Studio Ghibli is a well-established animation studio known for its commitment to artistry and hand-drawn animation. They have produced anime films known across the world. Anime movies like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Howl’s Moving Castle are considered classics of fantasy and children’s media in and out of anime as a medium.
Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki, and Toshio Suzuki founded Studio Ghibli in June 1985. Even with changes in storytelling trends, technological challenges and advancements, and changes in management, Studio Ghibli consistently evolved and produced stellar films, learning from its stumbles as well as its victories. Takahata, Suzuki, and Miyazaki’s earliest films together cemented the direction, and ensured the success of Studio Ghibli.
5 Hayao Miyazaki Worked With Topcraft on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Is a Proto-Studio Ghibli Movie
Topcraft released Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in 1982 as one of its final feature film releases before the studio went bankrupt. Though Topcraft is not Studio Ghibli, Topcraft and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is indelibly intertwined with Studio Ghibli. The 1982 film is often called a proto-Studio Ghibli film, if not an actual Studio Ghibli film, as Hayao Miyazaki directed and animated the film, which is based on a manga of his own making.
The other two future Studio Ghibli co-founders, Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, were also instrumental in creating Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The anime follows a young princess, Nausicaä, who lives in a world destroyed by pollution. Rather than railing against her fate and feeding into the hate, greed, fear, and violence surrounding her, she wants to understand the ailing natural world, and hopefully be a part of healing it.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind bears what became Studio Ghibli’s signature art style with expressive, emotive characters, lush natural landscapes, fantastical animals, and whimsical world-building. Fans of quality animated works, 1980s dark fantasy, and environmentalist science fiction love the film for its enduring themes and writing which continue to stand the test of time. These themes of environmentalism, teamwork, compassion, and the balance between humanity and nature would continue to be something which Studio Ghibli would explore in further works.
It’s plainly theme-work which speaks to Studio Ghibli’s large audience on a profound level. Though Topcraft ended up dissolving and essentially splitting in half shortly after Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind‘s release, it wasn’t the end for Miyazaki, Suzuki, Takahata, and the creatives behind Topcraft. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind received great critical acclaim, and the creatives behind it would go on to officially found Studio Ghibli, releasing Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro.
4 My Neighbor Totoro Had Widespread Acclaim Across the World
Mei & Satsuki's Story Is Praised as Some of the Best Children's Media Ever
Studio Ghibli no doubt pleased audiences and critics with Castle in the Sky in 1986. Critics cited it as an expert adventure movie, even though the film was seen as a risk by executives for its two-hour runtime, but My Neighbor Totoro‘s reception in 1988 absolutely soared. Studio Ghibli ignoring outside studio executive hand-wringing in support of their own creative instincts and decisions would prove to become a trend for Studio Ghibli, and it would nearly always come out in Ghibli’s favor.
On the surface, My Neighbor Totoro is a delightful and whimsical children’s fable about two young girls who move to the countryside with their devoted professor father. They move so that they can be closer to their mother as she recovers from a long-term illness in a hospital. The local community, as well as a benevolent crew of nature spirits, take the Kusakabe family under their wing.
Studio Ghibli has massive success across the world, but they don’t water down their artistic stylings or storytelling structure. My Neighbor Totoro has no antagonist, and there are many moments of contemplative nature where the audience observes the quiet beginning of a storm as raindrops fall from the sky, gently falling through tree leaves, slowly soaking the dry rocks below. Studio Ghibli doesn’t condescend to its young audience by filling every spare moment with sound and movement. Critics and audiences alike understood right away that they could expect complex characters from Studio Ghibli, and layers of meaning in films meant for audiences of all ages.
3 Kiki's Delivery Service Was Loved for Its Unabashed & Timely Optimism
Japanese & American Audiences Loved Kiki's Delivery Service
Good art answers the call of the historical and social moment in some shape or form. It doesn’t have to answer all things in all ways, but Kiki’s Delivery Service has a tone and sense of optimism which was a balm to the audience’s souls, which was incredibly timely. It marked a recurring theme in Studio Ghibli films, where they often depict a historical timeline where there is no war and where people work together well as a firmly established community.
Kiki’s Delivery Service follows a young witch as she turns 13, the age when a witch traditionally leaves home to establish herself as the resident witch in a new town. Kiki leaves home to serve a new town with her flying skills, creating her own magical courier service. While the storyline is charming enough to capture the imagination and delight of its young audience, critics and parents applauded it for its optimistic tone and world.
Kiki’s Delivery Service is set in Koriko, a fictionalized European city inspired by Sweden, Stockholm, Lisbon, Naples, Paris, and San Francisco during the 1950s. It’s also set during an alternate timeline where the Second World War never happened. This is a very purposeful decision on Studio Ghibli’s part, and it’s not to circumvent difficult topics, as Studio Ghibli often discusses painful and violent parts of history. Kiki’s Delivery Service and stories like it are vital exercises in creativity, imagining a world where there is community instead of violence and war and exploitation. There are no grand revolutions in these tales, and while those stories serve a purpose, so do stories like Kiki’s Delivery Service, which envision a world where peace is possible.
2 Whisper of the Heart Was the Highest-Grossing 1995 Domestic Japanese Film
The Film Based on a Shojo Manga Is Highly Praised for Its Portrayal of a Young Girl Artist
Whisper of the Heart was Studio Ghibli’s first anime based on a shojo manga. The studio had released two contemporary films with a female protagonist previously, Ocean Waves and Only Yesterday, though those works were inspired by josei manga and novels, and had quieter releases. Not only was Whisper of the Heart received extremely well by critics, but it earned close to 2 billion yen in distribution income in its 1995 release year, alone.
Whisper of the Heart has a strong romance element, as many shojo manga and anime do, but it’s also a poignant portrayal of a developing artist. Hayao Miyazaki famously said that they refuse to shoehorn romances where they do not belong in Studio Ghibli stories. They prioritize strong female protagonists, but those female main characters don’t need romances to justify their existence.
Shizuku falls in love for the first time when a secret admirer at the library hatches a plan to catch her attention by checking out all the books in the library. She also begins to hone her voice as a writer by trying her hand at different styles of writing. Shizuku goes through ups and downs as she finds her artistic and scholastic direction in a very relatable and demystifying way.
1 Studio Ghibli Proved They Have Immense Range With Their Philosophical Dark Fantasy Anime, Princess Mononoke
Hayao Miyazaki Refused to Let Studio Executives Sanitize Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke was a watershed moment for Studio Ghibli. Audiences and executives had come to expect quieter slice-of-life fantasies and contemporaries, mainly for a child audience from the studio, and a film about gods at war with humans was something entirely different. Hayao Miyazaki notoriously had to fight so that Miramax would not sanitize or cut pieces from Princess Mononoke to make it more «palatable» for a wider audience.
Princess Mononoke follows San, a daughter of a wolf goddess bent on protecting her land and neighbors from extinction, and Prince Ashitaka, a noble warrior cursed by a god-turned-demon. As Ashitaka unravels the origin of the curse, he uncovers the source of the demon’s pain, and stops a war between humans and a primeval forest. Princess Mononoke is a highly philosophical film about the balance between nature and humanity, and about the inherent exploitation of unchecked capitalism and industry. Insisting on the film’s original messaging and artistic authenticity paid off, as Princess Mononoke is an enduring masterpiece.
