Anna Sasaki is a young foster kid struggling as a quiet loner. She is sensitive about her foreign looks and likes to draw. Her foster parents are concerned about her asthma and send her to the country to live with her foster mother's relatives the Oiwas. She finds an abandoned mansion. She gets cut off by the sea and is rescued by the silent fisherman Toichi. She finds a friend in the mysterious Marnie who apparently lived in the mansion. Nobuko tries to make friends with her. When she mentions her blue eyes, Anna lashes out at her. She meets older lady Hisako painting on the shore. A new family moves into the mansion. Anna befriends the girl Sayaka who found Marnie's diary in her room.
It's a fine ghost story. Marnie needs to be more mysterious but she's pretty obviously a spirit from the start. I would have given Toichi a bigger part. I see no reason why he shouldn't be the one who gives Anna the Marnie diary. He could have been more tied to Marnie. Anna has already been established as a loner so Sayaka is better left out of the story. Also it's missing the wonderful Ghibli otherworldliness. The story could have written by any number of western writers. I have come to expect different from Ghibli.
It's a fine ghost story. Marnie needs to be more mysterious but she's pretty obviously a spirit from the start. I would have given Toichi a bigger part. I see no reason why he shouldn't be the one who gives Anna the Marnie diary. He could have been more tied to Marnie. Anna has already been established as a loner so Sayaka is better left out of the story. Also it's missing the wonderful Ghibli otherworldliness. The story could have written by any number of western writers. I have come to expect different from Ghibli.