[HN Gopher] Studio Ghibli marks 40 years, but future looks uncer...
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Studio Ghibli marks 40 years, but future looks uncertain
Author : gslin
Score : 74 points
Date : 2025-06-15 16:53 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.japantimes.co.jp)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.japantimes.co.jp)
| IG_Semmelweiss wrote:
| archive link
|
| https://archive.is/RcD0w
| IG_Semmelweiss wrote:
| Unfortunately the article does not really explore its own title,
| just implying it could happen since, Miyazaki is old.
|
| We are all left to hope that Ghibli's studio keeps going even
| after Miyazaki stops.
| HideousKojima wrote:
| Well their top directorial talent is retired (and even if it's
| another fake retirement like his last two, he's too old to do too
| much more) or dead. Miyazaki's films seem to be more popular and
| well known than Takahata's (personally _Grave of the Fireflies_
| and _The Cat Returns_ are the only Takahata films I 've seen),
| but both men were the heart of the studio. Goro Miyazaki has
| improved since his debut but is still nowhere as talented nor as
| visionary as his father.
|
| Also _The Boy and the Heron_ was quite a letdown for me for
| Miyazaki 's final film. I understood the point he was trying to
| make, that the films he made were his attempt at creating a
| perfect world, but the malice in his own heart made him unable to
| accomplish his vision. But the rest of the film didn't really
| seem to be built around that message, it seemed like an
| afterthought for the final scenes where the great-uncle is trying
| to pass the mantle on to him.
|
| In any case, _Princess Mononoke_ is my favorite film of all time,
| and the closest that Miyazaki (and Studio Ghibli) ever got to
| perfection. If you haven 't seen it you should absolutely check
| it out.
| Magi604 wrote:
| Mononoke is also my favorite film. It's also (imo) one of the
| few animes that is equally good both in sub and dub.
| HideousKojima wrote:
| The dub is good, but Moro's Japanese voice actor makes the
| subs superior every time.
| echelon wrote:
| > Mononoke is also my favorite film.
|
| How are there that many of us? It really is a spectacular
| film.
|
| > equally good both in sub and dub.
|
| The dub has decent voice acting, but is plagued with changing
| the meaning of several scenes. Kaya is Ashitaka's little
| sister, not betrothed. They inserted fart jokes. Moro's voice
| is _significantly_ different [1]. Also, Neil Gaiman was
| involved in the localization. I 've never been a fan of his.
|
| There was also a really great anecdote about Miyazaki winning
| out over Harvey Weinstein [2]. "No Cuts!"
|
| Back when I was a kid, I bought Miramax's old Princess
| Mononoke marketing site [3]. I still have it floating around,
| I think.
|
| [1] https://www.out.com/film/2022/8/24/meet-japanese-drag-
| queen-...
|
| [2] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f4BgE1kdTGQ
|
| [3] http://www.princess-mononoke.com/ (not SSL, whoops!)
| justsomehnguy wrote:
| > They inserted fart jokes
|
| Whaaa? Can you provide any details?
|
| The fondness of Americans of anything butt-related is well
| known but this is something penultimate.
| arduanika wrote:
| How is it penultimate? Did you mean a different word?
| justsomehnguy wrote:
| a: Next to last.
|
| Inserting a fart joke when it wasn't in the source is
| quite low. But there are even more _lower hanging_ things
| the American distribution did, so it 's not the ultimate
| for sure.
| xdavidliu wrote:
| i also was surprised at this and don't exactly remember
| one, but i were to guess, its one of the scenes of Jigo
| (short squat guy in sandals) eating porridge and laughing
| too hard maybe?
| echelon wrote:
| It's at the introduction of Ashitaka, Eboshi, Toki, and
| Gonza at Iron Town. They used it to add levity to the
| situation, I guess? It was entirely pointless and stupid.
|
| edit: Actually, it was from the scene with Eboshi, Gonza,
| and the women talking about the threat from the emperor
| around the 1:17:00 - 1:18:00 mark. Right before Ashitaka
| wakes up in the cave and talks with Moro. It's comedic
| effect to get the women to laugh at the supposedly-tough
| Gonza.
