From Up on Poppy Hill · reception & legacy

2011 · Goro Miyazaki

How From Up on Poppy Hill has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Arriving after the drubbing Goro Miyazaki took for Tales from Earthsea, this was widely read as his redemption film — and it's since settled into 'quietly lovely, unfairly overlooked' status among Ghibli fans who champion the studio's non-fantasy side.

What's debated

Fans still argue over the mid-film soap-opera turn — some find it derails a gentle nostalgia piece, others insist the film handles it with grace — alongside the eternal 'can Goro escape his father's shadow?' debate.

Its footprint

It's the Ghibli film that sends people down a Kyu Sakamoto rabbit hole — 'Ue o Muite Arukō' (aka 'Sukiyaki') is woven through it — and the students' ramshackle clubhouse, the Quartier Latin, has become a beloved cozy-cinema image.

Where it stands

A fixture of 'underrated Ghibli' lists and comfort-movie rankings — the deep cut people recommend once you've exhausted the Hayao classics.

★ Did you know? Production was disrupted by the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and its rolling blackouts — the crew worked nights to finish — and the film still ended up the highest-grossing Japanese film at Japan's 2011 box office, with a screenplay co-written by Goro's father, Hayao Miyazaki.