Jarinko Chie (film)

Set in a working class district of Osaka, ten-year-old Chie is tasked with helping her troublesome, workshy father Tetsu run a local {{lang|ja-Latn|izakaya}}—an informal bar or pub. Whilst cooking, she sees a stray cat looking hungry. After deciding to feed it, the cat (named Kotetsu), enters the {{lang|ja-Latn|izakaya}} and begins living with her and Tetsu. Constantly in need of money, Tetsu lies to his father ({{lang|ja-Latn|Ojii}}) to get money from him, only for him to lose it gambling. {{lang|ja-Latn|Obaa}} admonishes her husband's willingness to lend money. After accusing the boss {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}} of cheating, Tetsu fights his way home. {{lang|ja-Latn|Ojii}} and {{lang|ja-Latn|Obaa}} come to the {{lang|ja-Latn|izakaya}} after closing time to scold Tetsu for his neglect of Chie.

Chie grows increasingly upset with Tetsu for always putting himself first. Despite trying to keep it a secret from him, Tetsu shows up to Chie's class unexpectedly during parent's visiting day and causes a scene by berating her teacher, Wataru Hanai. After school, Chie and Tetsu fight about his selfishness. Just as she is about to leave in anger, she notices a flower on the doorstep, recognising it as a sign from her mother Yoshie who has recently separated from Tetsu.

Looking forward to seeing her mother again, Chie leaves without telling Tetsu her plans. Both Chie and Yoshie want to reunite with Tetsu, but Chie recognises it is still too early for them to meet again as Tetsu has yet to change his attitude. That night, {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}} and his underlings come to the {{lang|ja-Latn|izakaya}} demanding Tetsu pay his debts to the gambling house. While drinking, {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}} encourages his beloved cat, Antonio to fight Chie's Kotetsu. To their shock, Antonio loses, with Kotetsu partially castrating him. Upset by Antonio's condition, {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}} leaves before Tetsu returns.

Chie spends her free time searching for work for her father, when she encounters {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}}, who has now turned his gambling house into an {{lang|ja-Latn|okonomiyaki}} restaurant upon the death of Antonio. Requiring a security guard, he decides to hire Tetsu. Later, Chie meets with her mother again when Tetsu spots them both. Upset at what he perceives as Chie's rejection, he spends the day sulking. During a home visit by her homeroom teacher, Wataru reveals that he is the son of Tetsu's former homeroom teacher Kankotsu, who also set up the marriage between Tetsu and Yoshie. The elder Hanai seeks to repair the relationship between Yoshie and Tetsu, the two tentatively agree and Yoshie moves in again. Despite an initially frosty relationship, after Chie starts acting up on the train, the two of them begin talking. During the course of the day at the amusement park their relationship rekindles.

One evening, Tetsu is at {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}}'s {{lang|ja-Latn|okonomiyaki}} restaurant complaining about Kotetsu's violent tendencies when unexpectedly Antonio Jr. appears, seeking revenge against Kotetsu. Despite pleas, initially from a sober {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}}, and then Chie, for things to remain peaceful, Antonio Jr. demands a fight. Kotetsu attempts to defuse the situation by showing his respect for the dead and refuses to fight him, Antonio Jr. forgives Kotetsu and everyone goes home. The film ends with a montage of characters entering the {{lang|ja-Latn|izakaya}}.

• Chinatsu Nakayama as Chie Takemoto
• Norio Nishikawa as Tetsu Takemoto
• Gannosuke Ashiya as {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}} (the {{lang|ja-Latn|yakuza}} boss)
• Kyoko Mitsubayashi as Yoshie
• Kiyoshi Nishikawa as Kotetsu
• Yasushi Yokoyama as Antonio and Antonio Jr.
• Ichirō Nagai as Shocho
• Katsura Bunshi VI as Wataru Hanai (the younger)
• Nikaku Shōfukutei as Kankotsu Hanai (the elder)
• Yoshio Kamigata as Maruyama Mitsuru
• Keisuke Ōtori as {{lang|ja-Latn|Ojii}}
• Utako Kyō as {{lang|ja-Latn|Obaa}}
• Shinsuke Shimada as Masaru
• Ryusuke Matsumoto as Shigeru
• Yoshiko Ōta as Masaru's mother{{sfn|Pamphlet|1981|pp=14–15}}

