Hiromasa Yonebayashi

We still don't have this title available in English, but when I was in Little Tokyo I was lucky enough to find a copy. As with many Ghibli Visual Guides, it's simply breathtaking. I enjoyed the interview pages with the actresses and visual story flythroughs and production stills. However, I was unprepared for what turned out to be 19 watercolor sketches by Yonebayashi depicting what the film's audience has only ever imagined: the unrecorded metastory of Marnie and Hisako's love affair that show more Anna plays out in the film. They're... very beautiful. I cried. show less

I mean, The Secret World of Arrietty—the actual movie—was a squillion stars, she's iconic, no notes.

This only gets a four, cuz it's just screenshots of the movie with speech bubbles, which is fine. I had a great time. But, it didn't add anything to the experience.

I haven't seen the gilm yet (cheating, I know), but I read the Borrowers when I was a kid and that basically superscedes anything. I was not overly impressed with this book though! Like most of the other Ghibli comics, the effect of taking screen stills and adding text comes off as half-assed at best. Assuming that the film has a similar stylistic tone as the other Ghibli productions, the book totally missed the subtlety of the filmmaking and leaves the reader feeling like they're missing show more some of the story. show less

As with so many Studio Ghibli productions, the pace sets it apart. Never having read The Borrowers, it's unclear to me how much of the plot was omitted, in order to allow the careful and deep experience of everyday life. Just crossing the house, for example, is an all-day excursion. But including that in the experience is worth any plot developments they may have left out, and for anyone curious, another reason to read the book.