The son of a sailor, 5-year old Sosuke lives a quiet life on an oceanside cliff with his mother Lisa. One fateful day, he finds a beautiful goldfish trapped in a bottle on the beach and upon rescuing her, names her Ponyo. But she is no ordinary goldfish. The daughter of a masterful wizard and a sea goddess, Ponyo uses her father's magic to transform herself into a young girl and quickly falls in love with Sosuke, but the use of such powerful sorcery causes a dangerous imbalance in the world. As the moon steadily draws nearer to the earth and Ponyo's father sends the ocean's mighty waves to find his daughter, the two children embark on an adventure of a lifetime to save the world and fulfill Ponyo's dreams of becoming human.
This movie contains 13 potentially triggering events.
Sosuke’s mom Lisa leaves him and Ponyo alone at home to go bring emergency supplies and help senior citizens after the massive storm. Sosuke and Ponyo are only about 5 years old and she leaves them for an extended period of time, then essentially goes missing. It’s not appropriate for the kids to be alone at that age and Sosuke is clearly worried and distressed about it at some points. Lisa basically abandons the kids but it all turns out okay in the end. Also, Sosuke’s dad Koichi is a ship captain and is away at sea for extended periods of time, which causes strain in his relationship with Lisa. He doesn’t abandon Sosuke but he is absent in his life a lot.
In the beginning when Ponyo’s father is on his boat there is a white spider-like sea creature that is seen crawling around several times. I have severe arachnophobia and I always have to cover the bottom of the screen to watch this scene.
Near the beginning of the movie, Ponyo gets trapped in a bottle. Also, Ponyo is put in a bubble after her dad gets her back, and she can't get out. Also, he squishes her with his hands. (This doesn't hurt her.) Children are picked up and carried, also, but almost always in a loving way.
Closest thing however would be near the beginning where Sosuke cuts his thumb on a glass bottle where Ponyo got trapped after he broke it. It's quick but there the movie does show a bit of blood leaking from said cut, which Ponyo then licks off.
Ponyo changes her name from Brunhilda and her father calls her by that name once but is corrected and he mainly calls her Ponyo except for one time when he’s scolding her.
Ponyo’s father watches/follows her while she’s on land. She probably knows that he’s close by because she knows he wants her to go back to the ocean but there’s nothing to imply that she actively knows he’s watching her all the time. He’s more of a concerned but slightly misguided parent than a creep.
The only thing I can think of after watching is that at the end, due to the magic of being around mother nature herself, the elderly women can walk easily without their wheelchairs again. They comment on their knees not hurting, etc.
Sosuke gets a small cut on his finger and he bleeds a little. However, it's immediately healed once Ponyo licks it and the scene doesn't last for long.