From Up on Poppy Hill

From Up on Poppy Hill a Studio Ghibli film that was released in Japan on July 16th, 2011. It was directed by Goro Miyazaki, the son of Hayao Miyazaki and the director of the 2006 film Tales from Earthsea. It came out on DVD in Japan on June 10th, 2012. It was released on March 29, 2013 in North America.

Synopsis
The Story is set in 1963 in Yokohama. Kokuriko Manor sits on a hill overlooking the harbour. A 16 year-old girl, Umi, lives in that house. Every morning she raises a signal flag facing the sea. The flag means "I pray for safe voyages".

A 17 year-old boy, Shun, always sees this flag from the sea as he rides a tugboat to school. In preparation for next year's Tokyo Olympics, people are destroying the old and believing only in the magnificence of the new.

In that time, at a high school in Yokohama, a small struggle occurred. The building of the Culture Club, nicknamed Latin Quatier, old but full of history and memories. People were questioning if it should be deserted or preserved. In the middle of this, Umi and Shun meet. Shun appeals to the students who want to protect the building. Umi suggests a big clean up of the building to show its good parts.

Gradually the pair are drawn to each other but they are faced with a sudden trial: they might be brother-and-sister. Even so, they keep going without running from reality. In the end, it's revealed that Umi and Shun aren't related in any way (so they're free to be together) and learn the full true story of how their parents met, loved and lived.

Japanese

 * Masami Nagasawa as Umi Matsuzaki (松崎 海 Matsuzaki Umi), the oldest daughter of a family that runs a lodging house.
 * Junichi Okada as Shun Kazama (風間 俊 Kazama Shun), the school newspaper president whom Umi takes an interest in.
 * Keiko Takeshita as Hana Matsuzaki (松崎 花 Matsuzaki Hana?), the maternal grandmother of Umi, Sora, and Riku.
 * Jun Fubuki as Ryoko Matsuzaki (松崎 良子 Matsuzaki Ryōko), a researcher at a US university, the mother of Umi, Sora, and Riku.
 * Yuriko Ishida as Miki Hokuto (北斗 美樹 Hokuto Miki), a doctor-in-training staying at Coquelicot's apartment.
 * Takashi Naito as Yoshio Onodera (小野寺 善雄 Onodera Yoshio), a ship captain and an old friend of Umi and Shun's parents.
 * Shunsuke Kazama as Shirō Mizunuma (水沼 史郎 Mizunuma Shirō), the student council president and Shun's friend.
 * Nao Omori as Akio Kazama (風間 明雄 Kazama Akio), Shun's adoptive father.
 * Teruyuki Kagawa as Tokumaru (徳丸), the chairman of the high school and a businessman living in Tokyo.
 * Haruka Shiraishi as Sora Matsuzaki (松崎 空 Matsuzaki Sora), Umi's younger sibling.
 * Tsubasa Kobayashi as Riku Matsuzaki (松崎 陸 Matsuzaki Riku), Umi's younger sibling.
 * Rumi Hiiragi as Sachiko Hirokouji (広小路 幸子 Hirokōji Sachiko), an art college student staying at Coquelicot's apartment.
 * Aoi Teshima as Umi's friend (海の友達 Umi no Tomodachi)
 * Director Gorō Miyazaki as Isogo High School's world history teacher.

English

 * Sarah Bolger as Umi Matsuzaki
 * Anton Yelchin as Shun Kazama
 * Gillian Anderson as Hana Matsuzaki
 * Jamie Lee Curtis as Ryoko Matsuzaki
 * Christina Hendricks as Miki Hokuto
 * Bruce Dern as Yoshio Onodera
 * Charlie Saxton as Shirō Mizunuma
 * Chris Noth as Akio Kazama
 * Beau Bridges as Tokumaru
 * Isabelle Fuhrman as Sora Matsuzaki
 * Raymond Ochoa and Alex Wolff as Riku Matsuzaki
 * Aubrey Plaza as Sachiko Hirokouji
 * Emily Osment as Umi's friend
 * Ron Howard as the Philosophy Club's president
 * Ronan Farrow as Unspecified

Blu-Ray Release
The Blu-ray+ DVD combo and DVD releases of FROM UP ON POPPY HILL contain over three hours of bonus materials and include: original Japanese language and English language versions with subtitles and dubtitles; feature-length storyboards; celebrity cast recording featurette with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews; an interview with Goro Miyazaki; original Japanese trailer and TV spots; the music video for the theme song by Aoi Teshima; and a featurette about Yokohama, exploring the history of the sea-side setting where the film takes place. Bonuses exclusive to the Blu-ray edition include a staff speech and press conference by Hayao Miyazaki days after the Fukushima earthquake; and a 20-page booklet containing the original project proposal by Hayao Miyazaki and a letter from Goro Miyazaki.

In-jokes

 * A "Ghibli" placard mounted below the bridge of the ship now captained by one of the three men in the photograph of Umi's father.


 * Seen through the fog from Shun's dad's tugboat, one of the big ships in the harbor is operated by "Koganei Lines". East Koganei is the town where Studio Ghibli is located.

Release

 * 16 July 2011 - Movie theater on Japan
 * 2 January 2012 - DVD release on Japan
 * 2012 - English dub