Chie the Brat
A pre-Ghibli movie from Isao Takahat. It's got a lot of his hallmarks here, including the focus on every day life [like in My Neighbors the Yamadas]. It's a fun and lively movie with a main character who's easy to root for, especially against her numskull father. It's a bit too episodic for its own good and the ending feels a bit out of place given the main narrative drive throughout most of the rest of the movie. Nevertheless, it's fun and rarely boring, so you could certainly do worse.
Like the Clouds, Like the Wind
Another almost-Ghibli movie, since it features character designs from long-time Ghibli collaborator Katsuya Kondou. The problems here are two fold: it tries to fit too much story and character development into too little time and it has a real problem with establishing the right tone [shifting rapidly between lighthearted fun and serious drama, sometimes within the same scene]. I do appreciate what it was going for, though, and it was far more engaging than I really expected it to be at the outset [intended on watching just a bit of it tonight but wound up watching the whole thing]. With a bit more time and tight direction, it really could have been a great little movie. As it is, it'll have to settle for just being pretty good.
