When a gold fish girl runs away from home, she winds up getting stuck in a jar until a young boy named Sosuke finds her. He gets her out by breaking the jar, but he cuts his finger. As Sosuke picks up the gold fish, she licks the blood off his finger. Sosuke put the gold fish in a green bucket and named the gold fish Ponyo. Then his mom, Lisa, calls that it is time to go to school. Sosuke takes Ponyo with him, and as he is riding in the car, he realizes that his cut is gone. After Sosuke’s mother goes to work at the senior center, which is right next to his school, he shows Ponyo to some of the seniors. One of the seniors thinks Ponyo is a bad omen, so she starts to freak out. Afraid that he would have to get rid of Ponyo, Sosuke runs and hides under a rock by the sea. When Ponyo’s Father, Fujimoto, sees that she is with humans he sends his Sea Servants go get her. Ponyo wants to see Sosuke again and she wants to be human so she could be with Sosuke despite her fathers wishes. Fujimoto won’t let this go with out a fight.

Highlights

Ponyo has an interesting family. My favorite one of her family is Fujimoto. Fujimoto originally named Ponyo Brunhile, and was once a human but gave up his human ways to take care of the sea. He is disgusted with how the humans take care of the sea and that is why he doesn’t want Ponyo to be with humans. Fujimoto does not have any magic powers, but he does use magic elixirs to create life in the sea. His dream is to restore the sea to the way it was before humans were around. Sosuke’s father isn’t nearly as interesting, as he is the captain of the ship Koganei Maru but he does meet Ponyo’s mother, Gran Mamare, the mother of the sea and the goddess of mercy. They meet when she swims through the sea and under the Koganei Maru.   

Overall

The picture book is different than the movie. It may be the same story, but the transformation between movie to book changes the way it is told. There is less dialog, it’s shorter and it’s more of a overview of the movie. The actual story is told better than it was in the movie, it leaves you questioning what happened less when you finish it, but you do lose some of the magic that you get from the movie. It is great for telling the story to your kids and they can easily follow along the pictures. There is an awesome “Meet the Characters” section at the beginning of the book that has the name of the characters and a little synopsis for each one. It has all the characters from Sosuke to Fujimoto’s Sea Servants and every one in between. This book is another incredible way to tell this magical story.

ComicsOnline gives Ponyo Picture Book 4 out of 5 ancient sea creatures