This movie is so beautiful, well thought out, both in story and artwork, yet it is way too underrated. In my review, I will be focusing on addressing those critical/negative comments rather than repeating how good it is, which is already done by many others. I think the complaints mostly falls into 2 categories, mostly because they overlooked the hints, and maybe because of the inaccurate dub/sub. As a Japanese, I watched the film in original Japanese, and I hope I can contribute to the review by adding some accuracy and new perspectives. Followings are the 2 main complaints I've found, and my replies to them.
1. No Explanation for why he became a pig.
To tell the truth, I didn't get it either when I first watched it as a kid, but now that I've grown older, it is quite clear that the curse that transformed Marco into a pig is self-inflicted. Someone wrote a perfect interpretation which I'm quoting here: "The curse that transformed Marco into a pig is self-inflicted, because he survived the battle while Gina's husband (and Marco best friend) didn't. He feels guilty and he transformed into a pig because he feels he doesn't deserve love and happiness". Pig is often used to describe "worthless" or "disgusting" person in Japan, and it is understandable that he sees himself as a pig out of survivor's-guilt. This self-deprecation is shown many times throughout the film, such as when Gina told him that her 3rd husband didn't make it home alive, he responded "the good guys never do," making explicit this contrast between himself and a good guy. Also, another thing to take note is that he was sick of the wars, and had very little faith in mankind. Living in isolated island alone, and his phrase "I'd rather be a pig than a fascist", "You should do those kind of things just between you humans" all imply that.
How come he turned back into human (although the face was never shown, it is clear that he returned to human) in the end then? His phrase "Fio, you're a good girl. You make me feel like mankind are not that bad after all" might be the key. While spending time with Fio, seeing her innocent affection to him and to the aircraft, Marco slowly recovered from self-deprecation, and also recovered the faith to mankind. Although Fio was never an object of romantic interest for Marco, she's the one who helped Marco to change the view on himself and to the mankind. That's why the kiss from Fio worked.
2. Open Ending / no conclusion (Gina or Fio, not being shown. Which is actually not true)
I've seen many people complaining that the film didn't show whether Marco chose Gina or Fio in the end. Some even criticizing Miyazaki as "lazy", that he couldn't decide the conclusion himself so left it to viewers imagination. This is very wrong. Miyazaki showed the result in a very subtle way, that only careful people will notice. You just need to combine 2 things.
1) When Curtis visited Gina in her secret garden, she told Curtis "I'm now making a bet. If he (Marco) ever visits me while I'm in this garden during the daytime, I've decided I will truly love him. But that idiot, he only comes to the bar in the night time, never showing himself during the daytime."
2) In the last part, from the sky looking down to Hotel Adriana (from Fio's airplane), you will find Marco's red aircraft docked next to Gina's secret garden, during the DAYTIME. Gina won the bet. Also, in the end, the secret garden was shown again, but without Gina being there. Gina no longer needs to be there waiting for Marco.
Miyazaki set the conclusion in a very subtle way, make it kind of rewarding for those people who noticed it, and for those people who didn't, he gave the space for imagination. Some people might not be happy that Fio wasn't the one chosen after spending so much time building the relationship with Marco, but as I wrote earlier, even though she helped Marco recovering from self-deprecation, she was never an object of romance for Marco. Marco was always out there for Gina, as Gina thanking Marco in the beginning. As Gina told Curtis, "Love here is a bit more complicated than back in your country".
1. No Explanation for why he became a pig.
To tell the truth, I didn't get it either when I first watched it as a kid, but now that I've grown older, it is quite clear that the curse that transformed Marco into a pig is self-inflicted. Someone wrote a perfect interpretation which I'm quoting here: "The curse that transformed Marco into a pig is self-inflicted, because he survived the battle while Gina's husband (and Marco best friend) didn't. He feels guilty and he transformed into a pig because he feels he doesn't deserve love and happiness". Pig is often used to describe "worthless" or "disgusting" person in Japan, and it is understandable that he sees himself as a pig out of survivor's-guilt. This self-deprecation is shown many times throughout the film, such as when Gina told him that her 3rd husband didn't make it home alive, he responded "the good guys never do," making explicit this contrast between himself and a good guy. Also, another thing to take note is that he was sick of the wars, and had very little faith in mankind. Living in isolated island alone, and his phrase "I'd rather be a pig than a fascist", "You should do those kind of things just between you humans" all imply that.
How come he turned back into human (although the face was never shown, it is clear that he returned to human) in the end then? His phrase "Fio, you're a good girl. You make me feel like mankind are not that bad after all" might be the key. While spending time with Fio, seeing her innocent affection to him and to the aircraft, Marco slowly recovered from self-deprecation, and also recovered the faith to mankind. Although Fio was never an object of romantic interest for Marco, she's the one who helped Marco to change the view on himself and to the mankind. That's why the kiss from Fio worked.
2. Open Ending / no conclusion (Gina or Fio, not being shown. Which is actually not true)
I've seen many people complaining that the film didn't show whether Marco chose Gina or Fio in the end. Some even criticizing Miyazaki as "lazy", that he couldn't decide the conclusion himself so left it to viewers imagination. This is very wrong. Miyazaki showed the result in a very subtle way, that only careful people will notice. You just need to combine 2 things.
1) When Curtis visited Gina in her secret garden, she told Curtis "I'm now making a bet. If he (Marco) ever visits me while I'm in this garden during the daytime, I've decided I will truly love him. But that idiot, he only comes to the bar in the night time, never showing himself during the daytime."
2) In the last part, from the sky looking down to Hotel Adriana (from Fio's airplane), you will find Marco's red aircraft docked next to Gina's secret garden, during the DAYTIME. Gina won the bet. Also, in the end, the secret garden was shown again, but without Gina being there. Gina no longer needs to be there waiting for Marco.
Miyazaki set the conclusion in a very subtle way, make it kind of rewarding for those people who noticed it, and for those people who didn't, he gave the space for imagination. Some people might not be happy that Fio wasn't the one chosen after spending so much time building the relationship with Marco, but as I wrote earlier, even though she helped Marco recovering from self-deprecation, she was never an object of romance for Marco. Marco was always out there for Gina, as Gina thanking Marco in the beginning. As Gina told Curtis, "Love here is a bit more complicated than back in your country".