> personally Grave of the Fireflies and The Cat Returns are the only Takahata films I've seen
You owe it to yourself to watch the Tale of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語). It might be his best film, and quite possibly one of the best ever produced by Ghibli.
Takahata was robbed of the Oscar that year which went to...Big Hero. Ugh.
Between Kaguya and Grave of the Fireflies, Takahata had two of the best films ever made, in any category, and never got an Oscar.
It's based on a short story published by Akiyuki Nosaka [1] which was based on his own experiences, and in general, the fate of many children after the war [2].
As far as I can tell, the movie was a faithful re-enactment of the story, which itself was only slightly removed from the author's own experiences. War is fundamentally depressing, and the only thing you could reasonably call "oscar bait" was the choice to make the movie at all. Others might call it brave -- particularly when you realize that it was released at the same time as Totoro. The brilliance of the film was that it used "kids animation" to portray the misery of war in a way that I don't think any other movie ever has.
It was a fundamental re-imagining of the scope of the medium, and the deep irony of a comment like the GP is that the entire reason it gets dismissed is because it pushes the boundaries of animation far beyond what is usually deemed acceptable.
Miyazaki plays metaphorical footsie with themes like death and pain and obligation -- and maybe he's more successful because of it -- but Takahata just takes them head-on.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies_(short_...
[2] https://thoughtmight.com/movie/grave-of-the-fireflies-misinf...
Sure. So?
Are you next going to tell me it’s not the kind of movie that gets festival prizes?
And deny me the right to be tired of this kind of movie?
Besides you ignored that i was hypothesising why the Miyazaki movies are more popular in your rush the defend the depressing masterpiece.
Oscar judges don't watch the movies they judge. They usually just ask their children about them, or go by general "vibes" or choose by which one has more "diversity", etc.
https://variety.com/2025/film/awards/oscars-viewing-requirem...
I know the Oscars are prestigious, but I can’t think of a single film in my top fifty favorites that won one.
For me, they are a contrarian indicator.