Pom Poko
Movie, 1994, The '90s, Set in Tama Hills
Pom Poko is #9 of 25 in release order and #9 of 25 in chronological order in the Studio Ghibli.
The story
The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.
Pom Poko recap
Pom Poko (1994) follows a community of shape-shifting tanuki, or raccoon dogs, fighting the suburb of New Tama as it spreads over the hills outside Tokyo. Isao Takahata wrote and directed this story told partly as a mock documentary. Losing their forest and their food, the tanuki stop fighting each other at the urging of the elder Oroku and relearn their old art of transformation. The aggressive Gonta favours violence, the old master Seizaemon teaches, and young Shoukichi helps lead. Their pranks and sabotage injure and kill builders, but new crews replace the ones who quit. Messengers travel to find legendary elders, and three arrive from Shikoku to stage a huge parade of ghosts through the new town. Then the owner of a theme park claims the parade as his own publicity stunt.
Pom Poko ending explained
Pom Poko ends with the resistance splintered: Gonta's fighters die in battle, one elder leads a dancing cult out to sea, and a final illusion briefly restores the old countryside. The tanuki who can transform blend into human society, leaving the rest to scavenge in small parks. Shoukichi, now an office worker, follows a tanuki into a clearing and joins his old friends, before the camera pulls back to reveal a golf course.
Where to watch Pom Poko
Pom Poko is streaming on HBO Max in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes 87%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Ocean Waves, before Whisper of the Heart.
- Chronological order: after Ocean Waves, before Whisper of the Heart.
Cast
- Makoto Nonomura as Shoukichi (voice)
- Nijiko Kiyokawa as Old Fireball / Oroku (voice)
- Shigeru Izumiya as Gonta (voice)
- Norihei Miki as Seizaemon (voice)
- Yuriko Ishida as Kiyo (voice)
- Megumi Hayashibara as Sasuke (voice)
- Yumi Ichihara as Koharu (voice)
- Akira Kamiya as Tamasaburo (voice)
- Takehiro Murata as Bunta (voice)
- Gannosuke Ashiya as Inugami Gyobu (voice)
- Yanagiya Kosan as Tsurukame (voice)
- Shinchou Kokontei as Narrator (voice)
Directed by Isao Takahata.