News

Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) have one thing in common: they all feature scenes that capture the peace and tranquility of clear, starlit nights. Now, Ghibli's official online storefront has released an all-new set of greeting cards that pay tribute to each of these memorable sequences.

As detailed on Donguri Sora's website, each card in Ghibli's "Night Sky" greeting card collection features beautiful, foil-stamped artwork depicting a well-known scene and a character quote from one of the studio's beloved fantasy films. My Neighbor Totoro's card depicts Satsuki, Mei and their friend Totoro sitting in a tree together playing their ocarinas. The Kiki's Delivery Service card depicts Kiki and Jiji's nighttime journey to the town that ultimately becomes Kiki's home away from home. Finally, Castle in the Sky's card recalls the night that protagonists Sheeta and Pazu navigated the...

Studio Ghibli is often considered synonymous with filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, director of the studio's best movies. Many would argue Miyazaki's works are some of the best animated movies ever, so it's natural that he casts a shadow over the studio he helped build.

However, the studio actually has multiple founders: the late director Isao Takahata, producer (and current studio chairman) Toshio Suzuki, and Yasuyoshi Tokuma. The latter's company Tokuma Shoten offered the foundation for Ghibli and was the studio's parent company from 1985 to 2005.

Miyazaki was already a prolific animator pre-Ghibli and acquainted with Suzuki and Takahata. The three first made a movie together in 1984: "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind." Miyazaki directed, Takahata produced, and Suzuki was the one who first connected Miyazaki with Tokuma Shoten. As a bonus, composer Joe Hisaishi (who went on to be Ghibli's in-house composer) also scored "Nausicaä."

1000 years in the future, the...

Over a decade before co-founding Studio Ghibli, Oscar Award-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki helped create a humble children's anime called Panda! Go Panda!. Later this month, Tokyo's Akihabara Udx Theater will host a special one-time screening of its follow-up film, Panda Go Panda! Rainy Day Circus.

Released in 1973, Panda! Go Panda! Rainy Day Circus is one of Hayao Miyazaki's earliest-written pre-Ghibli projects. As detailed by Natalie, the event is being organized by Dreampass, a popular Japanese website where fans can petition for older films to be shown in theaters. Akihabara Udx theater will showcase the movie on May 25. After the show, Studio Ghibli animator Yu Honda and acclaimed film researcher Seiji Kano will get on stage together to discuss the film and the legendary anime icon that contributed to its creation. Dreampass will continue selling tickets for the screening until May 23.

Related Studio Ghibli Returns to the U.S. With Nausicaa...

This article contains spoilers for "The Boy and the Heron."

As a prolific director and one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki has become one of the biggest names in animation around the world, possibly the best-known name outside of Walt Disney himself. But it's easy to forget about the other names behind Studio Ghibli.

Studio Ghibli was founded by Miyazaki, fellow director Isao Takahata, and producer Toshio Suzuki in 1985. By that point, the two directors had already spent 20 years working together. First, they worked on the financially disappointing yet hugely influential "The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun," as well as on Nippon Animation shows like "Heidi, Girl of the Alps," and "3000 Leagues in Search of Mother." It is a partnership that created a powerhouse in animation, and one that is at the heart of Miyazaki's latest (but no longer last) movie, "The Boy and the Heron.

Isao Takahata, co-founder of Japan’s Studio Ghibli, and acclaimed animation director, died on Thursday in a Tokyo hospital. He was 82.

According to local media, Takahata had been in declining health since last summer. A Studio Ghibli statement said he died of lung cancer.

Takahata joined Toei Animation after college and made his feature directing debut with the 1968 “Horus: Prince of the Sun.” In 1971 Takahata, together with Hayao Miyazaki and Yoichi Kotabe, left Toei for Shin-Ei Animation studio. His best-remembered TV work was “Heidi, Girl of the Alps,” that he directed for Nippon Animation.

In 1985, together with Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki, Takahata launched Studio Ghibli. His “Grave of the Fireflies,” was released together with Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro” in 1988. The two films did modest business, but later grew in esteem as classics of the animated form.

Takahata enjoyed greater success with “Pom Poko,” a 1994 fantasy-adventure that was chosen...

As the Hayao Miyazaki Complete Collection arrives on Blu-ray, we look at the legendary animator's rise to international success...

When Hayao Miyazaki stepped into a Tokyo conference room and announced his retirement from feature filmmaking on the 6th September 2013, it marked the end of a career which stretched back to the early 1960s. Through such films as My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, Miyazaki entertained and beguiled a global audience with his lighter-than-air storytelling and captivating characters. Somehow, his films managed to be both universal and deeply personal.

Miyazaki's work is brought together for the first time in The Hayao Miyazaki Collection, which serves as lasting and handsomely-presented tribute to the 11 films he made between 1979 and 2013. But how did Miyazaki, born to a well-to-do family on the 5th January 1941, become one of the most respected animators in Japan?

Miyazaki grew up in the post-war comics boom led by the father of manga,...

The 2nd Anime Convention will be held at Marwah Studios in New Delhi which will screen fourteen Anime films from September 9-11, 2011.

The event will be inaugurated by Nabuoki Doi, an independent Anime director while the inaugural film will be Little Norse Prince Valiant. The closing film will be a war film for all age groups titled Barefoot Gen.

The festival will also hold workshops and master classes. A masterclass on Making of Independent Anime will be conducted by Nobuaki Doi for college students.

The other films screenings will include films for 15+ age group such as Mind Game, Midori Ki and Boys on the run.

There will be a panel discussion on Animation opportunities and challenges in Animation business, challenges for animation and graphic novel writers in the industry along with education prospects. The panelist include Sandeep Marwah, MD, Marwah Studios, Satoshi Hata General Manager, Ritsumeikan University along with Matsuoka,...

In years to come historians and animation fans alike are sure to look back upon the heady days of 2010 with a comfortable sense of warm nostalgia and hefty box office takings.

For though we’ve all still got the Winter to look forward to with, no doubt, a handful of festive frolics in tow (Disney’s Tangled is certainly showing all the potential of a Christmas treat) the past ten months have already provided said fans with such welcome delights as handy tips for dragon trainers, babysitting supervillains, super-intelligent aliens and the return of not only everyone’s favourite ogre (plus donkey) but a whole toybox full of familiar faces back for one final hurrah!

So it’s somewhat understandable that amongst such animated bedfellows a decidedly low key animation set in the 9th century inspired by both Celtic mythology and a 1, 200 year old illuminated manuscript is less likely to...