What If the Anime of Hayao Miyazaki Was Filipinized?

Have you ever watched the beautiful animation of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Mizaki and wondered what such a fantasy world would look like if it took place in the Philippines? Neither have I but that has not stopped one Cebu artist from conjuring up what such a world. He created these "what-if's" as part of the Ghibli redraw challenge. Let's look at three of these drawings compared side-by-side to the originals. If you have not seen these movies then by all means watch them. They are not children's films.

Spirited Away

What a difference, huh?

In the Filipino version the bathhouse is run down, has broken windows, there are tires on the roof to hold it in place, and there are no decorations like the big golden gargoyle called an onigarwa. There is a sari-sari store and there is an electrical pole with a kite stuck in it. That is incredibly true to life. I have seen many kites stuck in the electrical wires here because they are too low.

Take a look at Chihiro who is the heroine of Spirited Away. She has been compared to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She is trapped in a fantastical world and is trying to find her way home.

Filipino Chihiro looks like a dirty street orphan who has been working at the bathhouse for years and has been broken and abused by the witch who runs it. She is not even wearing a shirt that fits properly and she is barefoot. She is staring at the viewer from the entrance of the bathhouse as if she has been there for years. In contrast the real Chihiro is a resilient young girl who does everything she can to save her parents. She is never resigned to her fate but seeks to transcend it so she can return to the real world. She is looking up at the bathhouse as a challenge she must conquer. Filipino Chihiro looks defeated and like she belongs in the world of the bathhouse which, from the looks of it, is not the spirit world.

In fact that is the problem here, there is no trace of the spirit world to be found in the Filipinized version. The bathhouse is ratty and not beautiful at all. There is no magic to be found in it. The Spirits come there to bathe but who would bathe in that nasty place? The water would be dirty and cold. This artist did not even bother to draw the furnace's smokestack which is what heats the water. The building does not look safe at all. Not even the bridge leading to it looks safe. It looks rather rickety. Everything could fall apart in a moment. And what's under that bridge?  Being in the Philippines it probably looks like this:

In the original the bathhouse is a Japanese pagoda but in the Filipino version it's a tall nipa hut. The Philippines does not have any recognizable architecture of its own except for the lowly nipa hut. All the oldest surviving buildings have Spanish influence because the natives of these islands never developed a permanent architectural style of their own. 

The bathhouse is no longer a bathhouse. It is absent the furnace room which heats the water. Why did the artist replace the smokestack with an electric pole? Will there be electric water heaters inside? Even if there were because it is now Filipinized that means the water will by no means be clean and pure but will be dirty to one degree or another. Will the tubs be filled from blue water containers? The electricity will also go out ant random times. The walls are not solid but are jigsawed together with found objects making this not a very private place to relax and bathe. One could imagine rats and roaches scurrying about. There is no comfort or cleanliness here.

Howl's Moving Castle

What the heck is going on here? Howl's Moving Castle is supposed to be alive but now it's dead and powered by Filipinos carrying it. There is laundry drying on the top. Howl's castle has a fin tail but in the Filipinized version it has been replaced with palm tree leaves. Where is the smoke from the fire inside? Where are the turrets? This is not a magic castle. All the magic is gone. Everything magical about Howl's  Moving Castle has disappeared in the Filipinized version. It's just a large bricolage nipa hut moving not by the power of magic but of the Bayanihan spirit.

The residents of Howl's Moving Castle do laundry but they don't hang it out on top of the house while it's moving.  They stop and hang it out to dry so that no one sees their clothes.  The Filipinized version vulgarizes and bastardizes the castle into something it is not.

Howl's Moving Castle also has a magic door that can transport one across space and time. There is no way the Filipinized version has such a door. Everything in the house is alive. Here it is all dead. In this drawing you get a sense that there is no living spirit world in the Philippines but only dark and dead superstition.

Princess Mononoke

Now, that looks pretty good right? "Looks" is the key word here.

