When I first heard that Studio Ghibli was going to base its next film on Hisaichi Ishii's "Hohokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas)" -- a must-read for millions in the Asahi Shimbun" -- I had my doubts.The best gag manga have a pinch of comic acid that often gets leached away in the transition from the page to the screen, leaving only harmless whimsy.
The reasons are various, top-flight animators would usually rather tackle the weighty themes and technical challenges of SF than animate the childishly drawn characters of a gag manga. The ones who take on the assignment tend to be literal-minded sorts with low budgets and tight production schedules, who think that simple drawings equal simple animation and that family manga equals bland sitcom for the masses. Thus "Sazae-san."
Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, whose directing credits include the incredibly sad "Hotaru no Haka" and the incredibly inventive "Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko," had his own doubts: "Tonari no Yamada-kun" didn't fit the Ghibli image. Also, he knew it would be difficult to string Ishii's strip to feature length.