Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea/Heartwarming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea: The ending. Just about the last ten minutes of the film is one long string of happy, but the best part is when Ponyo flips out of the bucket in her little bubble, she and Sosuke kiss, and she turns into a real human girl. The last shot of the movie is a freeze-frame of her happy face.
    • When the old ladies are shown to be able to walk again, and are racing each other across a field. They're just so happy.
    • The morse-code scene, where Sosuke's father tells his son "I'm sorry and I love you" becomes a lot nicer when you learn about the Reality Subtext. That was a message from Miyazaki to his son.
  • Granmamare has her fair share of heartwarming moments. Which is especially noting, considering the way Ponyo describes her big, beautiful and very scary:
    • In her first appearance, when all the power goes out on the boats, she restores it so that they can at least see where they are going. The boat that Koichi, Sosuke's father, reacts in their own comic yet respective way to her, when they realize they just met in their own words "The Goddess of Mercy."
    • When she meets Fujimoto, she seems to take what Brunnhilde did rather well and even likes the name Sosuke gave her "Ponyo". Even deciding that if Ponyo wants to, she'll let her stay on the surface world. Of course not without testing her and Sosuke of course. She even shuts the light off for them so they could get some much needed sleep.
    • During the scene where the Old Ladies are racing, they stop to see Lisa and Grammamare having a talk away from them. No one knows what they are saying, but they seem to get along mother to mother.
    • Lastly when it's time to test them, in contrast to her usually frustrated husband Fujimoto, she's calm and to the point. She asks if Sosuke honestly loves Ponyo as either a human or a fish. When Sosuke responds that he loves all the Ponyo's, that pleases Grammamere and to an extent restores the world to it's non flooded state.
  • While Fujimoto is a bit of a grouch he has his moments too:
    • Much of why he acts so frustrated about Ponyo rebelling him is out of worry about his daughter.
    • While he doesn't like humans, he does show some concern for Sosuke and was initially reluctant to have Sosuke be tested in fear he may accidentally screw up costing Fujimoto a daughter and Sosuke a friend.
    • When the world is finally restored he returns the toy boat Sosuke lost and asks him to remember him kindly and take good care of Ponyo.
    • While it's kind of comical, him getting ready for a meeting with Grammamare, is sweet especially when he mentions just thinking about her doesn't make his heart stop pounding.
  • When Ponyo is free of the bubble and human enough to walk out of the tank, she gives one of her sisters a kiss before proudly walking off to find Sosuke.

Ponyo: Let's find Sosuke!!

  • When Ponyo finally gets to Sosuke, after running across fish shaped waves and chasing him and Lisa all over the road, the first thing she does is grab the bucket he used to keep her in, after it flies off from the wind. She then proceeds to sprint past Lisa and glomp the hell out of him. Sosuke is naturally confused, but that doesn't stop her from affectionately nuzzling him. He gets her off him briefly to get a good look at her. While Ponyo smiles throughout the whole thing, she does show a hint of sadness, thinking he doesn't recognize her. Once he does recognize her, she's back to her cheerful self, glomps him again and proudly announces to her sisters that she found him.

Sosuke:......Ponyo?
Ponyo: Mmmhmm. It's me!! Ponyo!!
Sosuke: Mom! Ponyo came back and now she's a little girl!
Ponyo: I FOUND SOSUKE!!!


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