550https://theboronheist.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/katabuchi1princessarete.jpg Princess Arete is a really great and underappreciated film. Firstly its a bit frustratingly compared to Miyazakis Ghibli which is understandable but Katabuchi and the approach of this film are far closer to Takahata though even that comparison is unfair even postthisfilmTakahata and its aesthetic stylings and pace are more modernised general World Masterpiece Theater than Ghibli. They both spring from similar cloths but approach the materials differently and craft different tapestries. Miyazaki ghibli often goes into lively and emotive fairy tales more explicitly filled with imagination and wonder even in The Wind Rises while Arete intentionally strips away those elements and slows the pace down. Arete is in ways about fairy tales but it isnt one itself per se at least not in the traditional sense or the expected Ghibli sense. Arete is pegged as a deconstruction of fairy tales but I see it as more a construction of a world and mindset that leads to them. I dont feel it necessarily subverts fairy tale tropes like people say but thats because I dont really view it as a fairy tale. Arete is ultimately about the real tangible magic that makes the fake magic of fairy tales. Instead of showing us fantasy wonder it shows us mundane wonder and when fantasy wonder is shown its grounded and portrayed by character reactions to it rather than being the focus itself. The film proposes a beautiful idea that making stuff is a beautiful thing not just due to the results but due to the process. It proposes that while magic is awe inspiring in fiction the mundane can be too with the right perspective and that fictional magic can be even more magical when you remember it was conjured by minds and hands that lack it. Its a feminist narrative too and the book resonated with Japanese women seeing a girl make her own way in life. True magic is life experienced with others and the skills and passions possible when we use our own abilities. True magic comes not from fantasy and spells but from memories of and experiences with others and from the creations that spring from our minds and our hands. The process of creating is beautiful as are the results which themselves can include the fantasy fairy tale stories that awe others. Arete is not a traditional fairy tale but its a film that kind of loves fairy tales itself the people that make them and just humanity as a whole. This story gains even more power when you know all of the many difficulties Sunao Katabuchi went through to get to this point and make this film what it is.