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[/XX/]

He worked such a long time with Miyazaki that he probably can't help it anymore.

Mr. Miyazaki comments about "wearing away talent" from those he mentors shows he is a little regretful by now of having tried to nurture any kind of substitute, specially by forcefully conforming them to his own vision.

 

[grounded_dreams]

Robbie Collin from The Telegraph has an amazing piece in today's paper that is well worth a read for anyone intetested

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/...magic-studio-ghibli-back-make-world-brighter/

You will need to register (or can i just C&P the whole thing?)

I'm sure it would be fine to copy and paste the article

 

[/XX/]

Also, no art director announced yet. Will it be one among those at Dehogallery, Inc., perhaps?

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

This will be at least a beautiful looking animation... Though I considered Marnie and Arietty subpar, compared to Miyazaki's and Takahata's output.

To be frank, i'm not even sure I'll see films of the same caliber in my lifetime... the closest to Miyazaki's output was from Kondo in Whisper of the Heart, and the poor fellow is not with us anymore :-(

 

[faridmon]

Not a big fan. Yet another one of those,Magical, twee based films that involves shape-shifting spirits and flying while being happy and.... twee.

Wish Japanese Animation companies movie on to a more creative prospects..

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Not a big fan. Yet another one of those,Magical, twee based films that involves shape-shifting spirits and flying while being happy and.... twee.

Wish Japanese Animation companies movie on to a more creative prospects..

Twee?

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, perhaps In This Corner of the World or Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome or Genocidal Organ or Lupin the IIIrd: Geomon Ishikawa's Spray of Blood, etc. will be more up your alley.

 

[MicH]

She reminds me of the witch Kiki meets in the sky the night she leaves home.

Anyhow, Kiki's Delivery Service is one of my all time favorites and this seems similar

 

[Bits N Pieces]

I'm sure it would be fine to copy and paste the article

Okay but if shit goes down then you're taking the heat

Warning! This is a big ass post coming up.

Japan's Studio Ghibli is no more. But grieving fans of the revered animation house can take heart: the old Ghibli spirit is back with a new name. Robbie Collin says hello to Studio Ponoc

Out in the Shropshire hills about a year and a half ago, four visitors were staring up at the sky. It was a pristine August day, and the afternoon sun lit up clouds as big as mountains – “big enough,” remembers one of them, “to hide a flying city.”

The foursome visiting England were former employees of Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese production house behind some of the best-loved animated films ever made. Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and other Ghibli classics haven’t just won dedicated followings worldwide, they’ve reshaped animation itself.

Get close enough to any great new film from Disney, Pixar, Laika or Aardman, and you’ll feel Ghibli’s warming influence in every pen-stroke, pixel and puppet.

That’s why a global swell of dismay met the announcement, back in August 2014, that Ghibli would be taking a “brief pause” in feature film production – a pause that remains as yet unbroken, despite some optimistic reporting last month around a forthcoming 10-minute short called Boro the Caterpillar by the studio’s 75-year-old figurehead, Hayao Miyazaki.

In fact, shortly after work began on their 20th feature, When Marnie Was There, president Koji Hoshino gathered the staff and told them in confidence, but in no uncertain terms, that once that film was finished, Ghibli would be no more. Many were shocked, but others had sensed it coming.

Miyazaki had recently announced his retirement from directing, and the idea of Ghibli gliding on indefinitely without its legendary co-founder at the helm was unthinkable. So Marnie’s director Hiromasa Yonebayashi – known to all by his Ghibli-bestowed nickname, Maro – rallied the studio’s team of artists to make their final film.

Studio Ponoc's name comes from the Serbo-Croatian word for midnight: 'the moment when an old day ends and a new one begins'
At the end, when even the promotional tour was over, Maro returned to Ghibli with the producer of Marnie, Yoshiaki Nishimura. The place was deserted: pencils and brushes lay lifelessly on desks. They walked to a nearby wine bar to drink and talk.

