Konichiwa!
So, it turns out that I haven't died and God obviously decided that my work on Earth wasn't complete. Just kidding, but before I begin this article, I do apologise for my long absence. The reason was that, on top of exams, I had to go to work in England for two and a half weeks and my laptop crashed on the first night and wasn't to be fixed until two days before I left. So, I'm sorry, let's move on.
Ever since Hayao Miyazaki, the Walt Disney of Japan, announced his retirement in February, there have been many rumours circulating about the future of Studio Ghibli, the company where Miyazaki creates all of his films. Now, if you're an anime fan, then you definitely know who Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are. For those who don't, a short history.
Hayao Miyazaki made his first major feature film in 1979, which was called Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, part of Monkey Punch's Lupin III animated film franchise. The film has achieved cult status since it's release and is loved by many anime fans. This was Miyazaki's debut and it was a major hit in Japan. After this, he made Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind in 1984, which also proved to be a huge success. With two excellent films under his belt, Miyazaki, with fellow filmmaker Isao Takahata and Tokuma Shoten chairman Yasuyoshi Tokuma, set up Studio Ghibli, an animation company with the intent to broadcast to a children's audience, in 1985. Over the past twenty-nine years, Ghibli has become one of the most successful and highest-grossing animation studios in the world, making classic children's movies such as Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke.
My own opinion of Studio Ghibli: anything by Hayao Miyazaki is pretty much gold or at least a very bright silver. The rest of the directors tend to be hit or miss. Isao Takahata, for example, only made two films that I liked: Grave of the Fireflies and Pom Poko. Only Yesterday and My Neighbours The Yamadas were mediocre in comparison to the rest of the Ghibli catalogue. Goro Miyazaki made one excellent movie (From Up On Poppy Hill) and one that is arguably the weakest of all the studios films (Tales From Earthsea). So, you can get my point about the other directors being okay. The truth is that, without Hayao Miyazaki, the studio would not be at the point where it is today as a world-renowned and loved animation studio.
This is where rumours of the Studio Ghibli closure arose from. The main talk was of who would be the successor to Miyazaki in terms of quality and quantity. Miyazaki has, in total, made nine films for Studio Ghibli, dating from 1986 to 2013, all achieving high recommendations and Spirited Away winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002. Somebody has to now follow in his footsteps and, with worries that it is an non-achievable goal, closure rumors pursued.
So, is the much-loved Japanese animation studio going to close it's doors and hang up the stuffed Totoro toy forever?
The answer is: OF COURSE NOT!!!
The studio has made it very clear: they will not be closing. However, they are going through a stage of redevelopment. What does that mean? Well, with the departure of Miyazaki, Ghibli is having to change. It was inevitable. Of course, this still means that they will be primarily targeting films at children but they will probably need to get a new name to help push the studio into the future. So, the plot thickens: who will be the next big Studio Ghibli director?
Well, the truth is we don't know yet but there are some very likely candidates. Hiromasa Yonebayashi, director of The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) and this year's When Marnie Was There, is a very likely successor; as is Isao Takahata, who returned to directing after a 14-year hiatus in 2013 with The Tale of Princess Kaguya. So there are already two major players withing the company. However, outside the studio, there is a lot of fresh, new potential. Mamoru Hosoda, director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), Summer Wars (2009) and Wolf Children (2012), is someone who is shaping up already to be the next Miyazaki, along with Makoto Shinkai, director of the beautiful 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007) and The Garden of Words (2013).
So, in conclusion, all I have to say is that fellow Ghiblites shouldn't worry about the possibility of closure. It's definitely not happening. However, with the departure of Miyazaki, the studio is changing. All I can say is that I look forward to when Ghibli announces Miyazaki's successor and that there is a possibility of an even brighter future without Miyazaki. So, until next,
Sayonara!
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