To any Studio Ghibli fans out there, you might be interested in the new Japanese animation movie by Keiichi Hara, “Miss Hokusai,” based on the historical manga that follows the artist Hokusai’s daughter, O-Ei, who works in her father’s shadow. There is no continual plot, but it’s more of a collection of artistic moments and experiences in the year 1814 in Edo. The one thing these moments have in common is that they all experienced by O-Ei. Fair warning though; in Madison, this movie is only being shown at the Sundance theater, and the movie is still in Japanese.

Their relationship is not a particularly loving one. They work together as business partners, living in a messy house with scribbles all over the place, which they share with Hokusai’s lousy apprentice Zenjiro and the cute dog who moves in with them in the beginning of the movie. They’re not affectionate with each other, O-Ei is constantly addressing him by his first name. The only time O-Ei acknowledges him as a father is when she’s angry that he won’t visit her sick little sister because he’s afraid of illness.

O-Ei is a stony faced and jaded individual who’s very similar to her father in the seriousness of how she takes her art. She takes it so seriously, in fact, that when she is told that her erotic drawings aren’t sensual, she goes to a brothel and engages what I as a clueless American can only call a gigolo in drag (things get quite steamy for a few seconds).

The only time that O-Ei smiles is when she is with her blind, sickly little sister, O-Nao. She takes her sister on walks throughout the city, helping her to experience city life by being her eyes. She is very affectionate with the little girl, and the moments that they spend together are heartwarming.

Because this is a movie about artists, we get to see into the mind of the artists, Hokusai and O-Ei. And it is filled supernatural beings and life forms that come to life before your eyes, including dragons, goblins, and gods.

The movie had a wonderful ability to transport us to another era, but there were a few moments that jarred me out of it. There were three times during the movie where the soundtrack for some reason had an electric guitar that did a riff.

Otherwise, the soundtrack kept with the movie very well. Also, at the very end, where there was explanation of what happened to O-Ei after the events of the movie, at the end of that, we are shown an image of modern day Tokyo, which to me, jarred against the rest of the movie. It was only a brief moment, but it was effectively jarring.

If you’re looking to enjoy a movie that features another era and culture, then please take a look at this movie.