Maro had joined Ghibli in 1996 as an animator on Princess Mononoke, and had spent much of his time since working directly under Miyazaki, soaking up the master’s style and technique. (Maro’s first film as director, Arrietty, was adapted from Mary Norton’s Borrowers stories by Miyazaki himself.)

As they spoke about the films they still wanted to make, Maro and Nishimura realised that Ghibli was the only place they could imagine making them – and if its time was over, it was up to them to keep its spirit alight. Hence their decision, a few months later, to quietly rent an anonymous office across the road from a bakery in a Tokyo suburb, one stop on the main commuter line from Ghibli HQ, and fill it with animation desks.

Hence their equally quiet acquisition, around the same time, of the rights to The Little Broomstick, an out-of-fashion but fondly remembered children’s book by the British writer Mary Stewart. Hence their cloud-gazing trip to Shropshire with two former Ghibli artists in August 2015, and the hand-drawn animated epic they’ve been secretly crafting in that anonymous office ever since. Say hello to Studio Ponoc.

Fast-forward almost to the present, and I’m sitting across a boardroom table from Maro and Nishimura, in the studio the pair officially founded on April 15 2015. Ponoc’s aim, in Maro’s words, is to “carry forward Ghibli’s presence” into cinema’s future. Its name comes from the Serbo-Croatian word for midnight: “the moment when an old day ends and a new one begins,” as Nishimura neatly puts it.

Side by side, the two men make the kind of appealing mismatch the movie business often sparks. Tokyo-born Nishimura is all bright eyes and sharp cheekbones, and an enthusiastic talker. (We’re speaking via an interpreter, but he frequently veers off into nuanced English.) Maro, who grew up near the remote Noto peninsula, is a far more tranquil presence – his nickname refers to the loafing lifestyles of ancient noblemen – with a bashful, teddy-bear grin.

Just as today’s Disney artists see Ghibli as a guiding light, so Ponoc owes an unexpected debt to Disney. Specifically, it’s to Don Hall, one of the directors of Big Hero 6 and a writer on Moana, who planted the Ponoc seed at the 2014 Academy Awards. (Hall was there with Big Hero 6, Nishimura with Ghibli’s The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, his first film as producer.)

The first film almost everyone sees around the world, usually as a child, is an animation. That means the business has a special responsibility
At a seminar two days before the ceremony, Hall spoke passionately about the future of their craft. “He’s a real Hollywood guy, and spoke from the heart,” Nishimura remembers. “And he said that the first film almost everyone sees around the world, usually as a child, is an animation. That means the business has a special responsibility, and I realised at Ghibli no-one was ready to take it on. I almost felt panic. There was nobody to do it.” One film later, he and Maro realised it was time to step up.

Outside the bright grey boardroom – Japan is the only country in the world where bright grey is an actual, existing colour – the animators are at work. They’re drawing frame after frame of Mary and the Witch’s Flower, the studio’s first feature, which almost no-one in the outside world – not even other Ghibli types – knows exists yet.

A multi-coloured line graph opposite the reception desk keeps track of the last year’s progress on the film. One line, which describes how far along they ideally should be, arcs neatly upwards, while the reality bubbles along some way below it.

There are 30 animators’ desks, about half of which are occupied at 5pm on a Monday evening, and the air tingles with the busy shiff-shiff-shiff of charcoal on copy paper. At the far end of the room is Maro’s own desk, relocated from its old place at Ghibli, with a pot of worn-down pencils on one side and a small Totoro calendar on the other.

In a separate room, beside a tidy snack bar, colourists and compositors paint the finished drawings digitally. There are neatly stacked folders of hand-drawn art everywhere.

Pinned on boards are energetic character sketches and shiningly beautiful brush-and-ink pictures of English country views: a mature rose garden, rolling blue-green fields, a winding village street. The billowing clouds Maro and Nishimura saw during their trip to Shropshire with Mary’s art director and production designer – and which play a key role in the story – are very much in evidence.

At a glance it all looks very Ghibli, and with good reason. Though Miyazaki was their best-known director, the studio’s soul arguably lay in its art department: a group of 12 long-serving artists with a poetic, painterly style that’s immediately recognisable as Ghibli.

