Studio Ghibli: The Japanese Animation

Powerhouse That Conquered the World

Right now, you are sitting in one of two camps – either you have no idea what Studio Ghibli is,
or you are borderline obsessed with the output of the widely acclaimed Japanese animation
house.

OK, this is slightly hyperbolic, we’ll give you that. But only slightly. Even if you have never heard
the name Studio Ghibli, you would need to have been living under a pretty sizable rock if titles
like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle fail to ring any bells. Of the
25 highest-grossing films of all time in Japan, five are Studio Ghibli productions, with three in
the top ten. The studio also has an Oscar under its belt for Best Animated Feature, and a
prestigious Golden Bear award. What is especially interesting is that when Studio Ghibli was
first established, animation was not the crowd-pulling phenomenon it is today. In fact, by some
accounts animation was actually looked down on by the mainstream film industry. This makes
the success the studio achieved and the accolades it received all the more impressive, so let’s
dive in and see how the studio got there.

The name Ghibli was chosen by Miyazaki. The word ghibli’s root is Italian and it’s based on the
Libyan term for ‘hot desert wind’, with the concept being that the new studio was going blow a
new wind through the animation industry. A name with this meaning might have seemed a tad
lofty and ambitious, yet it wasn’t long before the studio was making good on its promise,
shaking up not only the world of animation but also the wider film industry.

The studio’s first film, Castle in the Sky, was released in 1986 and went on to become Japan’s
highest-grossing animation film that year. It included some familiar motifs that are definitive of
Miyazaki’s style, such as his obsession with the mechanics of flight and a penchant for magical
realism. His father was an aeronautical engineer who ran the family business, Miyazaki airlines.
This influence permeates so much of the younger Miyazaki’s output, and Laputa is one of the
clearest examples. Much of the film’s action takes place in the air, with airships and flying
devices featuring heavily.

In 1988, Studio Ghibli followed up Castle in the Sky by releasing two films simultaneously—the
Takahata-directed Grave of the Fireflies and Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro. This simultaneous
release was needed to boost the studio’s financial status, but on its release, My Neighbor
Totoro was something of a commercial flop. Luckily, the film’s merchandise sold well. More
interestingly, My Neighbor Totoro went on to become a cult classic and is now regarded as one
of the studio’s most beloved films. The main character, Totoro, is even featured on the Studio
Ghibli logo.

The next year heralded something of a breakthrough for the studio. After acquiring the rights
for a film adaptation of the novel Kiki's Delivery Service the movie went through a challenging
production process before being released in July 1989. The hand-painted scenery of Kiki's
Delivery Service is a joy to behold, and like many of Studio Ghibli’s movies, it features a strong
female as the lead protagonist in a coming-of-age story. It was a runaway success and became
Japan’s highest-grossing movie of 1989.

For the guts of the next decade, Studio Ghibli continued to produce successful animated films,
such as Porco Rosso and Whisper of the Heart, but their popularity remained largely confined
to Japan. Princess Mononoke changed that. Set in the late Muromachi period, the film once
again revisited Miyazaki’s recurrent theme of the environment. It examined the tension that is
experienced between humanity’s need for growth and nature’s need for preservation, as well
as exploring other themes such as disability and sexuality. Tackling these large themes in films
that are also accessible by children is a hallmark of Studio Ghibli and something that sets the
animation house apart from much of the industry.

Miyazaki also incorporated new production techniques on Princess Mononoke, utilizing

computer animation, 3D rendering, texture mapping, and digital composition. The film ended
up being the most expensive Studio Ghibli production to date, but the investment paid off in
spades. Released in 1997, Princess Mononoke was a box office smash, becoming not only
Japan’s highest-grossing film of the year, but Japan’s highest-grossing film of all time, an
accolade it held until 2001 when it was toppled by another Studio Ghibli production, Spirited
Away.

Princess Mononoke was not only a commercial success, but a huge critical one too. The film
won the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year, becoming the first-ever animated film to
receive this award. In 1999, Princess Mononoke was released in the U.S. with distribution by
Miramax. It performed poorly at the box office, but went on to sell well on DVD and video.
Studio Ghibli had taken its first big step onto the world stage.