|
| It's meant to be either a fart or someone blowing a
| raspberry, but none of the characters mouths are moving.
| I think it's clearly meant to be the former.
|
| I just watched the English and the Japanese versions and
| only the English dub has it.
|
| I need to watch this again. It's such a good movie.
| pimeys wrote:
| It's either Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Lauputa,
| or Kiki's Delivery Service for me. Depending on the phase of
| the moon.
|
| But yeah, there are not many directors like Miyazaki or Kubrick
| left.
|
| Maybe I could count Celine Sciamma to the same company. I wish
| she would make a new movie soon.
| onetokeoverthe wrote:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Balconettes
|
| 2024.
|
| She's been at it nearly 20 years. True creativity has limits.
| pcthrowaway wrote:
| Nausicaa for me, I feel like that movie is criminally
| underrated among his catalog.
|
| Totoro is certainly a close second though.
| GuB-42 wrote:
| Is it really underrated? That's a shame then.
|
| Nausicaa is my favorite for several reasons. It may also be
| the most significant as it is technically not a Ghibli but
| the movie that lead to the creation of the studios.
| HideousKojima wrote:
| I thought Nausicaa was ok, but I'd read the entire manga
| before ever watching the film snd the changes from the
| manga were just too drastic for me.
| chucky_z wrote:
| As I've gotten older, I have grown to understand that while a
| lot of these films are popular for good reason (and are
| extremely good!) some of the best films, objectively to me, are
| some of the 'quietier' ones.
|
| I'd say that Up On Poppy Hill is probably my partner and I's
| favorite Ghibli film. It's 'small' and 'quiet' in that the
| scope is a single town, and there's nothing super fantastical
| about it. Every time I watch it I see and hear something new.
| This is definitely Goro's best film as a director at Ghibli.
|
| The film that hit me the hardest though is The Wind Rises. If
| you are a married man this is a film that will absolutely
| effect you emotionally. There are some films that are targeted
| as extremely specific audiences and this is one of those. I
| think everyone can enjoy it, but there's a handful of scenes
| that are so specific that I connected with so directly that I
| could feel every moment that Miyazaki was trying to convey at
| that exact time.
|
| There's another film that is definitely more biased to adults,
| that is Only Yesterday. It's probably the slowest paced film
| that Ghibli has made, however it's one that's stuck with me so
| thoroughly. Especially the final few scenes, which only when
| they're over do you realize was something like 15-20 minutes
| with maybe a handful of dialogue lines. This is also another
| non-Miyazaki film that is extremely good.
| timr wrote:
| > personally Grave of the Fireflies and The Cat Returns are the
| only Takahata films I've seen
|
| You owe it to yourself to watch the Tale of Princess Kaguya
| (kaguyaJi noWu Yu ). It might be his best film, and quite
| possibly one of the best ever produced by Ghibli.
|
| Takahata was robbed of the Oscar that year which went to...Big
| Hero. _Ugh._
|
| Between Kaguya and Grave of the Fireflies, Takahata had two of
| the best films ever made, in any category, and never got an
| Oscar.
| hedora wrote:
| I know the Oscars are prestigious, but I can't think of a
| single film in my top fifty favorites that won one.
|
| For me, they are a contrarian indicator.
| coldtea wrote:
| Studio Ghibli is Miyazaki.
|
| It goes with him.
| coldtea wrote:
| Studio Ghibli is Miyazaki.
|
| It goes with him. Maybe not as a business name, but as an ethos
| and artisty, yes.
| hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
| I'm the same vein, though, wasn't Disney essentially Walt (and
| Roy) as well? Disney (the animation studio) went through a
| nadir between the death of Roy in 1971 before the start of the
| "Disney Renaissance" with The Little Mermaid in 1989 brought
| them back to form. I see no reason that Studio Ghibli couldn't
| eventually find outsized success after the death of Miyazaki.
