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Founded in June 1985, Studio Ghibli is headed by the directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and the producer Toshio Suzuki. Prior to the formation of the studio, Miyazaki and Takahata had already had long careers in Japanese film and television animation and had worked together on Hols: Prince of the Sun and Panda! Go, Panda!; and Suzuki was an editor at Tokuma Shoten's Animage magazine.

The studio was founded after the success of the 1984 film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, written and directed by Miyazaki for Topcraft and distributed by Toei Company. The origins of the film lie in the first two volumes of a serialized manga written by Miyazaki for publication in Animage as a way of generating interest in an anime version. Suzuki was part of the production team on the film and founded Studio Ghibli with Miyazaki, who also invited Takahata to join the new studio.

The studio has mainly produced films by Miyazaki, with the second most prolific director being Takahata (most notably with Grave of the Fireflies). Other directors who have worked with Studio Ghibli include Yoshifumi Kondo, Hiroyuki Morita, Gorō Miyazaki, and Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Composer Joe Hisaishi has provided the soundtracks for most of Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli films. In their book Anime Classics Zettai!, Brian Camp and Julie Davis made note of Michiyo Yasuda as "a mainstay of Studio Ghibli’s extraordinary design and production team".

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Selected profile

Kitarō Kōsaka (高坂 希太郎, Kōsaka Kitarō, born February 28, 1962 in Kanagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese animator and film director. He began his career in 1979 with the studio Oh! Production. He left the studio in 1986 to become a freelance animator, working on numerous projects as a key and supervising animation director for Studio Ghibli, including on Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, From up on Poppy Hill, and The Wind Rises. He has stated that he is a fan of the works of Hayao Miyazaki.

In 2003, he directed the cycling anime film, Nasu: Summer in Andalusia, set on the Vuelta a España road bicycle race, adapted from Iō Kuroda's manga Nasu, which Miyazaki recommended to Kōsaka. The film soon went on to become the first Japanese anime film ever to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival.

He has worked on numerous other projects for the studio Madhouse, including adaptations of Naoki Urasawa's Yawara!, Master Keaton and Monster, and short film adaptations of two of Clamp's works: Clover and Double X.

Selected work

Title of film in Japanese
Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫, Mononoke-hime, "Spirit/Monster Princess") is a 1997 anime epic action historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was animated by Studio Ghibli and produced by Toshio Suzuki. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijo, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori and Hisaya Morishige.

The film is set in the late Muromachi period (approximately 1337 to 1573) of Japan, with fantasy elements. The story follows the young Emishi warrior Ashitaka's involvement in a struggle between forest gods and the humans who consume its resources. The term "Mononoke" (物の怪 or もののけ) is not a name, but a Japanese word for a spirit or monster.

Princess Mononoke was released in Japan on July 12, 1997, and in the United States on October 29, 1999. It was a critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japan of 1997, and the highest-grossing there of all time until Titanic was released later that year. It was translated and distributed in North America by Miramax Films, and despite a poor box office performance there, it sold well on DVD and video, bringing Ghibli attention in the West for the first time.

Selected related article

Entrance to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo.
Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館, Mitaka no Mori Jiburi Bijutsukan, Mitaka Forest Ghibli Museum) is a museum showcasing the work of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. It is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western city of Tokyo, Japan. The museum combines features of a children's museum, technology museum, and a fine arts museum, and is dedicated to the art and technique of animation.

Planning for the museum began in 1998. Construction started in March 2000, and the museum officially opened October 1, 2001. Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki designed the museum himself, using drawn storyboards similar to the ones he creates for his films. The design was influenced by European architecture, such as the hilltop village of Calcata in Italy. Miyazaki's aim was to make the building itself part of the exhibit, and for the museum to be an uplifting and relaxing experience "that makes you feel more enriched when you leave than when you entered".

Selected media

Catbus cosplay (next to San taking a picture) at FanimeCon in 2010.
Catbus cosplay (next to San taking a picture) at FanimeCon in 2010.
Credit: BrokenSphere

Catbus cosplay (next to San taking a picture) at FanimeCon in 2010.

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