porco rosso

Musical Mondays: “Bygone Days” (Porco Rosso), composed by Joe Hisaishi

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For Christmas, I’ve chosen another Joe Hisaishi piece, “Bygone Days” from Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso. This is a movie I appreciate ever more as the years go by.

Below, I’ve linked both:

  • The soundtrack version (the first Spotify link); and
  • The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra version (the second Spotify and Youtube link).

Enjoy, and may you have a Merry Christmas, a great holiday season, and a Happy New Year!

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Hurrah for a Porco Rosso sequel

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I was recently quite thrilled when I stumbled across the news, apparently dating from August, that Hayao Miyazaki is working on a sequel to Porco Rosso. The sequel is entitled Porco Rosso: The Last Sortie and is apparently set during the Spanish Civil War.

 

Now, I am not a big Miyazaki fan, although Princess Mononoke made a huge impression on me when I watched it. However, I liked the original Porco Rosso, partly for its pulpy dieselpunk setting and partly because of the cheerful absurdity of a talking pig flying a plane. So I will definitely look into the sequel. But I do wonder how it will address the ending of the original…