Jack to Mame no Ki

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A Japanese animated film from The Seventies directed by Gisaburo Sugii (who was an animation director for Kanashimi no Belladonna and later directed Night on the Galactic Railroad and Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie).

It is, of course, a re-imagining/expansion of the fairy-tale "Jack and the Beanstalk." The film starts out familiar enough...Jack is tricked into trading his cow for magic beans, the beans grow a beanstalk over night...and then it gets interesting. Jack's dog, Crosby, saves a mouse wearing a pink princess dress from a bird, and she leads Jack and Crosby to the top of the beanstalk, to a magical cloud kingdom. There, Jack meets Princess Margaret, who seems oddly calm about marrying an ugly, dumb giant and having a Wicked Witch for a mother-in-law. Of course, it's revealed that the witch wants to be queen of the cloud kingdom and has turned the rest of the royal family and servants into mice, who beg Jack to save their princess.

Tropes used in Jack to Mame no Ki include:
  • Abusive Parents: The witch to the Tulip.
  • Adaptation Expansion: The movie adds an enchanted princess, a royal mouse-family, an evil witch...
  • Almost Kiss
  • Bittersweet Ending: Margaret and her family are saved, the witch and giant are no longer a threat, and Margaret is queen of the cloud kingdom. However, Jack is forced to cut down the beanstalk, the only thing connecting their worlds, to kill the giant. The last scene implies that Jack will eventually forget Margaret.
  • Can Not Tell a Lie: The singing harp. The mice have to hold her harp-strings totally still to keep her from telling the giant where Jack is.
  • Disappeared Dad: For both Jack and Tulip.
  • Disney Acid Sequence: The wedding between Margaret and Tulip. Crosses over with Nightmare Fuel.
  • Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off: Jack's mother spanks him with a broomstick when she learns he traded their cow for three beans.
  • Foreshadowing: In the treasure vault, Tulip is seen with a tiny robotic doll of his mother, who sings a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Tulip watches/listens patiently for a few minutes before suddenly smashing it with his fist.
  • Goofy Print Underwear: Tulip spends a decent portion of the movie in heart boxers after tearing his clothes off in a fit of rage. He has plenty of time to get dressed again afterward, but never bothers.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Tulip and Margaret
  • Magic Pants: When the enchanted royal family is turned back into humans, their clothes grow with them.
  • Mind Control Eyes: Princess Margaret has these.
  • Musical
  • Non-Singing Voice: It's pretty obvious that Jack has a separate voice actor in the American dub when he sings, his speaking voice is done by Billie Lou Watt his singing voice is probably done by Corinne Orr who also voices Princess Margaret.
  • Shotacon / Likes Older Women: A little bit of both vibes are present when Madame Hecuba first sees Jack. She wants to get him away from Margaret--so she can feed him potion-laced soup that'll knock him out til her giant-son eats him. But during that, she acted like a weird mix of motherly and seductive, and wondered aloud if she should use her "good looks" to lure Jack away.
    • Then there's Margaret telling Jack she has feelings for him and moving in to kiss him near the end. Jack seems to be about twelve, Margaret appears to be eighteen.
  • Talking in Your Sleep: Margaret apparently does this, only able to express how terrified she is in her sleep. It's when Jack hears her crying, saying how frightened she is and begging for help that he starts to decide to fight.
  • The Dog Bites Back: After years of enduring his mother's verbal abuse, Tulip finally loses it and crushes her with his foot.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In song-form!
  • Too Dumb to Live: Suuuuure, Madame Hecuba. Insulting and yelling at your son, who is several stories bigger than you and a lot heavier, when he's pissed off enough already is a great idea.
  • True Love's Kiss: Averted. It is a kiss that will break the spell on Margaret, but it doesn't have to be her One True Love...the only requirement is that the kisser is brave. Jack briefly says he isn't brave enough to even try...
  • Twice-Told Tale
  • Unintentional Period Piece: The music is reminiscent of songs from the 70's when it was made especially the music the salesman plays on his lute, and in the original Japanese version near the end of the "Tulip" song he does an Elvis Presley impression.
  • Unfortunate Names: The giant's name is Tulip. Ouch.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Tulip after discovering Margaret doesn't really love him, it was just his mother's spell, and that she prefers Jack.
  • Vain Sorceress: Madame Hecuba. "Should I use my magic, or my good looks?"
  • What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Being a 1974 film, it tends to get kinda...trippy.
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