Porco Rosso
The Pig Flies in 1929 Italy

Date：30, Nov, 2019
Investigated and Written by Misaka Youhei
About our introductory articles

Tweet

Porco Rosso is a Japanese animation movie released in July 18, 1992. Written and directed by Miyazaki Hayao (1941 -), and produced by Studio Ghibli.

Who is Miyazaki Hayao? He is a Japan's popular animator who's written and directed several hit animated films like Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl's Moving Castle (2004). It is nearly nonsense to explain about what Japan's animation movies is without mentioning about him, I suppose.

Then, did the Porco Rosso also become a hit? Yes, it is said that over 3 million people went to theaters to watch the film in Japan.

Studio Ghibli was established in 1985 as a main animation studio for the two great animators Miyazaki and Takahata Isao (1935 - 2018). Miyazaki with Studio Ghibli produced and released Kiki's Delivery Service in 1989. Over 2.5 million people went to theaters and watched it, they say. Miyazaki Hayao and Studio Ghibli became a big brand in Japan around 1990, it means. It is not so difficult to imagine that a lot of Japanese people had waited for the next anime film written and directed by Miyazaki. And then, Porco Rosso was released.

The stage is Italy in 1929. At the time, Italy had faced economic difficulties for the aftereffect of World War 1. Moreover, the Great Crash happened in New York and the unwelcome waves spread all over the world. However, Italy was hardly influenced by the Great Crash since they were already worn out by the World War 1 aftereffect.

Porco Rosso acts the main character. He's 36 years old, and a freelance bounty hunter who silently lives in an small island of Adriatic Sea. He is a veteran flying boat pilot. Has gained a lot of money by his first-class skill. In the animated world, the sky pirate gangs have disturbed public order, and Porco has been as a thorn in their side. Is he a superstar? But he looks kind of strange. He is a pig who speaks like human. He somehow became a pig by magic, said the heroine Madame Gina.

Why did he become a pig? Nobody explains in the animated world. It means that the reason is not important. Important is that he is a pig. Why? Let me say my personal opinion here. Miyazaki has written many stories. It looks most of the main characters leave a community somehow, and try to belong to a new community. We can find such a plot in Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle. But we don't in Porco Rosso. He is a freelance bounty hunter like a lone wolf, belongs to no communities. He is not belonging to a nation Italy.

My hypothesis says that he is a pig since doesn't belong to any communities. Miyazaki Hayao might say indirectly that you are never a human when you belong to no communities. The answer is blowing in the wind. I don't know at least. I guess that Miyazaki will not answer even if you ask him. And I believe he should not answer. Storytellers must just tell stories and should not explain.