File:Isao Takahata.jpg

Jarinko Chie was produced by Toho and animated by TMS Entertainment.{{sfn|Animage|1981|p=47}} The film is based on the manga of the same name by Etsumi Haruki.{{sfn|Clements|McCarthy|2001|pp=188–189}} It represented a shift for Takahata from working under an established studio (as he had done at Toei Animation) to making films independently.{{sfn|Hu|2010|pp=110–111}} Animation director Yasuo Ōtsuka and character designer Yōichi Kotabe may have convinced Takahata to direct the film upon realising the manga's entertainment value. Masaru Hoshi composed the music. Art director Nizo Yamamoto was working on the final episode of the Lupin the Third television series when he was asked to work on Jarinko Chie for the first time.{{sfn|Jarinko Chie in Wonderland|1981|pp=98–104}} Takahata was impressed by Makiko Futaki's work on The Castle of Cagliostro and employed her as an in-between animator for Jarinko Chie.{{Cite web |last=Anand |first=Jessie |date=6 June 2017 |title=Biography: Makiko Futaki - Animator |url=http://www.theheroinecollective.com/makiko-futaki/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606114055/http://www.theheroinecollective.com/makiko-futaki/ |archive-date=6 June 2017 |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=The Heroine Collective}}

Yamamoto used thin, watercolour-like paints for the film's backgrounds and firm pen lines for shading, but the combination in certain scenes made inking night skies impossible. The production crew experienced some difficulty in drawing the cats in the film, due to their more human-like movements, while still keeping the drawings faithful to Haruki's manga. As a result of having a large interacting cast of characters, the number of cels drawn was larger than normal, with each frame averaging about five layers of cels.{{sfn|Jarinko Chie in Wonderland|1981|pp=98–104}} The production lasted only a few months, as a result, the style of the animation changed to be more solid as it was easier to animate than the manga's more sketched visuals.{{sfn|Odell|Le Blanc|2015|p=52}}

The film faithfully adapts much of the manga's first few volumes. This was the first film in ten years that Chie's voice actress Chinatsu Nakayama had been in. During her first meeting with Haruki, the artist revealed that he partially based Chie on Nakayama's character from the film {{ill|Gametsui yatsu|ja|がめつい奴}}.{{sfn|Pamphlet|1981|pp=10–13}} The film's dubbing started on 7 February 1981 at Tohokushinsha Studio in Asakusa, with characters being recorded separately in Osaka, which began on 13 February. During the dubbing process, Gannosuke Ashiya's nearsightedness made it difficult for him to watch the screen to match his character's mouth movements. Commenting on the process, Takahata referred to the voice acting as "honest", but found that the pre-animated sequences limited the ability for experimentation.{{sfn|Animage|1981|pp=47–50}} Due to the original manga's episodic narrative, Takahata had difficulty cutting material from the film during the editing process.{{sfn|Jarinko Chie in Wonderland|1981|pp=98–104}} The film's theme song "Chie" was performed by the band {{ill|BG4|ja|ビジーフォー}}.{{sfn|Animage|1981|pp=47–50}}

File:Tsutenkaku.jpg

Takahata and Ōtsuka tried to ensure accuracy to the area of Osaka they were depicting,{{sfn|Odell|Le Blanc|2015|pp=51–54}} in order to do so, Takahata reportedly stayed overnight in a doss-house in Osaka.{{Cite web |last=Fujita |first=Naoya |date=29 August 2019 |script-title=ja:アニメーションでなければできなかったこと。藤田直哉評「高畑勲展─日本のアニメーションに遺したもの」展 |trans-title=It Can Only Be Animated: Naoya Fujita on the Exhibition "Isao Takahata: His Legacy to Japanese Animation" |url=https://bijutsutecho.com/magazine/review/20374 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211032205/https://bijutsutecho.com/magazine/review/20374 |archive-date=11 February 2025 |access-date=7 January 2025 |script-website=ja:美術手帖 |trans-website=Bijutsu techō |language=Japanese}} The film is based in the north-east of Nishinari Ward, in a working class district of Osaka.{{sfn|Pamphlet|1981|pp=10–13}} The characters of the film speak using Osaka dialect, a way of speaking considered more casual and emotional by speakers of standard Japanese.{{Cite web |last=Maxwell |first=Catherine |title=Omusubi: Japan's Regional Diversity |url=https://sydney.jpf.go.jp/06_newsletter/hitokuchi_3new.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214022535/http://www.jpf.org.au/06_newsletter/hitokuchi_3new.pdf |archive-date=14 December 2006 |access-date=9 January 2025}} Chie herself uses it increasingly in proportion to her level of anger, toning it down dramatically when she is with her mother.{{sfn|Odell|Le Blanc|2015|pp=51–52}}