Maro describes them as “treasures”, and after Marnie, none would have struggled to find work. But with their talents scattered to different studios, that much-loved look would have been lost for good – so Maro and Nishimura approached each of them in turn to ask if they’d be interested in moving to Ponoc.

Had they not done so, Nishimura says, “we would not have been able to make a film of Ghibli’s particular beauty again. I realised I had to keep as many people together as possible. So I said, ‘OK, we’re going to make a new film, starting from zero and pulling it together.’”

Of the 12, eight accepted – along with a handful of artists from other studios who, as Maro diplomatically races to emphasise, “are also very talented”.

With their core team assembled – plus what business types call a "quick win" in the form of a gorgeous animated advertising campaign last summer for the West Japan Railway Company – Ponoc was ready to make a film.

But what? At Ghibli, Miyazaki often drew ideas from a list of 50 favourite children’s books he’d compiled over the years, many of them European. The Borrowers and When Marnie Was There were both on there, as were Treasure Island, Winnie-the-Pooh, Swallows and Amazons and The Hobbit.

Nishimura likewise scoured children’s libraries for ideas, which he’d pitch to Maro over “lots of cheap coffee”. The more he read, the more he noticed something: “within the world of children’s books there are two patterns for stories involving magic.”

In the first, a child is born with powers and uses them to save the day. The second runs identically, except the child has to somehow obtain the powers first. So when he found a book that fit neither, he knew he was onto something.

A lot of Japanese animation has a kid solving a problem by getting inside a giant robot. The Ghibli philosophy was different, and I wanted it to be the Ponoc philosophy too
That book was Mary Stewart’s The Little Broomstick, first published in 1971, and alive with the kind of pastoral enchantment that was always a Ghibli speciality. In the fine old Ghibli tradition, it began with a young girl, Mary Smith, moving somewhere remote: in this case, her Great-Aunt Charlotte’s red-brick country pile near the Shropshire village of Redmanor.

Magic comes into her life via a black cat called Tib, a strange old gardener, and a broomstick that whisks Mary to a school for witches that predates Hogwarts, the Unseen University and even Miss Cackle’s Academy.

Because of its similarities to other well-known stories – the girl-cat-broomstick combo also chimed a little too neatly with the 1989 Ghibli film Kiki’s Delivery Service – Maro was initially wary. (He also worried that certain set-pieces, including a madly surging chase scene in which hundreds of fantastical creatures escape the school, would prove too complex to animate.)

But Nishimura pressed the point. “A fundamental part of the Ghibli story is that the heroines’ humanity, rather than any special powers, was always their greatest strength,” he explains. “You may like it, you may dislike it, but a lot of Japanese animation has a kid solving a problem by getting inside a giant robot. The Ghibli philosophy was different, and I wanted it to be the Ponoc philosophy too.”

Soon enough, Maro came around. It helped that Mary fulfilled a wish-list he himself had drawn up for his first post-Ghibli film – basically, something as different as possible from the contemplative, melancholic Marnie. He had three ineffably Japanese concepts in mind: genki, meaning liveliness or high spirits, ugoki-mawari, lots of running around, and fantaji – ie, fantasy.

“I wanted to make a film that would make children’s hearts race,” he explains. “I have strong memories of watching Ghibli’s early films as a child and feeling my own heart beating faster. I have an eight-year-old, and I would like my child, and all children by extension, to have that same experience I had.”

I’d like everyone who sees the film to ask a question of themselves as they encounter darkness and doubt: what’s my next step?
Using Stewart’s original story as a guide, Maro teased out the story, adding an entirely new second act that plays to Mary’s strengths as a young girl whose courage and persistence, as opposed to magic powers, sees her overcome the danger at hand.

Nishimura describes it as a film for children who are “moving into a 21st century that’s different from the one their parents imagined for them.” He goes on: “I think we all had a vision of what the world would be like, but it’s not the one we’re moving into. So what filmmakers should say at a time when people are losing hope – and what kind of film might help restore it in our children – are big themes for right now.”

