I can't help but choke up when they recreate the way things used to be and that woman runs out to her mother, the ending as a whole just makes me feel sad. And then bittersweet weirdly nostalgic credits music starts playing and it just makes me feel absolutely horrible...
Great movie.
A lot of Isao Takahata's films are more depressing/sad because they are so often based in reality, and the stories of his films unfold in a more realistic fashion compared to Hayao Miyazaki's films. "Only Yesterday" and "Grave of the Fireflies" are thought to be his magna opera (although the former is really a chick flick). Having said that, "Pom Poko" does have an air of tragedy about it.
shareYes, it's meant to be sad. Did you want a happy ending?
Life is full of change, the same change that is great for some is depressing for others. It's just life, beautiful and tragic. :-)
“In my sentences I go where no man has gone before.”
- George W. Bush