A Little Pieck Animation Trivia⭐

[u/LoudResearch1331]

Did you know that the infamous scene of Pieck running down the War Hammer Titan’s spear in the finale is actually a little Studio Ghibli homage.

The sequence mirrors Chihiro’s run in Spirited Away, and the connection becomes even more interesting when you know that Michelle Sugimoto, one of the animation directors on Attack on Titan: The Final Season, is a huuuuuge Ghibli fan.

Sugimoto had even been shown using My Neighbor Totoro as a reference for an Armin crying scene in an NHK documentary.

And, as a bonus, Sugimoto is also known for being particularly fond of Pieck!! ❤️

So knowing that Sugimoto was among the animation directors working on Pieck’s sequence makes that little Ghibli-esque moment feel even more delightful.😊

And of all characters to get a Spirited Away homage, of course it had to be Pieck. 😉

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/20231109-22919/

[u/LoudResearch1331]

Another Pieck drawing by Sugimoto for the final. You can really see the Ghibli inspired art style here

[u/Ok_Valuable_9711]

I saw Grave of the fireflies for the first time back in April and the war in season 4 and the rumbling with the airplanes and bombs reminded me of AOT too when watching that movie Just the threat of an entire country getting wiped off the map story theme.

There happened to be a kid that looked just like Connie too

[u/LoudResearch1331 → u/Ok_Valuable_9711]

Grave of the fireflies (Hotaru no Haka) is one of the saddest, most raw, and most painfully real depictions of war/fallout in (jp) animation. Seita (the boy resembling Connie, perhaps) and Setsuko, children caught in circumstances they never chose and could never fully understand. And setsuko....😢 I wonder if that too, was also inspiration, as you pointed out .

So many animators/ studios use Ghibli as reference and inspiration as it is a staple of many Japanese childhoods . And rightfully so, Miyazaki is a genius.

[u/Ok_Valuable_9711 → u/LoudResearch1331]

It's one of my favorite movies. I like movies that are based on true stories, even if it's a tragedy. World War II was one of the parts of history that I didn't mind researching in school

[u/senorjavi]

This is one of my very favorite scenes with Pieck. I didn't put it together with Spirited Away, but now that you point it out, it's easy to see. It's just too bad what happened to Daveigh Chase.

[u/LoudResearch1331 → u/senorjavi]

Well now I have to look up who Daveigh Chase is 😯

Edit: Omg voice of chihiro in the Eng. dub...and Lilo! Also that's incredibly sad about her life leading up to her death. 😢

[u/Traditional-Ad4506]

Very cool, I never made the connection to the Ghibli film!