Sep 16, 2025
Seeing Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea as a child: Not bad, but 1. not sure I understood everything and 2. I like Totoro and Spirited Away better
Seeing Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea after having actually read Earthsea: Why are they white... Why is Tenar's hair ginger instead of black... Why have Therru's half-blindedness, facial deformity, mutilated hand and guttural voice been replaced by a simple pink stain on the face... Why are they white... Why the pseudo-romance between Arren and Therru... Why is Therru a teenager... Why are they white... Why did they rewrite Arren to be that way... They did such a bad job at explaining Earthsea's magic... Why are they always on land and almost never on the sea... Why are they white...
#I'm not against it not being a 1:1 adaptation in and of itself. On the contrary#but I'm very dubious about the choices that have been made#Arren having an evil shadow like Ged in the 1st book is the most useless thing I've ever seen#Not sh*t I didn't understand a thing as a child#Nothing is properly explained#Just making an adaptation of The Farthest Shore would have been great in itself I think:#a full journey across Earthsea with plenty of different sceneries and magic tricks and eerie visions waiting to be animated Miyazaki-style.#what more could you ask for#I don't want Tenar and Therru to appear on screen if the heavy themes and stakes of their story (CSA; misogyny; ableism; etc)-#-are completely flattened out or erased#boquespost#earthsea#tales from earthsea ghibli#ursula k. le guin#And finally#Why are they white...