Review: Studio Ghibli’s successor returns with an anime movie about imaginary friends, coming to Netflix July 5. Directed by Spirited Away veteran Yoshiyuki Momose.
This review of The Imaginary is timed to the film’s festival premiere at France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The film will stream on Netflix in America starting on July 5.
When Studio Ponoc’s first anime feature, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, premiered in 2017, it came as a relief — a promise that the legacy of Japan’s famed animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli wouldn’t be entirely lost with Ghibli’s rumored plans to shut down. Founded by Ghibli veteran Yoshiaki Nishimura (producer of When Marnie Was There and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya), and taking on former Ghibli employees in an attempt to preserve their experience and skills for future animated projects, Ponoc came into the world openly billed as Ghibli’s successor. Mary and the Witch’s Flower was so clearly modeled on Ghibli designs and storytelling that the transition seemed fait accompli.
But Ghibli stayed in business, with co-founder Hayao Miyazaki laboring away on another animated feature, The Boy and the Heron, while his son Goro experimented with digital animation to make the television movie Earwig and the Witch. And Ponoc’s output has been slow over the past seven years, with no new feature films — just the charming shorts collection Modest Heroes, and some lovely promotional projects. So its new feature The Imaginary is a second round of relief for animation fans — both because the company is still in the moviemaking business, and because The Imaginary sees it just starting to edge away from outright Ghibli mimicry. (And, as a side note, because 2024 has been a terrible year for cinematic imaginary friends so far.)
The Imaginary just debuted at France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and comes to Netflix July 5 via an exclusive distribution deal. Adapted from a 2014 novel by British author A.F. Harrold, the film follows a spunky young girl named Amanda and her imaginary friend Rudger. (Not “Roger,” she and Rudger keep indignantly reminding people, but Rudger, which in Netflix’s dub and the kids’ posh British accents is pronounced pretty much the same way.) Rudger is a little blond boy who joins Amanda on all her imaginary adventures, and seems to regard her more like a playmate than a creator, though it’s notable that she occasionally treats him like a favored toy — something respected and beloved, but still capable of being banged about a bit for excitement and drama.
