Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
DanteDemonZ
This is a completely episodic slice-of-life film, offering no real story, progression, or character development. Instead, it presents a series of disconnected skits about everyday family life that left me feeling detached and uninterested. The art style is unique and memorable, but that alone isn’t enough to carry a film with little occurring beneath the surface. For a slice-of-life story to work, I need to care about the “life” part, but here, there’s never a moment that draws me in or makes me feel invested, which sets the stage for further issues that arise throughout the film.
As a result, each segment feels like a random, forgettable moment, with no build-up, no payoff, and no reason to stay invested. There’s no central character to latch onto, no emotional throughline, and nothing t…
Read at the sourceSirBunting
In my humble opinion, this has a bit of a crisis of identity. It's structured like a collection of shorts with title cards between them, and they're merged into quite a long movie. There is an element of warmth, but only the intro and outro fully take advantage of the whimsical storybook direction. Seeing the Yamadas float in the sky like bubbles / a specimen of cartoon life is actually pretty intriguing, yet the bulk of the movie is down-to-earth and bland. The jokes are so simple, like... oh no, I forgot my bag! These barely register as jokes to me. My impression is that "My Neighbor the Yamadas" is something that might be played in a doctor's office waiting room? While it's inoffensive piecemeal, I still don't really recommend it as a feature length movie.
The positives include a gentl…
Read at the sourceBeatlesWeaselE
Underrated imo. I have seen several Studio Ghibli productions, but Tonari no Yomada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas) was much different than other Ghibli films. The sketched or newspaper style of this film was something I hadn't seen from Studio Ghibli before, but I enjoyed watching. I feel like Ghibli does well with almost any animation...other than 3d haha. Regarding the actual story, there wasn't really one. The movie was made up of short clips or little moments, which I typically wouldn't like. However, the movie captured life of a family and I got to know each characters personality. My favorite character was Shige:) Although this is not one of my favorite Ghibli movies, it is refreshing to see a different art style introduced.
Side note- If you haven't seen any Ghibli movies yet, I r…
Read at the sourcexraaki
This review contains *SPOILERS*.
Watched in Sub/Dub: Dub
Story: 5/10
My Neighbors the Yamadas follows the Yamada family through short stories and skits. The stories themselves are all fine in concept but they don’t make for a great film.
Art: 5/10
This art style is okay but it’s not the Ghibli standard at all. Some of the scenes are very beautiful, like when the parents are traveling through the sea. But many of the scenes carry an empty quality to them because there’s just so much white space.
Sound/Soundtrack: 5/10
The background music in this film is pleasant and enjoyable but I wouldn’t personally consider it a true soundtrack. The English dub voice actors were great.
Character: 5/10
The characters are just standard caricatures. It’s like if the Simpson family were only contained i…
Read at the sourceEDOSHINRATENSEI
Now we completely changed anime style. This is a story about the daily life of the Yamada family, told in multiple skits.
I’m pretty sure this is the funniest Ghibli movies ever made. Also, it’s probably the only one with simple hand-drawn comic-style animation, unlike the typical beautiful Ghibli animation style. I was surprised at first, but then I saw how effective this style to the tone of the movie.
The story is told in multiple skits, and man they were so funny. There were some particular ones that cracked me up hard as they were so unexpected. Most of the comedy came from the adults: the parents and the grandma. I loved that director Takahata made many creative jokes through these characters’ interactions with each other.
The theme of the movie, although not so direct, was to…
Read at the sourceYuutoKiyomori
My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
Director: Isao Takahata
Produced By: Toshio Suzuki
Production Company: Studio Ghibli
"A film that broke Studio Ghibli", quoted by some website I founded.
This anime was released between Hayao's most beloved and acclaimed anime which is Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. This anime was not beloved like the ones I mentioned, this was considered a disappointed to many people. I don't know why, but, it's their opinion I guess.
The art style grabbed my attention and I was edgered to watch it because of it. So I opened Netflix and watched it, and if I got to be honest, its one of my top 10 favourite Studio Ghibli movies.
The film is set as a vignettes, it shows the daily life of the family. Each of the vignettes covers a daily dose of the family's life, like…
Read at the sourceKays90
Biggest Disappointment from the Studio Ghibli.....I just watched this movie and I'm so frustated and disappointed that I can't keep the feeling limited to me. I just have to express my feelings about this movie in this review. I never expected this from Studio Ghibli.
