Studio Ghibli

"You'll know, a traditional 2D movie is actually good, but a CGI 3D movie isn't good."

- Toshio Suzuki

Studio Ghibli Inc. (Japanese: 株式会社スタジオジブリ, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Jiburi) is a Japanese animation film studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo. The studio is best known for its animated feature films, and has also produced several short subjects, television commercials, and one television film. The studio's mascot and most recognizable symbol is a character named Totoro, who is a giant cat-like spirit from the 1988 anime film My Neighbor Totoro. Among Studio Ghibli's highest-grossing films are Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004) and Ponyo (2008). The studio was founded on June 15, 1985 by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki, after the successful performance of Topcraft's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984). It has also collaborated with video game studios on the visual development of several video games.

Why They Rock

 * 1) First means first, all of their films (excluding mh:awfulmovies:Earwig and the Witch) have absolutely beautiful and stunning animation that's no short of pleasing to look at (in fact, saying that they're simply pleasing to look at would be a gargantuan understatement, as they're films' animation are no short of true art). Even those that don't use the traditional Ghibli-style for their animation like The Tale of Princess Kaguya still look stunning.
 * 2) Unlike some other anime dubs that come off as terrible with either poor voice acting/dialogue and important scenes being cut, the English dubs of their films have great voice acting and barely any dialogue changes from the original Japanese versions. They also don't cut out any sad or frightening scenes that may challenge the audience (due to them having policies against doing so).
 * 3) Most of their films have powerful messages that aren't shoved down the audience's throats or even explicitly stated to the audience. But instead, they're naturally weaved into the story and made as part of the film's plot and themes. For example, Spirited Away has a message about educating people while they're children so that they won't have to be punished for their wrongdoings as adults. Princess Mononoke also has an environmental message, but also one about how even if it seems like some people have malicious intentions, they sometimes have their motives for their actions even if they seem like wrongdoings. And both have these messages woven into the overall story and themes of the movies rather than just being outright stated to the audience like a preschool show.
 * 4) Each one of their movies have a completely different and unique setting, aesthetics, stories, characters, and are based on different overall concepts. For example, Ponyo was based on the story of The Little Mermaid, Arrietty takes it's inspiration from a series of children's books known as The Borowers written by English author Mary Norton, and Hayao Miyazaki states that Spirited Away was inspired by a group of young women he would spend his summers with.
 * 5) * And all of these concepts are brought to life with stellar animation, superb voice acting, and on to top it all off, a splash of reality to make the otherwise otherworldly beings and events in their movies feel like real people and circumstances.
 * 6) No matter how unique their films are, one thing they all share is that even minor characters who have the smallest roles in their films make an impact. Even if you don't remember their names, you still remember their personalities and the moments they spent onscreen. For example, many of the spirits and people Chihiro meets in Spirited Away only have a few minutes or even seconds of screen time, but the way they're presented makes establishes to the audience, and makes sure they remember, who they are and what they're like.
 * 7) * And on the other hand, the main or supporting characters who take up a majority or at least more of the screen time (applying to both respectively) all have easy-to-interpret, yet colorful and complex, personalities. And more often than not, the protagonists grow over the course of their films.
 * 8) Ghibli's characters are usually made to be very complex and sympathetic characters with reasonable flaws and motives for their actions. Unlike most mainstream films, there's very little black-and-white morality or straightforward good vs. evil stories. Miyazaki himself once said: "The concept of portraying evil and then destroying it — I know this is considered mainstream, but I think it is rotten. This idea that whenever something evil happens someone particular can be blamed and punished for it, in life and in politics is hopeless." It's more grey-and-grey morality in terms of alignment... sometimes even white-and-gray Most of the time, the studio's films contain wondrous characters that are heroic and noble, ocassionally with a handful of morally ambiguous characters throw into the mix. Even when there's a villain thrown into one of the films, 8 times out of 10, said villain will reveal themselves to have some sympathetic side to their evil or a hidden heart of gold. (Although, there has been the rare occasions where there's a truly despicable villain without redeeming factors)
 * 9) Hayao Miyazaki. Period.
 * 10) Overall, their films just have a certain magic and immersion to them that many other films lack. Their films incorporate this in using their animation, soundtrack, characters, and stories.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) mh:awfulmovies:Earwig and the Witch is easily their worst film to date. mh:awfulmovies:Tales From Earthsea is also arguably pretty bad.
 * 2) The Disney dubs of some of their films, while not "bad", are still nowhere near the level of the films in Japanese or their original dubs. For example, the second verse of the main theme in the credits of Ponyo was replaced with a cheesy remix sang by Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas. And Arrietty's English dub also had all of the male characters' voices very low and made them sound bored and uninterested in contrast to the females' highly expressive voices.
 * 3) It's rare for them to make a new film at this day and age due to Miyazaki retiring a LOT, similar to Atari shutting down only to come back.

List of films they have made

 * Good movies
 * 1) *Castle in the Sky (1986)
 * 2) *Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
 * 3) *My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
 * 4) *Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
 * 5) *Only Yesterday (1991)
 * 6) *Porco Rosso (1992)
 * 7) *Ocean Waves (1993)
 * 8) *Pom Poko (1994)
 * 9) *Whisper of the Heart (1995)
 * 10) *Princess Mononoke (1997)
 * 11) *My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
 * 12) *Spirited Away (2001)
 * 13) *The Cat Returns (2002)
 * 14) *Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
 * 15) *Ponyo (2008)
 * 16) *Arrietty (2010)
 * 17) *From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
 * 18) *The Wind Rises (2013)
 * 19) *The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
 * 20) *When Marnie Was There (2014)
 * Bad movies
 * 1) *mh:awfulmovies:Tales from Earthsea (2006)
 * 2) *mh:awfulmovies:Earwig and the Witch (2020)

Movies with their own Pages

 * 1) Castle in the Sky
 * 2) Grave of the Fireflies
 * 3) My Neighbor Totoro
 * 4) Kiki's Delivery Service
 * 5) Only Yesterday
 * 6) Porco Rosso
 * 7) Ocean Waves
 * 8) Pom Poko
 * 9) Whisper of the Heart
 * 10) Princess Mononoke
 * 11) Spirited Away
 * 12) The Cat Returns
 * 13) Howl's Moving Castle
 * 14) Ponyo
 * 15) Arrietty
 * 16) From Up on Poppy Hill
 * 17) The Wind Rises
 * 18) The Tale of Princess Kaguya
 * 19) When Marnie Was There

Videos
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Trivia

 * When bringing their films to foreign markets, the studio has a strict policy against cuts and re-edits. This includes the translations needing to be as close to the original words and ideas as possible.
 * When Spirited Away was nominated for the Academy Award for best animated film, Miyazaki refused to attend the ceremonies because of the country's involvement in the Iraq War. It wasn't just a one-time thing, either. The legendary filmmaker didn't set foot in the United States until 2009 when he went to the San Diego Comic-Con at the behest of his friend John Lasseter. The boycott isn't too surprising when analyzing the pacifistic ideals from his films.