No-face the eggplant facing a tiny Chihiro, super cute miniature diorama by Tatsuya Tanaka.
This set is a Spirited Away twist of an old Obon (festival of the dead) tradition called 精霊馬 shouryo-uma (lit. spirit horse). People craft horses made from cucumber and oxen made from eggplants:
(quote from this article) The cucumber horse is long and sleek, symbolizing ancestors’ swift journeys home to their families. The eggplant cow, plump and sturdy, embodies ancestors’ leisurely return trip, a load of souvenirs with them in tow.
While this long-standing tradition is practiced in many parts of Japan, younger generations have been riffing on it in new ways, carving their summer vegetables into elaborate creations and posting them online. For some people, shouryouma represents a special way to pay tribute to their loved ones.
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Much like the movie-resembling Breyer models of Spirit and Rain, another humongous Spirit grail of mine was literally ANY of the Jemini plushes of Spirit! Though I wasn’t aware of the specific brand at the time, I’ve known of the existence of these plush since about the time the film came out. We were getting internet for the first time around the same time, and as a 10 year old horse OBSESSEE, I wanted to see EVERYTHING in regards to Spirit! Never once did I think I would actually achieve these plush, much less two of them, but now with access to friends in other countries, this is happily the reality I live in! For anyone who maybe isn’t familiar, Jemini made quite a few plushes for the Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron film! Spirit and Rain each had a large plush, maybe 25” long and wide both. Spirit had a pajama case plush (the ones in my photos are BOTH the pajama case plush - one of them is in mint condition and sits on display, I cuddle the other and smell him up with essential oils in his mane!) Esperanza (Spirits mom) also had a plush, slightly smaller than the pajama case plush. I presume Rain and Spirit were made in this size as well. Spirit and Rain also both had a poseable standing plush (maybe about the size of the Esperanza plush), those are a bit rarer. Spirit, Rain and Esperanza also each had a smaller plush, presumably about the size of a beanie baby. There was also a jemini Spirit mini plush, sold with UK and European copies of the film on VHS and DVD. I believe they also made a plush of the eagle! All in all, you’d probably be hard pressed to find someone who won’t agree, that the Jemini Spirit plushes are the best ones out there. I’m very proud to own some! Not for sale, but thanks for looking! Hope this helps!
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Rating Non-Disney Animated Horse Designs
I’m back by popular demand/well not really but my optimism’s grand
A sequel to my Disney horse Rating post for all the other random non-Disney horses. Dreamworks, Bluesky, random cartoons, anything I could find. Featuring: Altivo, Spirit, some Barbie horses, and a few abominations.
Horse (Sing)
6/10 I don’t hate it and I feel like I should because it’s really hard to anthropomorphize horses that much without making them into the stuff of nightmares.
Shadowfax (The Lord of the Rings)
5/10 There’s nothing WRONG with him per se, but it’s SHADOWFAX. Lord of all horses. He should wow me, and he doesn’t. Check out Gandalf’s weird sock-boots though.
Hervé (Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper)
-6/10 Horses' mouths don’t look like that. Horses’ mouths should not look like that. This thing wants to eat human flesh but can’t because it has two solid curved huge teeth with no physical relationship with its jaw. Also this horse has the beginnings of male-pattern baldness.
Princess Brietta (Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus)
1/10 Her eyes are flat like they’ve been painted onto her socketless skull. And there’s something very off-putting about this shade of pink.
Beauty, Merry Legs, Ginger (Black Beauty)
4/10 Ginger isn’t ginger. That is not a sorrel horse. There’s ONE requirement. Beauty’s the best of the three which is I guess what counts.
Hans, Klaus and Greta (Ferdinand)
2/10 I hate them so much. The core design isn’t that bad but the way they move and pose is. No horse should make that face. The one on the left is stretched putty.
The Grand Chawhee (All Dogs Go to Heaven)
I know what you’re thinking-- “isn’t that a mule or a donkey of some sort?” No. He’s a racehorse. Maybe a thoroughbred. And it’s his birthday so the other horses let him win.
9/10
Stella (All Dogs Go to Heaven)
1/10 She gets one point for being nice to Chawhee. But she’s clearly some sort of alien giraffe hybrid.
Odette’s horse (Swan Princess)
7/10 Just a nice little palomino design.
That little shaggy pony (The Quest for Camelot)
12/10 Amazing. Look at the determination.
Buck (Barnyard)
2/10 See this is what that horse from Sing COULD have looked like.
The Horse in the Back, Not Klaus But I Couldn’t FInd a Better Picture (Klaus)
9/10 He matches his owner and I respect that
Leah (The Star)
4/10 This is horse is voiced by Kelly Clarkson. That has nothing to do with her rating, I just thought you should know.
(Starchaser: The Legend of Orin)
8/10 for both. I have questions but I do not want answers. It’s better this way.
Fred (Over the Garden Wall)
7/10 don’t love that his head is a different color than his body in a weird way but he looks neurotic and fun.
The Chariot Horses (Prince of Egypt)
8/10 I’ve just always liked these guys with their square faces and fun hats.
Altivo (The Road to El Dorado)
7/10 Look at the little curl in his mane. Good personality. A little too much “Dreamworks Face”
Donkey in Horse Form (Shrek 2? one of the Shreks)
3/10 Look at his face. I DREAD what he might have to say.
Esmeralda, Esperanza, Ernestina (Madgascar 3)
2/10 They’re coming for you. Coming to drag you into the Abyss.
Police Horse (Madagascar)
7/10 I like his face shape. Compare him to the Madgascar 3 horses-- look how much more identifiable as a horse he is.
Melvin (The Lorax)
10/10 He’s not a horse, but he’s so fluffy I love him.
Babieca (Puss in Boots)
4/10 This horse has dead eyes.
Onyx (Rise of the Guardians)
13/10 She’s the leader of the nightmares and I would fully support her terrorizing the dreams of children. I’m pretty sure she and her mares ate the boogie man. A true Girlboss.
Yi Min (Kung Fu Panda but I think just an online game)
-20/10 Just from a design perspective there’s far too much going on so it’s hard to even make it all out. Also I would have zero idea that this was a horse if the wiki page didn’t tell me it was. It has split hooves?
Spirit Jr. (Spirit: Riding Free)
8/10 Objectively I know the design is good but my heart rebels against this show’s existence.
Boomerang Thomas Stone (Spirit: Riding Free)
8/10 I’m not doing all the horses from this show but I had to throw him in because he’s cute and he has a middle and last name for some reason.
Horse (Centaurworld)
Why are there two distinctly different designs for her? This one gets a 9/10. The round one is like... a 5. All the other creatures in this show are eldritch abominations that will haunt me in my sleep now.
Esperanza and all the other horses from this movie (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron)
10/10 No notes. Perfect horses.
Rain (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron)
15/10 I don’t have a joke here I just really like the way they differentiated her and made her pretty without too much anthropomorphizing. I like that she has a roman nose. I like her feather.
Spirit (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron)
100/10 He’s everything. He shaped me as a person. No other animated horse can compare.
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