"These days lots of young people if they fail at something will retreat,” continues Maro. “But Mary takes another step forward. I’d like everyone who sees the film to ask that question of themselves as they encounter darkness and doubt: what’s my next step?”

For Ponoc, the answer is clear: complete Mary by next summer, then work out what’s next. (Nishimura has plans for “four or five” more films in mind, including some eyebrow-raising collaborations, but he’s asked me to keep the details secret for the time being.)

In the meantime, the first trailer for Mary, released online today after Studio Ponoc’s first ever press conference, could hardly be more promising. Its fluidity and detail – and extraordinary beauty – are reassuringly familiar, but there’s also an unexpected spark of lunacy at work (get a load of the diving suits that splurt out flying dolphin-things).

For those of us who’ve spent the last three years on tenterhooks, the English-language trailer’s concluding tagline – “The Magic Returns” – should strike a sweet chord.

Mary and the Witch’s Flower will be released in the summer of 2017

 

[345triangle]

i love both of yonebayashi's movies — arrietty was the best ghibli film since spirited away at least, and i personally prefer it.

for someone who's been working in this style for over two decades, i think it's completely fine for this movie to look the way it does and i'll absolutely watch it. takahata often does different stuff, sure, but the difference is that he doesn't draw.

 

[iuxion]

Did Studio Ghibli really lose a lot of money from Marnie and Kaguya? Shame they chose not to continue with animated features. Although I guess they are coming back for Miyazaki's new movie?

I didn't care for Arrietty, but found Marnie surprisingly moving. Looking forward to this.

 

[GCX]

Did Studio Ghibli really lose a lot of money from Marnie and Kaguya? Shame they chose not to continue with animated features. Although I guess they are coming back for Miyazaki's new movie?

I didn't care for Arrietty, but found Marnie surprisingly moving. Looking forward to this.

For the past 20 years Miyazaki productions have really been the only movies that have made Ghibli any worthwhile profit. Their box office results are in another galaxy compared to films by other directors.

Takahata made a few commercially very successful movies in the early 90s (Only Yesterday and Pom Poko) but for example Tale of Princess Kaguya was very expensive to produce compared to its revenue. I can't imagine it making much money if any.

The real problem with Ghibli is that such beautiful animation is anything but cheap to make but without Miyazaki's star power their movies are pretty niche. We'll see how Studio Ponoc will tackle this problem.

 

[Llyranor]

Looks good. I liked Marnie and loved Arriety.

 

[duckroll]

The real problem with Ghibli is that such beautiful animation is anything but cheap to make but without Miyazaki's star power their movies are pretty niche. We'll see how Studio Ponoc will tackle this problem.

This isn't really true though. Animation is extremely cheap to make in Japan, even great looking ones. Ghibli movies have a budget of 20-30 million at best, and that's already super high for anime. The non Miyazaki ones can make tens of millions with the Ghibli brand in the box office alone. Even more when released on home video.

The real reason Ghibli stopped making stuff is because talent keep leaving the studio because Miyazaki's shadow looms too large. Not because they're doing poorly.

 

[GCX]

This isn't really true though. Animation is extremely cheap to make in Japan, even great looking ones. Ghibli movies have a budget of 20-30 million at best, and that's already super high for anime. The non Miyazaki ones can make tens of millions with the Ghibli brand in the box office alone. Even more when released on home video.

The real reason Ghibli stopped making stuff is because talent keep leaving the studio because Miyazaki's shadow looms too large. Not because they're doing poorly.

Marnie made a bit over $30 million at the Japanese BO. Not that bad but probably not that well either in relation to its +$20 million production budget + marketing. In US for instance the movie grossed under $200k. I'm not saying the non-Miyazaki movies didn't make any profit but they surely weren't moneymakers. There are of course a few exceptions, like Arrietty which iirc did pretty well.

