Ponyo
崖の上のポニョ
“A magical goldfish who washes ashore is rescued by five-year-old Sousuke, and their friendship starts turning her human.”
7.97
Community score
Watch on
Netflix
For you
AI-powered analysis tailored to your taste
Would you love or hate this?
Sign up to unlock
- Personalized to you
- Honest pros & cons
- Based on your library
Synopsis
A magical goldfish who washes ashore is rescued by five-year-old Sousuke, and their friendship starts turning her human.
A curious goldfish escapes from her underwater home and finds herself carried by ocean currents to the shore, where she is rescued by Sousuke, a five-year-old boy who lives with his mother in a house overlooking the sea. The boy names his new friend Ponyo after she demonstrates an unusual ability to heal a small wound. Ponyo is no ordinary fish - she comes from a mysterious underwater realm and possesses magical qualities that become apparent as she spends time with Sousuke. As their friendship blossoms, Ponyo begins to manifest increasingly human characteristics, leading to extraordinary changes in both her form and the world around them. The story follows the magical bond between Ponyo and Sousuke as they navigate the wonders and challenges that arise when the boundary between land and sea begins to blur, setting in motion events that will test the very nature of love and transformation.
A goldfish sneaks away from home and floats off on the back of a jellyfish. After getting stuck in a glass jar, she drifts to the shore where she is freed by Sousuke, a five-year-old boy who lives with his mother Lisa in a house by the sea while his father Koichi works on a fishing boat. After healing a cut on Sousuke's finger by licking it, the goldfish is named Ponyo by her new friend. Unknown to Sousuke, Ponyo already has a name and a family. Her father Fujimoto, a sorcerer who forsook his humanity to live underwater, searches frantically for his daughter Brunhilde. When found and captured, Ponyo rejects her birth name and declares that she wants to become a human. Using the power received from Sousuke's blood, she grows arms and legs and escapes to the surface once more. But the magic released into the ocean causes an imbalance in nature, causing the Moon to start falling out of orbit and the tides to grow dangerously stronger. Reunited with Ponyo, Sousuke must pass an ancient test to restore order in the world and let his companion live on as a human.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
What people say
Community consensus
Derived from 79 sampled reviews
8.0/10
What 79
viewers
settled on.
94% recommend
Score distribution
Agreement
MixedMostly aligned
σ 1.73 · some divergence
The polarity gap
5.1 ptsRecommenders 8.6 · others 3.5
Yes
8.6
No
3.5
Score over time
0.97Verbosity
Short · 44%
Medium · 29%
Long · 27%
Snap verdicts · shortest highly-rated reviews
- 10/10 “THIS WAS AMAZING. It doesn't take a lot to make me cry in real life, but movie-wise its much harder. This film is absolutely one of the best I have ever seen. When I'm crying in this movie, its not...”
- 10/10 “An absolutely amazing film that instantly lifts your spirits and leaves you smiling. The plotline is loved for its Little Mermaid vibe, the characters are adorable, and the artwork is unmistakably...”
- 7/10 “Ponyo’s gentle story of a magic fish befriending a five-year-old boy delivers charming character designs and beautifully animated water that made me care about the cast. Yet the film lacks a proper...”
Watch order & related
A self-contained story.
No sequels, spin-offs or alternate tellings — Ponyo begins and ends here.
Cast
See allTrailers & videos
See allGallery
See allIf you stay for this, you'll stay for these
See allThe community pairs this with
See allMade by
See all creditsProduction slate
Reel · 01 Cat. №BS-2638
- Format
- 1 × 100′
- eps × min
- Total runtime
- 1h 40m
- all episodes
- Aired
- Jul 2008 – Jul 2008
- Summer 2008
- Source
- Movie
- media type
- Rated
- G
- All Ages
- Ref.
- BS-2638
- catalog