My Neighbors the Yamadas

Created after an idea of the popular Japanese comic book author Isaichi Ishii, this movie tells nine amusing and moving episodes from the every day life of a "totally normal" Japanese family.
Mischievousely, "My Neighbours, The Yamadas" describes the problems and quarrels that raise from marriage and generation conflicts. Thus, the author paints the lively and colourful portrait of a family who is an explosive mixture of eccentric, yet highly sympathical individualists.
At the same time the wonderfully drawn movie doesn't lack depth. The poesy of every day life which filters through the lives of the Yamadas is summed up at the end of each chapter in an haiku (most of them by Basho). Being a basic part of Japanese culture and spirituality, these short poems fit the respective characters' philosophy excellently.
A deeper symbolic dimension opens to the viewer in the partially grotesque/surrealistic scenes of the movie. A flashback shows us the Yamadas as honeymooners riding a gigantic wedding cake. Long married, they try vehemently to get the upper hand in the daily quarrel over the TV programme and both fight virtuousely in Japanese fencing style over the remote control.
"My Neighbours, The Yamadas" premiered extremely successfully in 2000 at the Anime-Festival in Annecy (France).

This quirky comic strip family is lovingly brought to life in Houhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas). Mom (Matsuko), Dad (Takashi), Grandma (Shige), Noboru and Nonoko, and family dog Pochi are presented in a series of vignettes, from Matsuko and Takashi's wedding (complete with a dream sequence comparing marriage to a bobsled run and being tossed on stormy seas), to a forgetful day (blame the ginger!), to a hilarious nighttime encounter with motorcycle punks. The animation style is very low-key, taking its visual cues from pen-and-ink comics and a pastel wash. Less is more, as the mere outline of shoji screens and sakura (cherry blossoms) suffices to paint a minimalist picture of modern Japan. Poetry by Basho rounds out each clip. This is a wonderful introduction to Japanese culture, from proper dining etiquette (DON'T dump your rice into your soup :-), to Japanese homes (noren, airing out futons, place settings, traditional food such as miso, tamago, and tempura, changing into slippers when entering homes) wedding ceremonies, and more.

Some reviewers have mentioned that the stories lack cohesiveness, but I greatly enjoyed this unusual portrait of family life that looked at parent-child relations, marriage, salarymen, and the power of imagination. Although Disney dubbed this with an all-star cast (James Belushi, David Ogden Stiers), I didn't listen to the English dub, so I can't comment on the English cast (I prefer to view anime in the original Japanese with English subtitles to practice my Japanese listening comprehension). A vast departure from other Takahata Isao films (like Grave of the Fireflies), but an enjoyable one nonetheless, particularly if you are already familiar with elements of Japanese culture.

Hohoukekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun, or My Neighbours The Yamadas, is quite a departure from the usual oeuvre of Studio Ghibli. The work of director Isao Takahata (Hotaru no Haka, Heisei Tanuki Gassen), this 1999 release is done in a rough, less sophisticated art-style harkening back to yonkoma (four panel) comic strips, which is actually where it came from. The colours are softer and fuzzier as well. This look at life's funny moments through the eyes of a Japanese family and their dog works well because despite the Japanese trimmings, the Yamadas of Japan could also be the Smiths and Jones of the US and the UK as well. BTW, the first word of the Japanese title, "hohoukekyo" is a Japanese onomatopoeia for the chirp a songbird makes.

The family consists of Takashi and Matsuko Yamada, the older child and boy Noboru and young daughter Nonoko, Matsuko's mother Shige, and Potchi the dog. Note-although both parents call Shige "okaasan" or "mother," Shige and Matsuko speak in an Osakan dialect whereas Takashi doesn't, hence I draw my conclusion that Shige is Matsuko's mother.

Matsuko's quite useless and lazy when it comes to housework. She scrambles to bring the laundry from the rain, only to find out she'd never put it out to begin with! And she has the tendency to cook the same thing days on end, or to prepare shabu-shabu (a hot pot where one puts in sliced vegetables or meet and pulls them out to eat when cooked). As Shige mutters, that's one way her daughter doesn't have to cook.

Noboru seems to be a typical teenager, studying hard, having problems at school, and with the expected generation gap between him and his father. And it's heartening to see him joyful after he gets a phone call from a girl and is happy with joy. Ah, the spring of adolescent love.

Takashi is a hard-working salaryman who longs for respect. In one episode, he calls home to see if anyone can bring him an umbrella, only to hear various family members give excuses. Mad, he hangs up, buys an umbrella at the supermarket, and emerges into the rain, only to see the rest of the family decked out in rain gear or umbrellas coming out to meet him, Matsuko with a spare umbrella for him. They walk home together. However, when he comes from half-tired after a long day at work and is starving, Matsuko, too bothered to cook, gets him a cup of coffee and a banana before she resumes her place watching TV.

Apart from a series of funny misadventures and observations of family life, it's hard to garner a central theme. However, "the ups and downs of life" as seen on the DVD package is enhanced in a scene where Takashi, speaking to a young couple during the wedding reception, is accidentally handed a shopping list instead of his notes by Matsuko. He goes on an impromptu speech thus to Ichiro and Kazuko which comes from experience with his own dysfunctional family: "life is full of surprises. ... But...you have to accept life as it comes. Acceptance is the key to surviving the worst situations without losing heart or breaking up. ...Even the worst behavior can be accepted and forgiven if there is no malice. In fact, must be forgiven so one can go on with life. It's not necessarily bad to resign yourself to a situation. In fact, it's essential. A must for a happy family. A must for facing life and getting on with it. Though it may sound negative, acceptance is the only way out of totally unacceptable situations." Or better still, it's summed up by a Japanese rendition of Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera" sung by the Yamadas.

The Japanese folk tale origins-of finding Noboru via the story of Momotarou (Peach boy) and Nonoko a la Kaguya Hime. (Princess Kaguya) may be lost on foreign audiences, as well as the haiku from Matsuo Basho and Buson. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable portrait of the Yamadas.

"I know why we're so peaceful. Because all three of you are nuts. ... If any one of you were normal, it'd throw off the balance."-Noboru to his parents and grandmother.

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