Flixwatcher: A Netflix Film Review Podcast

George Wood and Charlotte Sometimes (freelance film writers) return to Flixwatcher to review Georges’s choice Pom Poko. Pom Poko (1994) is a Studio Ghibli animation written and directed by Isao (Grave of the Fireflies) Takahata. Pom Poko is the story of tanuki, which in Japanese folk lore are magical shape shifting creatures, also referred to as Japanese raccoon dogs which has led to the incorrect translation of ‘raccoons’ to the English version. The film opens in late 1960s Japan, a group of tanuki (raccoon dogs) find their natural habitat threatened by rampant suburban development. Fast forward to the 1990s and the tanuki are facing reduced resources and space and resorting to fighting with each other for survival. A group of elders come up with a strategy to take back their land that involves killing of humans and learning the art of shapeshifting. Testicles are also a prominent feature in tanuki traditions and they feature frequently in Pom Poko, if referred to incorrectly as ‘pouches’ in the English dub