This movie is so pathetic that I have rated it as 4/10. This is the lowest I have ever rated to an anime or movie. Even the OVAs float around 5/10 or 6/10 which are largely junk.
The only thing worth appreciating is the different art style. Though this art style doesn't inspire one to watch the movie/anime but still feels refreshing. I am a bit open about the art style and don't complaint much about it.
Apart from that everything feels way below the standards of Ghibli. There is no proper story at all just bunch of rando…
Read at the sourceMahmus
This wonderful and visually stunning movie by Isao Takahata is easily Studio Ghibli's funniest movie.
A series of segments showing the life of a family, this is a sweet, funny and moving films that stills manages to touch on some of the darker apects of life, like death and self-doubt.
The visuals are incredible.
The pencil lines and watercolor look is one that Takahata would come back to in The Tale of Princess Kaguya (Princess Kaguya herself makes an appearance in a segment that references the original story "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter").
What a wonderful movie. I think this might be Studio Ghibli's most underrated movie. I rarely hear people talking about this one, which didn't prepare for how much I ended up loving it.
Read at the source11chadwick
My Neighbours the Yamadas is not what I expected when I watched a family movie. Instead of having content appropriate for a family, it's about a family living their life, getting into trouble and doing regular family things. I don't understand who this movie is targeted towards. I don't find it enjoyable watching a family do what families do. If I wanted that, I would look back on everything I've done with my family. The art style is very unique for this project and looks like it belongs in a children's picture book. Perhaps that would be a better format for it than this. It is not a bad movie because it tells its story well, but the story is boring and there's not many reasons to check this out.
My Neighbours the Yamadas is an overlooked movie which you should keep tradition and also over…
Read at the sourceTolnin
Do you like Ghibli movies? Do you love Ghibli's art style? Do you love Ghibli's characters? THEN DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE
This movie is a series of short stories, so there isn't one story I can talk about. Most of the short stories in this movie are incredibly boring, like, struggling to keep your eyes open boring. There are maybe one or two decent ones, but for the most part, the movie will be making you want to turn it off. If I didn't want to watch all the Ghibli movies all the way through (except Extraordinary Tales, I couldn't get through that one), I would have turned this one off very quickly. The only part of this movie I genuinely like is the song at the end, it's a very fun song and the message behind it is good as well... but that's about all.
I'm a big fan of Ghibli's main art…
Read at the sourceAnimeBW
Realism has always been a difficult genre for me to wrap my head around. In my eyes, the power of storytelling is that it need not be bound by the limitations of everyday life. It can communicate truth in so many vastly different ways, from the eccentric to the sincere, from the operatic to the artistic, that settling for “what if just normalcy with no diversions” always feels like a missed opportunity to me. Hell, that’s part of the reason I came to anime in the first place; it embraces that kind of anything-goes ethos where even the simplest of stories can be told as bizarrely and uniquely as the imagination allows. That being said, I am not immune to the pull of a story that is able to weaponize realism to its genuine benefit; just ask me my opinion on the second season of Rakugo one of…
Read at the sourcekickindirt
I hate the visual style but if you're a fan of greeting card illustrations, maybe you'll dig it. There's some traditional family value messages in there but not to the point where it's a big problem. Just a little boring and cheesy.
I think this movie is for the more family-oriented crowd; those of you who like curling up with a big mug of tea and vibing with the very grounded but nostalgia-drenched fuzzy love memories of your own family.
It's got a gentle sort of charm but, like, it's not overly charming. Not a bad film, but, in the end, just kind of... whatever.
Read at the sourcemakoto_shiro
I find it refreshing and warm. I have thought of giving it to my friends as gift on their wedding/wedding anniversary since it's about family, being a spouse, being a parent, being a child and grandchild and being an daughter/son in-law.
As a Studio Ghibli fan, I make it a point to watch all their movies, not only because I it's a Studio Ghibli but I get surprised every time I watch one.
And although this is a less popular work of Isao Takahata, as compared to The Grave of Fireflies, and Kaguyahime, I don't agree that this is "lesser" than the other Studio Ghibli works.
