coquelicot Manor, Umi shows Shun a photograph of three young naval men. One of these men is her deceased father, Yūichirō Sawamura, who was killed while serving on a supply ship during the Korean War. Shun is stunned to see it as it is revealed that he has a duplicate of the photograph. His father admits that, shortly after the end of World War II, Yūichirō arrived at their house one evening with an infant Shun. The Kazamas had recently lost a newborn baby, so they adopted Shun. At first, Shun tries to avoid Umi, then finally tells her they are siblings. Umi and Shun repress their romantic feelings and they continue to see each other as friends.
The renovation of the Latin Quartier is complete but the Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education decides to proceed with the building's demolition anyway. Shirō, Shun and Umi take the train to Tokyo, which is preparing for the 1964 Summer Olympics, and meet with Tokumaru, the school board's chairman. They successfully convince him to come inspect the Latin Quartier. Umi later professes her love to Shun, and he reciprocates in spite of their situation.
Back home, Umi discovers that her mother has returned. Her mother reveals that Shun's father was actually Hiroshi Tachibana, the second man in the photo. In 1945, Tachibana was killed in an accident on a repatriation ship. Shun's mother died in childbirth, and his other relatives were killed in the bombing of Nagasaki. Umi's mother was unable to raise Shun, as she was already pregnant with Umi at the time. Yūichirō registered the child as his own to avoid leaving Shun as an orphan in the confused postwar years, but Shun was eventually given to the Kazamas.
Tokumaru visits the Latin Quartier and, impressed by the students' efforts, cancels the demolition. Umi and Shun are summoned to the harbor. They meet Yoshio Onodera, now a ship's captain and the third man in the photograph, as well as the sole survivor of the three. Confirming that Umi and Shun are not related by blood, he tells the full story of the three men. With everything resolved, Umi resumes her daily routine of raising the flags, but now, it's not just for her father.
Voice cast
- Masami Nagasawa as Umi Matsuzaki (松崎 海, Matsuzaki Umi), the oldest daughter of a family that runs a lodging house. Young Umi, in flashbacks, is voiced by Aoi Watanabe, and both versions of the character are voiced by Sarah Bolger in the English-language version. In the series she is nicknamed "Meru". "Umi" and "Mer" means "sea" in Japanese and French respectively.
- Junichi Okada as Shun Kazama (風間 俊, Kazama Shun), the school newspaper president whom Umi takes an interest in. Shun is voiced by Anton Yelchin in the English-language version.
- Okada also provides the uncredited voice of Yūichirō Sawamura (澤村 雄一郎, Sawamura Yūichirō), Umi Matsuzaki's deceased father.
- Keiko Takeshita as Hana Matsuzaki (松崎 花, Matsuzaki Hana), Umi's maternal grandmother and owner of boarding house. Hana is voiced by Edie Mirman.
- Jun Fubuki as Ryoko Matsuzaki (松崎 良子, Matsuzaki Ryōko), Umi's mother, who is a medical professor studying in the United States. Ryoko is voiced by Jamie Lee Curtis in the English-language version.
- Yuriko Ishida as Miki Hokuto (北斗 美樹, Hokuto Miki), a doctor-in-training staying at Coquelicot's apartment. Miki is voiced by Gillian Anderson (who voiced Moro in the English-language version of Princess Mononoke, a previous Ghibli production) in the English-language version.
- Nao Ōmori as Akio Kazama (風間 明雄, Kazama Akio), Shun's adoptive father. Akio is voiced by Chris Noth in the English-language version.
- Takashi Naito as Yoshio Onodera (小野寺 善雄, Onodera Yoshio), a ship captain and an old friend of Umi and Shun's parents. Onodera is voiced by Bruce Dern in the English-language version.
- Shunsuke Kazama as Shirō Mizunuma (水沼 史郎, Mizunuma Shirō), the student council president and Shun's friend. Shirō is voiced by Charlie Saxton in the English-language version.
- Kazama also provides the uncredited voice of Hiroshi Tachibana (立花 洋, Tachibana Hiroshi), Shun Kazama's deceased father.
- Teruyuki Kagawa as Chief Director Tokumaru (徳丸理事長, Tokumaru Rijichō), the chairman of the high school and a businessman living in Tokyo. He is based on Tokuma Shoten president Yasuyoshi Tokuma. Tokumaru is voiced by Beau Bridges in the English-language version.
- Haruka Shiraishi as Sora Matsuzaki (松崎 空, Matsuzaki Sora) and Tsubasa Kobayashi as Riku Matsuzaki (松崎 陸, Matsuzaki Riku), Umi's younger siblings; Sora is voiced by Isabelle Fuhrman and Riku is voiced by Alex Wolff and Raymond Ochoa in the English-language version.
- Rumi Hiiragi as Sachiko Hirokoji (広小路 幸子, Hirokōji Sachiko), an art college student staying at Coquelicot's apartment; Aubrey Plaza voices Sachiko in the English-language version.
- Eiko Kanazawa provides the voice of Saori Makimura (マキムラ サオリ, Makimura Saori), a boarder at Coquelicot's house; Christina Hendricks voices Makimura in the English-language version.
- Toshimi Kanno and Aoi Teshima voice Nobuko (信子, Nobuko) and Yuko (悠子, Yūko) respectively, Umi's friends and classmates; Emily Osment voices Nobuko and Bridget Hoffman voices Yuko in the English-language version.
The cast includes director Gorō Miyazaki with the voice of Isogo High School's world history teacher. In the English version he is voiced by Ronan Farrow. Jeff Dunham voices Gen in the English-language version. Ron Howard voices Philosophy Club's president in the English-language version.
Historical basis
In the film, Umi's father was killed when his supply ship was sunk by mines in the Korean War, and Shun's biological father died aboard a repatriation vessel after the end of the Second World War.
Following Japan's defeat in the Second World War, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) assumed control over the Japanese merchant marine to return repatriates to their homelands. At the start of the Korean War, those ships, together with their Japanese crews, were pressed into service by the US military to carry forces and supplies to Korea. Japanese vessels played a significant role at the Incheon and Wonsan landings. The shipping firm Tozai Kisen was among the most prominent firms involved, concluding "an agreement with the US military’s Japan Logistical Command (JLC) to provide 122 small vessels and around 1,300 crew for transport and landing work".
According to estimates, 56 Japanese sailors and labourers were killed in the Korean War zone in the first six months of the war alone; 23 of the deaths occurred when Japanese-crewed ships were sunk by mines. Official estimates of the total number of Japanese killed in the Korean War have never been published, nor have the U.S. or Japanese governments officially recognised the role of Japanese non-combatants in the Korean War.
The 1960s saw an escalating increase in student activism and campus revolts in Japan as well as in other parts of the world.
Images for kids
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Yamate Archives Museum in Yamate, the Yokohama neighborhood where From Up on Poppy Hill is set.
See also
In Spanish: La colina de las amapolas para niños
