Ponyo
2008 anime film directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Ponyo is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi, and distributed by Toho. The film stars Yuria Nara, Hiroki Doi, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Kazushige Nagashima, Yūki Amami, George Tokoro, Rumi Hiiragi, Akiko Yano, Kazuko Yoshiyuki and Tomoko Naraoka. It is the eighth film Miyazaki directed for Studio Ghibli, and his tenth overall.
The film tells the story of Ponyo, a goldfish-like creature who escapes from the ocean and is helped by a five-year-old human boy named Sōsuke, after she is washed ashore while trapped in a glass jar. As they bond with each other, Ponyo desires to become a human girl, against the devastating circumstances brought about by her acquisition and use of magic.
The film was originally released in Japan on July 19, 2008, by distributor Toho. It was a major commercial success, grossing over $204 million worldwide and becoming the tenth-highest-grossing anime film of all time. It received critical acclaim for its uplifting themes, visual design, and simultaneous appeal towards young children and all audiences.
An English-language version of the film was released on August 14, 2009, to 927 theatres across the U.S., the widest opening for a Studio Ghibli film in the U.S. It was produced by The Kennedy/Marshall Company and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through their Walt Disney Pictures banner.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ponyo” is 2008 anime film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ponyo, anime and film, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “2008 anime film directed by Hayao Miyazaki” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q236728. VIAF identifies the subject as 213835130. The Library of Congress control number is no2009127843. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 2009.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ponyo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.