Studio Ghibli; Films from 2003 to now
In this lesson we will mention the work of Studio Ghibli after 2003. In this lesson we will also mention the film that is considered Miyazaki Hayao’s farewell masterpiece.
Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城 Hauru no Ugoku Shiro)
Howl’s Moving Castle was released 20 November 2004. It was directed and written by Miyazaki Hayao and produced by Suzuki Toshio. Howl’s Moving Castle is based on the book with the same title by Diana Wynne Jones. In Howl’s Moving Castle we meet Sophie Hatter, a hat maker. Sophie get cursed by the Witch of the Waste with the body of a 90-year-old woman. She goes on a journey to get the curse lifted, in where she ends up in Howl’s castle where she act as the new cleaning lady.
The film version is different from Jones’s original book. Diana Wynne Jones did meet with Studio Ghibli, but didn’t have any input into the film itself. The plot of the book and the film are the same. But the film is flavored with Miyazaki’s familiar style and characters. The film still focus on Sophie and her adventure while she tries to lift her curse. In book and film Sophie evolve the way of how she thinks of herself. In the beginning of both she sees herself as a plain ordinary girl who pales in comparison with her sister. But during the film and book Sophie learns that she herself is also a beautiful woman. But where the film difference from the book is that the film takes place during a war. Miyazaki put Howl in a position of a pacifist, where he tries to avoid fighting. |
Tales from Earthsea (ゲド戦記 Gedo Senki, lit. Ged's War Chronicles)
Tales from Earthsea was released on 29 july 2006. Tales from Earthsea is the first film that was directed and written by Miyazaki Hayao’s son Miyazaki Goro. Tales from Earthsea is based on a combination of plots and characters from the first four books of Urusla K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series. Tales from Earthsea starts with dragons appearing above the sky. When the people of Archipelago see this they notice the balance of the world has been disrupted. Ged goes on an adventure to find the source of this disruption. During his journey he meets Arren, the prince of Enland. Together go further with the journey to find the source of the disruption and set things right again.
Tales of Earthsea is the first anime film adaption of the Earthsea series. In the past many directors tried to pursue Ursula K. Le Guin to let them adapt the Earthsea cycle in a film. But she disapproved of this. When Ursula K. Le Guin heard of Miyazaki’s interest in adapting her work, she was unknown with his films and his association with Disney. Therefor she turned his request down. After Spirited Away won an Oscar, Miyazaki Hayao received an approval from Le Guin. At that time Miyazaki Hayao was busy with directing Howl’s Moving Castle. Therefor Studio Ghibli decided that Miyazaki Hayao’s son Miyazaki Goro could work on this film. At that time Miyazaki Hayao didn’t like this decision, he thought that Goro still lacked the necessary experience for this job. During the production of Tales of Earthsea father and son didn’t speak with one another. However Miyazaki Hayao later acknowledged Goro’s work upon its first preview. |
Ursula K. Le Guin on the other hand, didn’t like the outcomes of the film. She had told Miyazaki Goro that the following: "It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie". But later on she expressed her disappointment with the end result.
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ Gake no Ue no Ponyo, lit. "Ponyo on the Cliff")
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea was released on 19 july 2008. It was directed and written by Miyazaki Hayao and produced by Suzuki Toshio. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is about a little goldfish that goes to the human world. There she befriends the little boy Sosuke. Ponyo’s father tries to bring Ponyo back, with no luck. Ponyo tells her father that she wants to be human. Ponyo then uses a lot of magic to turn herself into a human girl. The magic that she used to do this disturbs the ocean and creates a dangerous flood that will engulf the world. On this Ponyo’s father decides to call Gran Mamare, the Sea Goddess and Ponyo’s mother for help.
Miyazaki Hayao said that his inspiration for Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea was the story of Hans Christian Andersen “The Little Mermaid”. Miyazaki’s goal during Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea was to use traditional animation entirely in the film. Miyazaki himself was involved with the hand-drawn animation in Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. He mentioned that he preferred to draw the sea and waves himself. He found this an important element in the film and enjoyed experimenting with how to express the sea and the waves. After Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea was finished Miyazaki Hayao wanted his next film to be Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea 2. But Suzuki Toshio convinced Miyazaki to make The Wind Rises instead. |
The Borrower Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ Kari-gurashi no Arietti)
The Borrower Arriety was released on 17 July 2010. It was directed by Yonebayashi Hiromasa, written by Miyazaki Hayao and Keiko Niwa and produced by Suzuki Toshio. The Borrower Arrietty is the directorial debut of Ghibli animator Yonebayashi "Maro" Hiromasa under the supervision of Miyazaki Hayao. The film is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton. The film (and book) is about a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of a typical household, borrowing items from humans to survive.
