Hayao Miyazaki has made some of the most celebrated animated movies of all time. I freehand crocheted one of his films that always seems to get lost amongst his other classics. It’s about a flying pig that bounty hunts during the interwar period.
Released in Japan in 1992, Porco Rosso (紅の豚) is about Marco Pagot and his crimson seaplane. He cursed himself into a pig when as a pilot for the Italian Navy during World War I, was so disillusioned with humanity that he no longer wanted to be a part of it. The movie starts years later, with fascism on the rise in Italy (and World War II looming), where Marco (who is now known as “Porco“) has long been working as a flying bounty hunter for hire against pirates who terrorise citizens in the Adriatic Sea.
Fio Piccolo, the smart and feisty teenage granddaughter of Porco’s favourite mechanic, is my favourite Studio Ghibli female character. She fights to be recognised for her seaplane design talents. Despite her gender and young age, she proves her strength and skills to the men around her.
Marco is known as “Porco Rosso”, the Crimson Pig, due to his trademark red seaplane, a heavily modified Savoia S.21 he calls “Folgore”. I based my crocheted version on the Japan-based Fine Molds’ scale model kit of the aircraft that was rebuilt by Fio.
