Well, i'm a fan of anime in general. Miyazaki's work was childhood thing for me. I remember watching Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky and Totoro when i was like 5 yrs old? For me, one of the highlights of Miyazaki's work is the music, a lot of which is done by a composer called Joe Hisaishi. When it comes to the story, i think i prefer some of the older ones, but the animation never fails to impress even by Japanese standards. And i'm also waiting to get my hands on a copy of Howl's Moving Castle. I'm not sure if it's out yet in the UK, but i think i prefer a copy of the sub anyway.

As for anime in general. I would say very few animes are for kids. The themes are way too serious and the kids i know either hide away or fall asleep. That said, the likes of Akira are hardly for adults. The average adolescent perhaps despite an 18 certificate! Anime is not that popular in the Uk, with the exception of say Pokemon, and are difficult and expensive to get hold of. Most of the stuff we get are US releases with US dubbing anyway.

Don't get me started on these US adaptations and live-action movies. I remember there was a rumour about a dbz live-action movie, which was eventually cancelled for pretty obvious reasons. And then there was another one about Evangelion. God knows how they going to make them. I've seen so-called animes reworked to "US tastes", and they were just horrible. Kind of like a mix of American dubbing and dialogue, with a lot of censorship. Thing is, "US tastes" for anime usually means kid's tastes, because i don't think they can hack the idea of animated films for adults. They're certainly not the target audience. Then again, anime is not for everybody. I can deal with some of the over-the-top themes and perhaps suspend my disbelief because i'm use to them. Imagine then what a live-action movie will be like! A mix of "The Ring" and a poorly dubbed anime?