Numerous references to regional culture are made in the film, for instance, {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}}'s restaurant serves {{lang|ja-Latn|okonomiyaki}} which is considered a regional speciality, and Tetsu and Chie's {{lang|ja-Latn|izakaya}} is named {{nihongo|Horumon|ホルモン}}, referring to offal, derived from Osakan dialect meaning 'to throw away'. Throughout the film, the Tsūtenkaku can be seen in the near-distance and Chie and her mother visit Tennōji Park together.{{sfn|Pamphlet|1981|pp=10–13}} The film also features many {{lang|ja-Latn|manzai}} comedians in its voice cast, a form of double-act comedy associated with Osaka and the Kansai region.{{sfn|Clements|McCarthy|2001|pp=188–189}}

Jarinko Chie was released on 11 April 1981, on the same day as the Furiten-kun theatrical film.{{sfn|Pamphlet|1981}} For the {{lang|ja-Latn|manzai}} comedians playing characters in the film, this was their first role in animation.{{sfn|Animage|1981|pp=47–50}} The television programme Kao Master Theatre TV promoted it with an animated sequence.{{sfn|Clements|McCarthy|2001|pp=188–189}} During an interview to promote the film, Takahata was asked by Toshio Suzuki—then a journalist—how he could shift from "producing a classic like Heidi" to a film about "skid row" in Osaka. Suzuki would later become the president of Studio Ghibli, working with both Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki.{{cite web |last=Osmond |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Osmond (journalist) |date=3 August 2018 |title=Isao Takahata: Endless Memories, Part II: Chie the Brat and Gauche the Cellist |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2018-08-03/isao-takahata-endless-memories/part-ii-chie-the-brat-and-gauche-the-cellist/.135066 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125174235/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2018-08-03/isao-takahata-endless-memories/part-ii-chie-the-brat-and-gauche-the-cellist/.135066 |archive-date=25 January 2025 |access-date=28 February 2025 |website=Anime News Network}} Following the film's success, Takahata agreed to be the chief director for an animated television series, although he later left the production team.{{cite web| title=Chie the Brat | url=http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/chie/ |access-date=2025-03-13 | url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250115001531/http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/chie/| archive-date=15 January 2025| website=Nausicaa.net}}{{sfn|Odell|Le Blanc|2015|p=54}}

The film was released in French cinemas on 9 February 2005,{{Cite web |title=Kié la petite peste |url=https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=57000.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114130329/https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=57000.html |archive-date=14 January 2025 |access-date=18 February 2025 |website=AlloCiné}} but has not received a wide distribution outside of Japan.{{sfn|Odell|Le Blanc|2015|p=53}}

Jarinko Chie achieved moderate success at the Japanese box office, but the film's popularity proved especially notable in the Kansai region.{{sfn|Odell|Le Blanc|2015|pp=53–54}} Since the premiere of the film and television series, Chie has continued to remain a popular character in Osaka and the Kansai region more broadly.{{Cite web |last=Inajima |first=Koji |date=20 April 2023 |script-title=ja:「じゃりン子チエ」なぜ時代超えて共感? 作者の直筆メッセージ |trans-title=Why do people across generations empathise with 'Jarinko Chie'? A handwritten message from the author |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20230420/k10014040731000.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217202912/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20230420/k10014040731000.html |archive-date=17 February 2025 |access-date=8 January 2025 |website=NHK}} Writing at its release, academic and manga critic Tomohiko Murakami said of the film that it was steeped in pathos despite its funny moments, that the fluid role changes between adults and children allow the mediating role that Chie plays to be the source of both its comedy and sentiment.{{sfn|Pamphlet|1981|p=18}}

Writing in 1991 in anticipation of the release of Only Yesterday, film critic Tadao Satō referred to Jarinko Chie as his favourite of Takahata's films, emphasising that the film had beautifully captured a human expression that could only be replicated through his unique blend of entertainment and social consciousness, referring to Takahata himself as a "social activist".{{sfn|Satō|1991|pp=28–29}} British film and animation journalist Andrew Osmond contrasts the "ungainly" animation with its "careful life observation". He analyses the film as a commentary on masculinity, drawing attention to the parallel plotlines between the human and animal elements of the story, however concluding that it is neither especially funny nor engaging.

Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc, in their writing on Takahata's filmography, also analyse the film through the topic of masculinity, discussing how references to gender affect the relationship between people. They refer to the film as a "comedy of dysfunction",{{sfn|Odell|Le Blanc|2015|p=52}} comparing these aspects to two of Takahata's later works, Pom Poko and My Neighbors the Yamadas. They additionally emphasise the redemptive power of food, noting how the {{lang|ja-Latn|yakuza}} boss {{lang|ja-Latn|Shachou}} and his underlings each open food stands while Chie is left responsible for cooking meat at the family's {{lang|ja-Latn|izakaya}}.{{sfn|Odell|Le Blanc|2015|pp=51–54}}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite book |last1=Clements |first1=Jonathan |author1-link=Jonathan Clements |last2=McCarthy |first2=Helen |author2-link=Helen McCarthy |title=The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |year=2001 |location=Berkeley |isbn=1-880656-64-7}}
• {{Cite book |last=Hu |first=Tze-yue G. |title=Frames of Anime: Culture and Image-Building |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |year=2010 |location=Hong Kong |isbn=978-962-209-097-2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Odell |first=Colin |last2=Le Blanc |first2=Michelle |title=Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata |publisher=Kamera Books |year=2015 |orig-year=2009 |isbn=978-1-84344-488-6 |edition=2nd |location=Harpenden}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite magazine |editor-last=Ogata |editor-first=Hideo |script-title=ja:「じゃりン子チエ」完成間近ー通天閣スポーツ |trans-title='Jarinko Chie' is nearly completeーTsūtenkaku Sports |magazine=Animage |pages=47–50 |language=Japanese |publication-date=April 1981 |volume=34 | ref = {{SfnRef|Animage|1981}} }}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Satō |first=Tadao |author-link=Tadao Satō |script-title=ja:"リアリズムの追求、そして社会派的な基調：「おもひでぽろぽろ」への期待" |trans-title=The Pursuit of Realism and a Basis for Social Consciousness: Expectations for 'Only Yesterday'|magazine=Animage |language=Japanese |volume=156 |publication-date=June 1991}}
• {{Cite magazine |script-title=ja:特別座談会「チエ」を語る |trans-title=Special Roundtable Discussion: Jarinko Chie |magazine=Jarinko Chie in Wonderland |publication-date=18 May 1981 |publisher=Futabasha | ref = {{SfnRef|Jarinko Chie in Wonderland|1981}} }}
• {{Cite book |script-title=ja:じゃりン子チエ・フリテンくん パンフレット |date=11 April 1981 |language=Japanese |trans-title=Movie pamphlet for Jarinko Chie and Furiten-kun | ref = {{SfnRef|Pamphlet|1981}} }}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Jason Christopher |chapter=Jarinko Chie and Ya-San Tetsu: Representing the Face, Heart, and Underbelly of Osaka |title=Villains and Heroes, or Villains as Heroes? Essays on the Relationship Between Villainy and Evil |editor-last=Seaber |editor-first=Luke |pages=95–104 |publisher=Brill Publishers |date=2012 |isbn=978-90-04-39934-1}}
• {{cite journal |last=Kagaya |first=Masumi |script-title=ja:『じゃりン子チエ』と釜ヶ崎 : 地域性が織りなす物語 |trans-title=Jarinko Chie and Kamagasaki: A Story of Regionality |journal=Literary Studies |volume=26 |publisher=University of Tsukuba |date=2008-01-31 |pages=37–49 |doi=10.15068/0000016333 |language=ja |issn=0915-8944 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite journal |last=Yoshioka |first=Shiro |title=Road to Fame: Social Trajectory of Takahata Isao |journal=Arts |volume=9 |issue=3 |date=2020-07-17 |issn=2076-0752 |doi=10.3390/arts9030081 |doi-access=free |page=81}}

{{refend}}

• {{Official website|http://www.jarinko.com/}} {{in lang|ja}}
• {{anime News Network|movie|1084}}
• {{IMDb title|id=0081881}}
• [https://letterboxd.com/film/chie-the-brat/ Jarinko Chie] at Letterboxd
• [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chie_the_brat Jarinko Chie] at Rotten Tomatoes

{{Isao Takahata}}

{{TMS Entertainment films}}

Category:1981 films

Category:1981 anime films

Category:1981 comedy films

Category:Animated films set in Osaka

Category:Anime films based on manga

Category:Films about cats

Category:Films about dysfunctional families

Category:Films directed by Isao Takahata

Category:TMS Entertainment

Category:Toho animated films