Review of Chie the Brat (1981)
Ōtsuka Yasuo (animation director), Takahata Isao (director).
Young Chie has no time for her homework because her dad is a no-good brawny gambler who doesn’t manage his tiny offal-roasting establishment in 1950s/1960s Osaka well enough, but he does love her, and doesn’t know her weak-willed mother is looking for a chance to return to the family.
Family comedy/drama. A few extremely funny moments and some sad ones, but also a lot of run-of-the-mill family manga material. The last plot arc seems entirely unnecessary; it could have ended with the derealized shot of the train that prefigures Grave of the Fireflies (1988).
References here: Ghibli movie titles, My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999), Earwig and the Witch (2020).