Miyazaki's big shadow has been Ghibli's advantage and curse since day one. He is a big reason why the studio is at the point where it is today but I'd argue that there are financial reasons for it too. And of course Miyazaki's looming presence can partly be attributed to that too (in terms of driving the talent away that would make the future hits).

 

[/XX/]

The real reason Ghibli stopped making stuff is because talent keep leaving the studio because Miyazaki's shadow looms too large. Not because they're doing poorly.

Yep! I better post the fragment of the documentary about the regrets he expresses regarding the successors.

Marnie made a bit over $30 million at the Japanese BO. Not that bad but probably not that well either in relation to its +$20 million production budget + marketing. In US for instance the movie grossed under $200k. I'm not saying the non-Miyazaki movies didn't make any profit but they surely weren't moneymakers. There are of course a few exceptions, like Arrietty which iirc did pretty well.

And even then the same NTV (日テ&#12524 that has acted as producer of Studio Ghibli films (plus has the exclusive rights to broadcast them, and both operate jointly some affiliates and foundations) still trusts in providing funds for Mr. Yonebayashi new endeavours!

I don't think they are showing here any dissatisfaction with the performance of his previous works.

 

[TheRancor]

Twee?

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, perhaps In This Corner of the World or Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome or Genocidal Organ or Lupin the IIIrd: Geomon Ishikawa's Spray of Blood, etc. will be more up your alley.

Seriously, why do people bother complaining when they don't even know what's coming out.

 

[duckroll]

Marnie made a bit over $30 million at the Japanese BO. Not that bad but probably not that well either in relation to its +$20 million production budget + marketing. In US for instance the movie grossed under $200k. I'm not saying the non-Miyazaki movies didn't make any profit but they surely weren't moneymakers. There are of course a few exceptions, like Arrietty which iirc did pretty well.

Miyazaki's big shadow has been Ghibli's advantage and curse since day one. He is a big reason why the studio is at the point where it is today but I'd argue that there are financial reasons for it too. And of course Miyazaki's looming presence can partly be attributed to that too (in terms of driving the talent away that would make the future hits).

Oh if we're talking about Marnie in particular, yes it was some sort of a major disappointment. But everything else? Not so much. I don't think one disappointment was enough to really change anything. Yonebayashi just decided to move on.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Dude is two for two and this looks like it could be even better.

 

[faridmon]

Twee?

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, perhaps In This Corner of the World or Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome or Genocidal Organ or Lupin the IIIrd: Geomon Ishikawa's Spray of Blood, etc. will be more up your alley.

Those indeed are my stuff, but i bet none of them would come to UK in cinemas.

 

[duckroll]

Those indeed are my stuff, but i bet none of them would come to UK in cinemas.

At least two of those probably will, since I expect them to be at Scotland Loves Animation at one point or another.

 

[Shig]

Is it derivative if it's literally the same people doing the designs, animation, and direction though? Last I checked Ghibli wasn't a person!

Miyazaki's a person, and he's the person whose art Ghibli's house style is clearly based around. Seems kinda duplicitous to leave Miyazaki's house while holding onto his style.

I understand that it's become second nature to the people that worked there to emulate that, but if they want to blaze out on their own, it's a bad look to hew so close to a style that anyone would assume it's your old boss/studio's work on first blush.

 

[duckroll]

Miyazaki's a person, and he's the person whose art Ghibli's house style is clearly based around. Seems kinda duplicitous to leave Miyazaki's house while holding onto his style.

I understand that it's become second nature to the people that worked there to emulate that, but if they want to blaze out on their own, it's a bad look to hew so close to a style that anyone would assume it's your old boss/studio's work on first blush.

This impression is one big reason why Ghibli bleeds talent and is unable to cultivate any young talent that lasts to take over from Miyazaki and Takahata, because there is this misguided assumption that Miyazaki's art style is what everyone at Ghibli copies as opposed to there being a team of animators, animation directors, and character designers who have worked tirelessly over the decades to help shape the studio style. To claim that all they have been doing is "emulating" a style when Miyazaki himself has not been a character designer or animation director on any of his works for so long now, is laughable.