| kjkjadksj wrote:
| It did die with Walt. They walked back a lot of his plans for
| the parks. They don't make movies like they made in his era
| any longer. It is all CGI and live action lately. And after a
| certain point you have to wonder if there has been a
| significant loss of institutional knowledge on how to make a
| lot of those old hand made animations.
| ronsor wrote:
| > wonder if there has been a significant loss of
| institutional knowledge on how to make a lot of those old
| hand made animations
|
| No need to wonder: there has been, and basically all Disney
| 2D animation, even what little they do for the cinema, is
| outsourced overseas.
| mitthrowaway2 wrote:
| Wasn't _Cuphead_ done in the traditional hand-animated
| style, using many of the original techniques?
| h2zizzle wrote:
| On the one hand, yes, but also consider that game
| animation is fundamentally different from cinematic
| animation. It often has to be modular and loopable, but
| that also means that much of it can be treated like
| anime's "sakuga" stock footage (high quality, because
| it's going to be seen a lot). Cuphead was also something
| of a passion project, and the studio insisted on studying
| and replicating the older techniques to the best of their
| ability.
|
| Basically, reverse engineering that process is probably a
| more expensive undertaking than most studios are willing
| to take. Look also at the Cuphead animated series, which
| was animated like a modern production (sadly).
| hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
| It's obviously not the same, but I totally disagree with
| "It did die with Walt". For example, I think Aladdin is one
| of the best movies of all time, period. Granted, a huge
| part of that is the genius of Robin Williams, but to create
| a film that has both parents and their kids doubled over in
| laughter is no easy feat. But it still had great animation,
| a great story, great songs, etc.
| godzillabrennus wrote:
| Robin Williams movies are in their own category. Disney
| doesn't get to take credit for his achievements IMHO.
| ginko wrote:
| That's skipping 30 years of Disney history. The company
| certainly went into a creative slump after Walt died, but
| they got back into form with what is generally called the
| Disney renaissance[1] in the late 80s starting The Little
| Mermaid.
|
| The Lion King is pretty much a flawless film. And that came
| out 28 years after Walt Disney died.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Renaissance
| hedora wrote:
| It's worth mentioning that boneheaded moves by Disney
| (defunding animation because computers exist) let to a
| mass exodus to Pixar, which did plenty of excellent work
| before Disney acquired it.
| gausswho wrote:
| Makes you wonder what company of the years ahead will be
| assembled from those let go today in the name of AI.
| sigmoid10 wrote:
| Miyazaki is not unique. Shinkai for example is part of a
| younger generation that does not fall behind and he has even
| been called the new Miyazaki (although he dismisses it). Talent
| per se does not die with a single person, especially not in a
| field with so many enthusiastic followers. And Ghibli in
| particular already has access to a lot of talent in other
| domains beyond writing and directing.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| Not talent (I wouldn't take the words ethos and artistry to
| describe talent). Miyazaki is known to be a control freak.
| For better or worse, as long as he's involved, it's his way
| or the highway.
| ginko wrote:
| It's such a shame that Satoshi Kon died so young. Crazy it's
| almost 15 years already.
| bsder wrote:
| The passing of Satoshi Kon _really_ hurt the advancement of
| anime. Both from the fact that it felt like Kon was really
| becoming a powerhouse as well as the people who were
| learning from him.
| spacechild1 wrote:
| Definitely! What amazing films he could have made in all
| these years. I'm not really an anime fan, but Miyazaki and
| Satoshi belong to my all-time favourites.
| h2zizzle wrote:
| I do wonder why Hosoda isn't in the same conversation. His
| themes are sometimes a bit less... decisive than Miyazaki's,
| but the animation quality and passion for exploring intimate,
| interpersonal stories is there.
|
| Edit: The downvote is a lot less helpful than an explanation.
| layer8 wrote:
| I like both Miyazaki and Shinkai, but they are really quite
| different both visually and thematically, and each unique in
| their own way.
|
| Sure, it's conceivable for Ghibli to be successful again with
| a new talented director, but it won't be Miyazaki's nor
| Takahata's Ghibli anymore.
