Studio Ghibli

[Monk Ed]

It's a fun film that'll make you feel like a child

Small, powerless, utterly dependent, constantly and irrationally fearful of abandonment, and easily amused because anything is better than the chill of the void?

I love being an adult.

[Joy Evangelion]

Everyone needs to watch Kaguya Hime.

You should have posted that last week, man. Somehow I went about my life without hearing about the movie til now, and they were playing it in theaters here, subbed, up until tonight, for chrissakes.

[caragnafog dog]

You should have posted that last week, man. Somehow I went about my life without hearing about the movie til now, and they were playing it in theaters here, subbed, up until tonight, for chrissakes.

sheeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, I shouldn't have put off watching it until last night I guess

I recommend it even if you have to watch it on a crappy 10-inch screen.

[robersora]

Tomorrow, after awakening from too much party, I'll force some people, as I don't want to sit in the theater alone. Looking forward to it! I think I might even go for the dubbed version, since German dubs of Ghibli-movies were always at least good.

[Dream]

Small, powerless, utterly dependent, constantly and irrationally fearful of abandonment, and easily amused because anything is better than the chill of the void?

I love being an adult.

Both of my parents were mentally ill, i have literally 4 personality disorders at minimun, and not even i have such a negative view of childhood.

Anyways, right now i unfortunately don't have the time or knowledge to go into more detail, but it's probably worth noting that Miyazaki (and probably the wider culture of Japan?) have a seriously divergent view of childhood.

[Dataprime]

News Time:

‘When Marnie Was There’ Acquired By GKIDS
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... ere/.83277

[TomasJC]

Also this happened: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-01-15/isao-takahata-and-ghibli-princess-kaguya-nominated-for-oscar/.83303

[Guy Nacks]

In an Oscar season that was more white than most, that is actually refreshing news, though I am very surprised The Lego Movie wasn't nominated. Shit, I thought that was gonna be the frontrunner.

Kaguya won't win, though. That's a guaran-damn-tee.

[LegionWrex]

I am very surprised The Lego Movie wasn't nominated. Shit, I thought that was gonna be the frontrunner.

Agreed. Most people had that as their favourite to win.

It was arguably the biggest snub of the night.

[AR-99]

Back to back nominations for Ghibli. After tripping over not being able to Kaguya subbed in a theater remotely close to me, I found an online copy in both languages. Ha!

Still, is Big Hero 6 the frontrunner?

[cyharding]

Either that or How to Train Your Dragon 2. I'd like to think that Kaguya might have a fighting chance as the Lego Movie didn't get a nomination. I wonder if that's misplaced optimism on my part?

[Gendo'sPapa]

^ Big Hero 6 is the frontrunner. The film will also be hitting shelves two days after the Oscar ceremonies so if Disney is smart they're gonna push full ahead with getting that film the win so their BD/DVD/VOD sales could skyrocket. I mean the Oscars are just another form of marketing.

Even though it's my #1 favorite film that I saw in 2014 I don't think 'The Tale of the Princess Kaguya' has a chance. Disney, Pixar & John Lasseter are going to put all their effort behind 'Big Hero 6', a film with an overall budget well north of $200 million that could be the start of a potential & lucrative merchandise heavy franchise. A 'Big Hero 7' perhaps?

GKids is kind've on their own this year in pushing 'Kaguya', plus they'll be supporting 'Song of the Sea' as well (which looks amazing!). GKids ace up their sleeve would have been selling 'Kaguya' as "The Last Film From Studio Ghibli" but there's still 'When Marnie Was There' which they've already secured for distribution in 2015 so that plan is out.

Funny, with 'The Lego Movie' being snubbed & there not being a real animated cultural juggernaut like 'Frozen' around, Miyazaki's 'The Wind Rises' would've easily taken the award had it been up this year. Ah well.

[Dataprime]

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is out on DVD/Blu today.
Anyone picking it up?

[drinian]

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is out on DVD/Blu today.
Anyone picking it up?

I'm hoping that Costco does another Ghibli sale like they did last year. Disney was on sale this month, so maybe soon.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Amazon's doing a sale right now. A lot of Ghibli titles on Blu are the cheapest they've ever been - about $20 - so I picked up Totoro & Castle in the Sky. Once Spirited Away & Cagliostro are available on Blu in the States I can do a proper 11 film Hayao Miyazaki marathon.