 

[Extra Sauce]

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Miyazaki's a person, and he's the person whose art Ghibli's house style is clearly based around. Seems kinda duplicitous to leave Miyazaki's house while holding onto his style.

I understand that it's become second nature to the people that worked there to emulate that, but if they want to blaze out on their own, it's a bad look to hew so close to a style that anyone would assume it's your old boss/studio's work on first blush.

It's not just Miyazaki, but a group of animators (including Yonebayashi) who established the Ghibli "house style" people recognize. If you're going to complain about Yonebayashi continuing the aesthetic style he was using in his Studio Ghibli films at Studio Ponoc - which, as posted earlier in this thread, was founded by an ex-Ghibli producer with a bunch of ex-Ghibli animators to self-conciously carry on the Ghibli style that Ghibli itself will no longer do - then you'll also need to complain about Goro Miyazaki and Katsuya Kondo's style on Ronja the Robber's Daughter produced at Polygon Pictures or the style Kitaro Kousaka used in his Nasu movies produced at Madhouse.

 

[HStallion]

Ghibli at this point is Miyazaki going in and out of retirement to make one last movie again and again. Then there is Takahata who is getting very old at this point and I'm not sure how much longer he's really going to be able to keep things up at his age though bravo to the man as Princess Kaguya was incredible. I would have mentioned Goro but I'm pretty sure he's the janitor now.

 

[duckroll]

Honestly, I would say that Kondo has the biggest influence on Ghibli's house style, more so than Miyazaki himself. Miyzaki is a great director and an amazing storyboard artist, but in terms of actual character design defining what Ghibli is to the everyman, Katsuya Kondo is the Shinkawa to Miyazaki's Kojima. The next in line would be Masashi Ando.

 

[Shergal]

Honestly, I would say that Kondo has the biggest influence on Ghibli's house style, more so than Miyazaki himself. Miyzaki is a great director and an amazing storyboard artist, but in terms of actual character design defining what Ghibli is to the everyman, Katsuya Kondo is the Shinkawa to Miyazaki's Kojima. The next in line would be Masashi Ando.

But I'd say that Kondo's style is like a fork of Miyazaki's (you can see that in its purest form in the Nausicaa manga)... which itself arised from a tradition in animated character design that goes all the way back to Toei Doga and Otsuka. None of the artists have to be consciously copying the other to be seen as derivative or not particularly unique.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

But I'd say that Kondo's style is like a fork of Miyazaki's (you can see that in its purest form in the Nausicaa manga)... which itself arised from a tradition in animated character design that goes all the way back to Toei Doga and Otsuka. None of the artists have to be consciously copying the other to be seen as derivative or not particularly unique.

Certainly Kondo's style was not developed in a vacuum - and, as you point out, neither was Miyazaki's. I think what duckroll is trying to argue, and what I would certainly argue, is that Miyazaki isn't the sole person responsible for the way Ghibli films looked and that Yonebayashi and his team of animators are not committing a moral offense against Miyazaki for making this film look the way it does.

 

[Shergal]

Yonebayashi and his team of animators are not committing a moral offense against Miyazaki for making this film look the way it does.

Oh

of course not lol. I mean it even looks nice and all; personally it doesn't really fire me up but there's nothing wrong with 'carrying the Ghibli spirit' as they put it in that article.

 

[SapphiCine]

Script/Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Arrietty)

I'll pass. Between Arrietty and Marnie, he hasn't made a good film to me.

 

[mortal]

This looks absolutely wonderful!

 

[8-Bit Sunset]

Just updated with a new trailer:
https://www.facebook.com/studioponoc/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

Looks stunning!

 

[RangerBAD]

Just updated with a new trailer:
https://www.facebook.com/studioponoc/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

Looks stunning!

Mmm, the goosebumps.

 

[Eggiem]

Why can't they change the artstyle? It's been done a thousand times. Ugh.

There are enough other anime. Please go watch them!

 

[Spiral Insanity]

Can they please stop adapting classic children's stories?!