| Der_Einzige wrote:
| Oh, I'm going to say something which will rustle even more
| feathers than this!
|
| Don Bluth was far superior to Miyazaki. Also, Miyazaki was a
| poor father and his kids movies sucked (i.e. tales of the
| earth sea) because he was basically forced into following in
| his dads footsteps.
| micromacrofoot wrote:
| largely seems driven by a somewhat relentless case of
| perfectionism, like many renown artists
| godzillabrennus wrote:
| My Neighbor Totoro is a family favorite in our household. My wife
| loves it. We even play the soundtrack in the car and in our
| backyard. We also greatly enjoy the Ernest & Celestine movies. We
| are waiting for the show to make it to a streaming service for us
| to try that.
|
| I hope the next generation of Studio Ghibli isn't afraid to
| further explore the "Miyazaki universes" he envisioned. I know
| that AI will make it possible for others to do so, even if they
| drop the ball.
|
| I'm grateful for the work these people have done to entertain so
| many with heartfelt animations.
| ToucanLoucan wrote:
| > I know that AI will make it possible for others to do so
|
| Disgusting take.
|
| If indeed Ghibli goes with Miyazaki, then _let it go._
| Sometimes art is just done and that 's a concept as a culture
| we have so much friction with. If a game isn't updating, it's
| dead. If a movie isn't getting a sequel, it's dead. If a studio
| stops creating it's treated like some kind of loss, as if the
| beautiful things it's already made aren't good enough because
| there can't be any more.
|
| Not every movie needs sequels, not every "universe" needs to
| have every corner of it documented and turned into subsequent
| works. For fucks sake just let stuff be _finished,_ and that
| attitude comes with a bonus feature where maybe creatives won
| 't be constantly burning themselves out under the demands of
| every audience.
|
| I genuinely can't fathom the sort of person who is like "this
| artists' work moved me and elevated me as a person, but I guess
| if they die I can use shitty image gen programs to see more of
| what they might've made." Gross. Just gross.
| sifar wrote:
| In Passing - Lisel Mueller
|
| How swiftly the strained honey of afternoon light flows into
| darkness
|
| and the closed bud shrugs off its special mystery in order to
| break into blossom
|
| _as if what exists, exists so that it can be lost and become
| precious_
| mronetwo wrote:
| > I know that AI will make it possible for others to do so,
| even if they drop the ball.
|
| Seems you completely miss the point of Miyazaki's work. You can
| watch a video of Miyazaki watching an AI generated animation
| and see what he think about generative "art"[1].
|
| 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZ0K3lWKRc
| ViktorRay wrote:
| That video you linked was hilarious. Oh how I wish more
| people would have Miyazaki's way of thinking.
|
| I don't mean that they should necessarily have his exact same
| opinions on things. I mean that they should think through
| things and approach them in the same process and manner that
| Miyazaki does.
| spacechild1 wrote:
| > I know that AI will make it possible for others to do so,
| even if they drop the ball.
|
| Ugh...
| aprilthird2021 wrote:
| If you were grateful for their work, you wouldn't wish for AI
| to "generate" soulless facsimiles of that work to drown people
| in.
| kilimounjaro wrote:
| The ghibli image generation meme was clearly responsible for a
| significant portion of openai's growth to being a $300 billion
| company. If altman didnt throw ghibli at least a few hundred
| million for that, ghibli should sue openai.
| thr0waway001 wrote:
| It was a big deal for like about a week. It has died down now.
| GuB-42 wrote:
| The meme is likely to have profited both Studio Ghibli and
| OpenAI, as the studios probably got some publicity for it,
| without direct competition as Ghibli is not in the business of
| drawing memes.
|
| Either way, it probably doesn't amount to much, it was just a
| fad.
| deadbabe wrote:
| One day you will read the headline "Hayao Miyazaki has died."
|
| And you know that will also be the end of Studio Ghibli. Whatever
| comes next under that name, will only be a shadow of what it once
| was.
| rvz wrote:
| Well the style has been destroyed by the grifters.
|
| On to the next one.
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