"September 21st, 1945. That was the night I died."

I have been so excited for this movie for so long! Obviously, more “Ghibli Giggles” drabble collections are going to spring out of this, but in the meantime, here are my immediate out-of-the-theater thoughts.

• He does not like being tickled at. All. 😆 He’ll get all pouty and mad if someone tries it.
• The only person he ever allowed to tickle him without elbowing them in the face was his mom, but even that made him sulk.
• His preferred form of retaliation is to push, shove, and (if necessary) punch.
• One of those boys who doesn’t “laugh” as much as “yell and scramble in the opposite direction.” (You know the trademark “Ghibli run” that every single character does at least once? Where they sprint and hold their arms out like geese? That.)
• Sort of lonely growing up. Schoolmates and friends don’t usually tickle him; it’s pretty uncommon and comes as an unpleasant, embarrassing shock.
• Will hold his breath, squeeze his eyelids tight, and suck his lips in between his teeth to keep from laughing. His record is about 15 seconds.

⬆️ This frog incident (not to mention that time the pelicans swarmed him) really tickled, but he was too nervous to laugh. XP

• Always covers her face and shrieks whenever someone pokes her. Maybe a tiny bit embarrassed by how ticklish she is. ^^
• Definitely a screamer. And a kicker. Her laugh is bubbly and cheerful and she seems to have fun with tickling, but she can’t hold still to save her life.
• Be careful - she’s usually got a firm control of her pyrokinesis, but too much tickling can cause her to expel fire blasts all over the place!
• The only people she ever tickles are her little sister and Kiriko. (She tried it on a parakeet guard once…ineffective.)
• She’s a sneaky one, fond of surprise attacks. Has spidery fingers that love to poke.
• A daydreamer. Sometimes when she’s cleaning up her little house, she pretends that her feather duster is tickling the furniture. That makes her giggle.
• The world created by The Granduncle is stuffed to the brim with sentient bird species, and one of Himi's hobbies is collecting their discarded feathers. (Not directly related, but she does know which ones tickle the most!)

• Loves being tickled on her ribs and her tummy until she can’t breathe…that’s a super-fun endorphin rush for her…but can’t handle it on her feet. Armpits are 50/50; that depends on how much she likes you.
• She struggles - needs to be restrained or held down. Her toes get very wiggly when she’s tickled near there; it’s pretty adorable.
• Big sister energy. A fan of rowdy horseplay, of all kinds - wrestling, noogies, tickle fights, the works. (She’s also a dirty cheater.)
• Her first-choice method of cheering up a grumpy Lady Himi is to mercilessly tickle her until she's too happy to frown anymore.
• Uses aggressive attacks; really digs her fingers hard into her victim’s vulnerable spots and scratches wildly. Can be very mean if she wants to.
• You can hear her amazing laugh for miles. She always throws her head back and lets loose a hysterical smoker's cackle that makes everyone around want to laugh along with her. It's fun and contagious and full of life.
• Both she and Himi always get a case of the giggles when swarmed by friendly Warawara.

• Ew. And furthermore, ew.
• Not ticklish at all. (Again: ew.) BUT…
• The Grey Heron's feathers possess many magical properties. There's a supernatural energy rippling through their fibers thanks to their constant transformation (see, in the film, how they can provide homing magic to arrows and have a biochemical bond with the Heron’s body)...a goofy side-effect of which is that they're much more tickly than normal feathers.
• Suffice it to say, this creature should be captured and studied immediately. For science.

You must live.