Having said that, the second trailer looked very nice. Even though it resembling many features/animation styles/sequences of past Ghibli movies was a bit too distracting.

 

[ZoddGutts]

There are enough other anime. Please go watch them!

One to look forward to:

Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmeU9GFJW3I&ab_channel=TOHOanimationチャンネル

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Just updated with a new trailer:
https://www.facebook.com/studioponoc/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

Looks stunning!

It absolutely does. Love the atmosphere conjured up by the backgrounds, music, and animation (the animation on those fish people - mmmm!). The couple scenes steeped in fog in particular remind me of how lovely the atmosphere Yonebayashi created on the lake in Marnie was.

Can they please stop adapting classic children's stories?!

Yonebayashi seems to really like using older British children's literature as the basis for his films, and I'm just fine with that. No one's making World Masterpiece Theater anymore, so I'm glad someone is still getting inspiration from children's literature for their animated works.

 

[duckroll]

Yonebayashi seems to really like using older British children's literature as the basis for his films, and I'm just fine with that. No one's making World Masterpiece Theater anymore, so I'm glad someone is still getting inspiration from children's literature for their animated works.

To be fair, it's not just Yonebayashi. Miyazaki himself did Howl's, and Ponyo was supposedly inspired by The Little Mermaid. His son did Earthsea and Ronja. Even Takahata did Kaguya. So between all those and Yonebayashi's hat trick of Arrietty, Marnie, and now Mary, it definitely does feel like the "Ghibli" style brand is all in on old, old, old children's classics. Lol.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

To be fair, it's not just Yonebayashi. Miyazaki himself did Howl's, and Ponyo was supposedly inspired by The Little Mermaid. His son did Earthsea and Ronja. Even Takahata did Kaguya. So between all those and Yonebayashi's hat trick of Arrietty, Marnie, and now Mary, it definitely does feel like the "Ghibli" style brand is all in on old, old, old children's classics. Lol.

Kaguya is a folk tale, which I wouldn't put in quite the same category as something like Howl's Moving Castle, but absolutely. After all, before Ghibli was founded Miyazaki and Takahata were busy working on World Masterpiece Theater adaptations such as Heidi and Anne of Green Gables, and Miyazaki's first work as full director, Future Boy Conan, was based on a contemporaneous American novel The Incredible Tide. I'm glad to see this tradition continue with Yonebayashi.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

I am so glad Ghibli's spirit lives on.

 

[wandering]

One to look forward to:

Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmeU9GFJW3I&ab_channel=TOHOanimationチャンネル

Masaaki Yuasa is awesome.

 

[hirokazu]

Really looking forward to this one. Perhaps more so than Miyazaki's next film if he really is just working on a feature length version of the short he's doing for the Ghibli Museum.

I'm glad Yonebayashi is still making films, I quite enjoyed both Arietty and Marnie, and this looks like Ghibli in every way except in name.

 

[I Stalk Alone]

Just updated with a new trailer:
https://www.facebook.com/studioponoc/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

Looks stunning!

Another new trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2IQqNP1ajg

Film is reminiscent of about 5 different ghibli films just in that trailer alone, although I have only watched it once.

 

[jett]

Nice to see Ghibli living on in some fashion.

 

[DangerMouse]

Yeah, same here.

Really like the trailers and it looks gorgeous (the music really builds the hype with the animation too).

 

[Inferno313]

That looks Ghibli-as-hell.

So on board.

 

[moonbeam]

Latest trailer. Looks more spoiler filled than the others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm0YYNgNr7A

 

[RatskyWatsky]

This has been out for some time now in Japan. Has anyone here seen it?

 

[watershed]

Looks cool. I'm glad these people are keeping the Ghibli style alive. Ghibli Studio itself is probably gonna collapse soon, if they even finish this current film.

 

[Ridley327]

Don't know how many people caught the recent screening of Kiki's Delivery Service in theaters, but prior to the movie starting, they showed a trailer for this and indicated that GKids will be doing special screenings of this in December in the US, presumably as a similar limited time event as they have been doing for their Studio Ghibli Fest.