From Up On Poppy Hill gives you the same magic and attention to detail as all Studio Ghibli films, at least the ones that I’ve seen so far. Combined with a sense of nostalgia for all the hijinks and unruly stuff that we all went through as students, this makes the film’s rank very high on my list of animated movies. Prior to seeing this movie, if someone told me that I should watch a film, one that’s set in let’s say the 1950’s of Japan, and it’s about these two ordinary students meeting each other then banding together to save an old building from demolition, I would most likely decline. No magic? No monsters? No epic fight scenes? Sounds like a very boring movie. But surprisingly it wasn’t at all. Not one bit. In fact, I’m of the opinion that that’s where this movie’s strength lies. Studio Ghibli has an amazing skill of making ordinary things appear really interesting and magical, even if it looks and sounds logically impossible.

Take my favorite scenes in the movie. When Umi and Sora first enters the old clubhouse, it was full of odd things from the country’s bygone era. The various school clubs have made the clubhouse, called Quartier Latin, into their own domain and each nook of the clubhouse bares the personality of each group. It’s almost as if the interior of Quartier Latin is alive and throbbing with all the undertakings of the clubs. Each window and door shows you a glimpse of the activity inside, like portals to another reality. Your eyes would have a really hard time taking everything in as the two girls make their way inside. I know I watched that scene over and over trying to take soak in as much detail as possible. It’s just wonderful! And the catchy background music didn’t hurt either.

When the students finished restoring the old building to its former glory, they invited the school board chairman to visit so he can see how hard they all worked on it, and hopefully to convince him to stop the building’s demolition. When the chairman made his way in to the grand entrance, he’s greeted by an awesome sight of all the students standing in smart attention and welcoming him into their headquarters. He questions the representative of each club as he makes his way deeper into the building’s interior, the previous messy route that the Sora and Umi once took now shines resplendently.

I kinda wish there is an actual house like this that the film’s creators based Quartier Latin on.