Read at the sourceHellshakeBrando
Story: 8
Art: 9
Sound: 7
Character: 10
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 9
My Neighbor the Yamadas is a very interesting film, even by Studio Ghibli standards. While it’s one of the lesser known films by the studio, and takes place in a more “realistic” setting, it was still one of the most magical films I’ve seen in recent memory.
When people think of Studio Ghibli, a few familiar people and films come to mind: Spirited Away, Totoro and of course, Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki’s praise is well-earned - every film of his I’ve seen have become instant classics in my book (fitting to his Walt Disney comparisons, I hope my children have these movies on repeat the way I watched Toy Story and The Lion King multiple times a day as a kid). Though Miyazaki lies at the epicenter of Ghibli’s style and success, the…
Read at the sourceDaDerpBear
It's nice to see movies that just chill down, and take you into a silly slice of life. I ran into this movie when I saw that the dub had just came out on the website I watch anime on, and I was intrigued by the synopsis, but I watched the sub.
Story: 7
Tonari no Yamada-kun is a movie that is filled with a whole lot of shorts, that range from short to long, that show the Yamada family experiencing all of the wonders in life. One of the first long shorts deals with the Yamada's accidental leaving of their daughter, Nonoko, all alone at a mall, and their quest to go get her back. The humor in it was nice, and it showed how the family acted with each other pretty well. One of my favorite parts of the film, which is the short where there is a biker gang causing a ruckus outside, and Shige and…
Read at the sourceangelsreview
This is a very different show then what Studio Ghibli has done before, talking more about a regular family and not having a continuing plot. In my mind, this could have been a couple of 15 minute shorts more then a actual movie and it probably would of done a bit better since as I watched, I became very confused. They time skip a lot making it sometimes hard to figure out where we are in the story but then there are things that really don’t need a time too.
The characters really don’t have anything that actually makes them stand out. They are just a generalization of a mother, a father, and family. There really isn’t much that goes in the sense of there own personality and that did really bother me. I wanted some substance in them, not grasping at straws to feel closer to the characters.…
Read at the sourceJTurner
Of all the movies Studio Ghibli has produced, "My Neighbers the Yamadas" could probably be the most unconventional of them all. This family comedy feels like a very jarring change of pace for director Isao Takahata, the man who gave us a heartbreaker in "Grave of the Fireflies" and a docudrama fantasy oddity called "Pom Poko"
For one thing, the feature is not--I repeat, IS NOT--plot-oriented. It comes across as a series of individual skits involving the titular family in their day-to-day life. The lack of a narrative may put off people beforehand, but doing so could very well deprive you of a most delightful--and refreshingly original--viewing experience. Watching how the Yamadas interact and go about life is every bit as poignant, funny, and off-the-walls as real family life can be; not…
Read at the sourceakina47
i loved it. i watched it like 3 or 4 times. i love anime that shows slice of life. it was a good comedy too. i watched it dubbed in english and dubs were super too. i give 10 points.
Read at the sourceRanivus
QUICKREVIEW
Story: 10 (Refreshing family story thats not cliche)
Art: 8 (Very unique, take on the comedy style)
Sound: 7 (Average slice of life/comedy effects)
Character: 10 (resembles my family almost perfectly)
Enjoyment: 10 (everything in this movie i can relate to)
Overall: 45/50 = 9.0 (Excellent anime for family time) ::Full Review::
I managed to stumble upon this gem of a show simply by walking in the wrong film room at the Anime Expo. Man, if i didn't walk in that room I would have never discovered how great of a show this was. It's not your typical movie style movie, instead, its told in a dozen or so situations all involving one family: the Yamadas.
Theres no deep evolving plot or intriguing storyline to look forward too. It's simply a nice slice of life movie about the daily liv…
Read at the sourcedollie_mixtures
Despite being a fan of Studio Ghibli, this release somehow passed my by. Today, I'm adding it to my "re-watch" list, somewhere near the top. Whatever you may think anime is, throw it out the window, this is not a typical show.
You watch the first few minutes thinking that it's the credits and you wait until you realise, this isn't the credits, it's the story! The unique style of animation throws you in for a loop, but it's not bad. Yes, it's simple, more like a moving comic strip than animation, but simple does not mean sloppy. Each line and curve of the drawings is thought out and perfectly placed and the motion smooth. You can't help but like the characters, the director perhaps explores their stereotypical side - the salary-man dad, slightly lazy stay at home wife, reluctant student s…
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