Japanese Series: Studio Ghibli

Sadly we have come to the final post in my Japanese Series, which as you can see will be about Studio Ghibli.

I debated for a while this being my last Japanese Series post, but I wanted to save the best for last and of course, Studio Ghibli is amazing! To me it is the Japanese version of Disney and nine times out of ten I would much prefer to watch a Studio Ghibli film, than a Disney one. Is that bizarre?!

Well this post is going to include some information about Studio Ghibli, how I discovered them, the films they have out, and just some other bits and pieces.

Image taken from weheartit.com

About Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli was founded back in 1985 by the directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and the producer Toshio Suzuki.The studio was founded after the success of the 1984 film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Currently Studio Ghibli has released 19 films, this doesn’t include Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, nor does it include the newest film out this year When Marnie Was There or the television film Ocean Waves.

Some of Studio Ghibli’s most known films are My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and one of the newest films, Ponyo.

As Studio Ghibli is a Japanese company, all their films are made in Japanese, but thanks to Disney they’ve brought us most of Studio Ghibli’s films in English. With some anime films and series I like to watch them in English first and then in Japanese, but sometimes you can’t get them in English so Japanese has to do the job. I’m not one of these people who has to watch all things Japanese in Japanese, English is alright for me too.

Since Studio Ghibli being founded in 1985, it’s also opened the Ghibli Museum (which I mentioned in last weeks Japanese post), which opened in Tokyo, Japan in 2001. From what I can see it’s like a mini version of Disney Land/World which is pretty cool and although it seems more aimed towards children, I can imagine adults of all ages go there!

Image taken from weheartit.com

How I discovered Studio Ghibli

Around 2004 or 2005 I watched my first Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away. It was after school and my Dad and I were looking for something to watch and we saw this film had started about 20 minutes prior to us turning on the channel. It was starting again in 10 minutes so we decided to watch it from the beginning. RIGHT NEAR the end our SKY box decided to stop working and we didn’t get to watch the end until a week later when it was on the TV again. The film really drew me into the strange fantasy world it was creating, with all the different spirits and beautiful story. The artwork was amazing and although a lot of people tend to get annoyed at her, I fell in love with Chihiro.

Years later I finally bought Spirited Away on DVD and since then it’s one of my favourite films!

Eventually as the years passed by I found out who Spirited Away was by and researched online what other films they had made, watching the ones that were spoken highly about. The second film I watched was Kiki’s Delivery Service which I loved for quite a while, but has grown to be one of my less favourite films, don’t get my wrong I still really like it! But I like other Studio Ghibli films more. I then finally watched My Neighbor Totoro which is such a lovely film and definitely more for children than adults! I want a huge Totoro of my own, he’s so adorable.

As the years continued to fly by I watched more films, especially when Film 4 began to show more and more Studio Ghibli films, including Porco Rosso, The Cat Returns, and Whisper of The Heart.

Recently my boyfriend has started to collect all the Studio Ghibli films so we’ve both been watching the ones that either myself or he hasn’t watched, and even if we have watched them before we’ve been re watching them. We watched The Cat Returns for my birthday this year, which I loved. That’s his favourite Studio Ghibli film and I can understand why, it’s such a lovely film.

Image taken from weheartit.com

List of Studio Ghibli films

If you click on each film title it will take you to the trailer for it!

1984: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (before Studio Ghibli)
1986: Laputa: Castle in the Sky
1988: Grave of the Fireflies
1988: My Neighbour Totoro
1989: Kiki’s Delivery Service
1991: Only Yesterday
1992: Porco Rosso
1993: Oceans Waves (television film)
1994: Pom Poko
1995: Whisper of the Heart
1997: Princess Mononoke
1999: My Neighbours the Yamadas
2001: Spirited Away
2002: The Cat Returns
2004: Howl’s Moving Castle
2006: Tales From Earthsea
2008: Ponyo
2010: Arrietty
2011: From Up on Poppy Hill
2013: The Wind Rises
2013: The Tale of Princess Kaguya
2014: When Marnie Was There (upcoming film)

Overall

I LOVE Studio Ghibli films and I’m just so glad my boyfriend does too. We’re slowly making our way through all the films now which is nice! The flaw with Studio Ghibli films is that they aren’t exactly cheap but are well worth the money! Amazon usually has them at decent prices, whilst HMV have them at 2 for £20 at the moment.

Eventually when I move out I intend to start collecting them myself… Unless I were to move in with my boyfriend and then I can just borrow his! 😛 At the moment I only own three Studio Ghibli films. My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, and Ponyo.

My favourite film by Studio Ghibli has to be Spirited Away, I think it always will be and in the future when I have my own child or even children they’ll be brought up watching Studio Ghibli films before Disney!

Well, that’s the end…

As you know this is the last post for my Japanese series. I’m sad that it didn’t last longer, but I’m pretty sure I will be talking about Japan again in the very near future.

I’m now saving up to go to Japan for a holiday in the (hopefully!) near future! I have a lot of saving up to do.

Have you enjoyed the Japanese series? If so, what was your favourite post? I think mine was the food post. 😛

Do you like Studio Ghibli? If so, which movie is your favourite?

Let me know all your answers and any questions you may have in the comments down below.

I do hope you all enjoyed this series and in April I’ll be back with another! But I’m not telling you what it is yet. 😛

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a wonderful February.