The Borrower Arrietty is a story about how Arrietty, a borrower, reveals herself to the human boy Sho. The film shows us how caring Sho is about the tiny family that lives in their home and how the Borrowers really feel about it. Because they have been discovered Arrietty’s parents decide that they have to leave their home and go and find a new place to live. |
From Up on Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から Kokuriko-zaka Kara, lit. "From Coquelicot Hill")
From Up on Poppy Hill was released on 16 July 2011. It was directed by Miyazaki Goro, written by Miyazaki Hayao and Niwa Keiko and produced by Suzuki Toshio. From Up on Poppy Hill is about Matsuzaki Umi, a high school girl that lives in a boarding house called Coquelicot Manor. Umi is a caring person who ends up helping the school’s newspaper club. There she meets Kazama Shun and together with Shun and Mizunuma Shiro they start to renovate their school’s clubhouse Quartier Latin. Slowly the whole school, those who are interested in it, start to help with the renovation. But they will have to convince the chairman to keep their clubhouse. Beside the activities around the school’s clubhouse, Umi learns more about her father, who died during the Korean War.
From Up on Poppy Hill is set in 1963. During that timeframe the student activism and campus revolts started to escalated in Japan. We see this aspect back in From Up on Poppy Hill, where Umi, Shun and Shiro confront the Chairman to keep their school’s clubhouse. From Up on Poppy Hill also shows aspects of the Second World War, were Umi’s father was killed on his supply ship in the Korean War. Also Shun’s father died aboard a repatriation vessel after the end of the Second World War. |
The Wind Rises (風立ちぬ Kaze Tachinu)
The Wind Rises was released on 20 July 2013. It was directed and written by Miyazaki Hayao and produced by Suzuki Toshio. The Wind Rises is a fictionalized biography of Horikoshi Jiro. Horikoshi Jiro is an aircraft engineer, who is the designer of the Mitsubishi A5M and the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. Both aircraft were used during the Second World War. The story follows how Horikoshi Jiro designed his planes and the struggle towards it and his personal life.
The Wind Rises is a film adaption from Miyazaki Hayao’s manga with the same name. The Wind Rises is the final film that Miyazaki Hayao has directed before his retirement in September 2013. It’s been said that this film is his farewell masterpiece. The Wind Rises incorporates unique and unusual audio decisions. Which include using human vocals for many of the sound effects. The story in the film follows the historical account of Horikoshi’s aircraft development chronologically. But the mentioning to his private life is entirely fictional. |
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語 Kaguya-hime no Monogatari)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya was released on 23 November 2013. It was directed by Takahata Isao, written by Takahata Isao and Sakaguchi Riko and produced by Nishimura Yoshiaki and Ujiie Seiichiro. The Tale of Princess Kaguya is an adaption from the Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya let us follow the life of Princess Kaguya from her infant year to adulthood in the human world. It’s about how a bamboo cutter discovers a miniature child in a bamboo shoot. He takes her home and together with his wife they name the child Kaguya. Kaguya turns into a full size infant and the bamboo cutter and his wife take care of the child. Kaguya grows up and the bamboo cutter and his wife let her grow up as a princess. During the story we meet the hardships that Kaguya has to endure and we learn where she truly is from. The Tale of Princess Kaguya is the fifth full length film that Takahata Isao has directed and written. The film is his first one in 14 years since his film My Neighbors the Yamadas was released in 1999. |
When Marnie Was There (思い出のマーニー Omoide no Marnie lit. "Marnie of My Memories")
When Marnie Was There was released on 19 July 2014. It was directed by Yonebayashi Hiromasa, written by Yonebayashi Hiromasa, Niwa Keiko and Ando Masashi and produced by Suzuki Toshio and Nishimura Yoshiaki. When Marnie Was There is Yonebayashi Hiromasa’s second full length film. It’s also the first Studio Ghibli film were there was no input from its founders, Miyazaki Hayao and Takahata Isao. When Marnie Was There is an adaption of the children’s novel by the same name written by the British author Joan G. Robinson. The official tagline for When Marnie Was There is “There is a magical circle invisible to the naked eye in this world.”
When Marnie Was There is the story about Anna, a foster-child. It’s been discovered that she has asthma and therefor she goes to the countryside. There she find’s an old house backing on a creek, which is like a memory for her. Especially when she sees a girl sitting near the window. The girl is Marnie, who is a headstrong and often infuriating, meets Anna. Marnie becomes Anna’s perfect friend, who helps Anna to make real friends. When Marnie Was There is the final film for Studio Ghibli before they announced that the film division is taking a short hiatus. |