I've been working my way through the entire Ghibli body of work over the past few months & aside from "Earthsea" they sure never made a bad movie. Even their less ambitious films - looking at you "The Cat Returns" - still achieve the modest ambitions they aimed for.

Honestly, with Miyazaki, Takahata & Toshio Suzuki pretty much all retired it really would be for the best if Ghibli broke down & rebranded themselves as a new studio to preserve the quality of their film library. Let the new young talent forge ahead & create their own works without those legends looming over them. Ghibli's 21 film library is as close to perfect as it'll ever be. Better for the studio to get out while it's ahead I feel.

No one wants to see Ghibli follow down the same path of irrelevance that Gainax has.

[UrsusArctos]

No one wants to see Ghibli follow down the same path of irrelevance that Gainax has.

Very different business models. Ghibli stuck heavily to making feature films, Gainax tended more and more towards TV series. And they're far from irrelevant - it just needs Anno or Imaishi to go to them for another one of their series and they'll be back in the limelight the same as before.

[Gendo'sPapa]

But Anno & Imaishi are done with Gainax for good. Those guys both left the sinking ship & are never going back. To stay afloat Gainax relied heavily on Eva merchandise & had to start making whatever is popular at the moment - moe blobs or whatever shit is in for anime - & now they're indistinguishable from anyone else. Gainax as an original & fascinating studio is pretty much dead & short of a hail mary in a truly original filmmaker wanting to make it their home I don't see them ever coming back.

Ghibli was able to follow it's own free artistic path because they had a Hayao Miyazaki, a filmmaker who whenever he made a movie literally broke box office records at the Japanese domestic box office. Critical & commercial masterpieces like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle & Ponyo can buy a studio the freedom to do whatever they want for a few years. Without that financial anchor Ghibli will have to stay a new way to stay financially viable & that could be anything from rampant sequels (like what Pixar has done of late & why I'm sure we've heard talks of a Miyazaki scripted, Anno directed sequel to Nausicaa), pandering to whatever is popular (like Gainax which hasn't done anything with a distinct voice since Panty & Stocking) or just hoping they luck into another Miyazaki level popular filmmaker.

[robersora]

^
Well, studios are only outlets for creative people. We should care less about studios, but more about the people who craft the masterpieces. Gainax tries to go out of business with a bang, at least; namely with finally making a high budged movie again; which will be a box office bomb, I assure you. I'm really curious about what Anno will be doing, once he has finished Eva. I'd really like to see something other than Eva. All that talk about him being the successor of Miyazaki is nothing of value since Miyazaki made entertainment for everybody, while Anno's works are more specific in demographic... They only say he's the heir of the throne because he's the only one whose works shit money as soon as they are released. So the assumption that he's the one who will succeed Miyazaki is based on numbers alone. I stake everything on Hosada instead. With the void left from Miyazaki I think he's the one who could succeed him, somehow.

I have no idea where I was going with this, but now I've typed it, so deal with it. Rant off.

[Trajan]

I'm getting kind of sick of people wanting to write off Studio Ghibli now that Miyazaki is retired. For all you guys know, they could make another masterpiece five years from now from somebody we never heard of. Give the new guard a chance, if anything, film history has taught me that companies wither and die when the old guard overstays their welcome.

A perfect example for this would be Disney. From the mid 70s to the late 80s they went through a bit of a rough patch. I doubt anyone would call the films from that era masterpieces by any stretch of the word but in 1989 they made The Little Mermaid and followed that up with their two best animated features of all-time: Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

[Gendo'sPapa]

I'm saying dismantle & rebrand the company as something new so the new guard can continue on without adhering to Miyazaki/Takahata's aesthetic & having people misconstrue their work as the old guards. They can do their own thing & not be viewed for who knows how long as nothing more than "the underlings". I'm not saying the artists at Ghibli should retire/kill themselves, I'm saying they should find a way to dismantle the old company & rebuild themselves as a smaller, more fiscally conservative company that CAN take risks without having to sacrifice artistic integrity so they can keep the expensive Studio Ghibli around.

What's so hard to understand about that?