Re:The pre-Ghibli work of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata
by toyg on Sunday June 12, 2022 @06:36PM
(#31718927)
> these are more 'western' than the ghibli catalog as a whole
Up to the Disney contract, the Ghibli heads (Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki) were explicitly interested in exploring japanese issues. Their priority was always to do well in Japan, and to communicate their views on japanese problems (like environmental and societal pressures typical of the country) and japanese lore. Some of the later tensions with Disney producers, which eventually resulted in them parting ways, were precisely due to pressure from the States to make the material more accessible to international audiences.
as a sidenote, i'm happy vulture put "spirited away" and "my neighbor totoro" at the top of their ghibli rankings[0]. these two films are amazing. i wouldn't have ranked "castle in the sky" at 3, but do agree that "grave of the fireflies" and "princess kaguya" should rank highly. "howl's movie castle" or "ponyo" would probably be #5 for me. "arrietty" would be last, despite me not having seen 5 of the films yet.
[0]: https://www.vulture.com/article/best-studio-ghibli-films-ran...