Our Neighbors the Yamadas

You don't choose your family. The Yamadas are a six-member Japanese family like thousands of others - father Takashi, mother Matsuko, high school student Noboru, little Nonoko, grandmother Shige, and dog Pochi. The film follows their everyday troubles with light humor and wise exaggeration.

Director Isao Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli (1985), drew inspiration from a newspaper comic strip by Hisaichi Ishii, which has been running since 1991. He was captivated by the simple style of the source material, resulting in a film visually distant from traditional Japanese animation - sketchy drawings lightly colored with watercolors that naturally harmonize with the tone of the entire narrative.