Princess Mononoke's animal companion has been transformed from a Wolf Goddess into a wild dog found in the jungles of Bukidnon known as the Bukidnon Witch Dog. Moro, the Wolf Goddess, is Princess Mononoke's protector and mother since her parents offered her up to Moro as a sacrifice but she decided to raise her as her own. Moro is also the protector the Forest Spirit.

The Bukidnon Witch Dog is a wild dog that causes chaos killing domestic animals. It is not a divine protector but a very earthly creature given to destruction. In the drawing the dog looks like a kangaroo. Here it is in real life:

https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/native-dog-breed-philippines-a00293-20200520-lfrm

In the ancestral lands of Bukidnon in Mindanao, there is a type of wild dog that does not breed with other dogs. It has sharp claws, climbs trees, hunts cobras, and could be 36,000 years old. It is called tiger dog and aso ng gubat by locals. It is also called bird catcher in Luzon and witch dog in the Visayas. The aso ng gubat in Bukidnon has a brindle coat—dark-brown with black stripes 

According to Philippine indigenous dog researcher Tom Asmus, the dog can survive independently in the jungle, and is difficult to raise at home.

“They climb trees after prey, hunt snakes, and are capable of surviving on just jungle vegetation,” said Asmus. “It's difficult to keep a wild blooded one domestically, as they have little to no resistance to common domesticated canine illnesses.” 

The dog’s refusal to mate with dogs other than its own kind makes its genes among the purest native breed in the country, says Asmus. 

In the wild, the dog has an impeccable kill instinct, which makes it a high-value target for illegal dog fights. “They will kill another dog no matter its size or type,” said Asmus. 

Even Asmus has trouble keeping his group of 10 aso ng gubat from killing livestock. “If I let them loose, they kill domestic dogs, goats, cats, and all kinds of poultry. They see no difference between a rat and a cat.” That is the COMPLETE opposite of Moro the Wolf Goddess. 

Princess Mononoke, having been raised by Moro the Wolf Goddess, acts very much like a wolf. That would mean the Filipinized Mononoke acts like a wild dog. Just look at their difference in attire. Princess Mononoke has a tooth necklace and a fur cape which symbolisms her wolfishness as she was raised by wolves. The Filipinzed Mononoke has an outfit made out of leaves! What is that supposed to symbolize? It has no connection to her wild jungle dog. The mask is supposed to identify Princess Monnoke with the forest spirits. What does the mask of Filipina Mononoke represent when her protector is not a goddess but a mere wild jungle dog?

So, Princess Mononoke has also been stripped of its magic. There is no Forest Spirit to protect here. At least if there is this dog and Princess aren't doing it. It's just a wild dog and not a divine being.

Conclusion

This is what happens when you Filipinize something. You take an idea or a thing and you strip it of its essence reducing it to the bare minimum perhaps turning it around backwards or on its head. You take away that which makes a thing what it is and replace it with something vulgar. What was once transcendent becomes earthly in the most degrading sort of way. Moro the Wolf Goddess becomes a wild jungle dog. Howl's Moving Castle is stripped of all its magic and becomes Howl's Carried Castle. Chihiro is reduced to being a dirty street urchin. 

Though it was probably not his intention the artist, Bastinuod, has done a fantastic job contrasting the earthly brutishness of the Philippines with the uplifting spiritualness of Japan. There is nothing transcendent in the world he has envisioned as it is a complete bastardization and degradation of Miyazaki's world. Filipinization adds no value or improvement. Who would want to live in the Filipino version of Howl's Moving Castle devoid of all its magic or take a bath in the nipa hut bathhouse?

In contrast to this guy's artwork Bored Panda has gathered 35 of the most notable Ghibli redraws.  The difference between them and Bastinuod is that they all enhance the animation with even more magic in some cases.  What they did not do is relocate them to a different culture. Let's look at one instance.

https://www.boredpanda.com/redrawing-ghibli-art/

That is the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service. See how much more magical that looks? It's a real upgrade. But with Bastinuod we don't get that. Instead we get a downgrade to the Philippines.