Studio Ghibli: Difference between revisions

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Background

Studio Ghibli, Inc. (株式会社スタジオジブリ, Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Jiburi) (formerly known as Topcraft (トップクラフト, Toppukurafuto) until June 15, 1985) is a Japanese animation film studio founded in 1971 by former Toei Animation producer Toru Hara. Under the Topcraft name, the studio was known for the production of Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind and doing hand-drawn animation for Rankin/Bass. It filed for bankruptcy in 1984 (possibly due to the expensive production costs of Nausicaä), which resulted in most of the animators to create a new company called Pacific Animation Corporation, which was sold to Disney and renamed to Walt Disney Animation Japan in 1988, and was dissolved in 2004, the animation staff founded another studio known as The Answer Studio Co. Ltd., while the non-animation staff moved to Disney's Japanese branch. Meanwhile during the studio's bankruptcy, Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki and Isao Takahata bought the studio and renamed it to its current name. The studio previously was a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten until 2005.

The name "Ghibli" was chosen by Miyazaki from the Italian noun "ghibli" (also used in English), based on the Libyan Arabic name for hot desert wind (قبلي, ghiblī), the idea being that the studio would "blow a new wind through the anime industry".

The company's logo features the character Totoro from the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro. Several anime features created by Studio Ghibli have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award including Laputa: Castle in the Sky in 1986, My Neighbor Totoro in 1988, and Kiki's Delivery Service in 1989. In 2002, Spirited Away won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the first anime film to win an Academy Award. However, Studio Ghibli never used this logo until 1991, instead they used "TOKUMA RELEASING PRESENTS" in their films. On August 3, 2014, Hayao Miyazaki (the director) retired, temporarily halting production. However, Miyazaki came out of retirement in February 13, 2017 and announced a new movie titled The Boy and the Heron, which was released on July 14, 2023. Later that year, Nippon TV and Ghibli announced that it would purchase a majority stake in the studio which is set to be finalized by October of that year.

(July 20, 1991- )

Light blue variant
The Red Turtle red variant
Pom Poko all-white variant
Ghiblies: Ep. 2 variant
2023 variant with the copyright notice

Logo: On a blue background, we see a drawing of the character Totoro from the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, with Little Totoro sitting on his head. The Japanese characters "スタジオジブリ作品" are seen on the bottom right, and underneath that is "STUDIO GHIBLI" in Futura, with a line above it.

Variants:

On the 1994 Fox Video release of My Neighbor Totoro, the logo fades out and goes straight to the "This film has been modified" screen.
On the Disney US releases of Kiki's Delivery Service, the logo is centered to fit a 4:3 screen.
Starting with Spirited Away in 2001, this logo was updated to a light blue background, from the previous dark blue. The text also appears to be bolder.
- The early reiteration of the updated logo has a yellow tint on the text. This is shown in the 2001 Japanese DVD release of Spirited Away.
- HD masters of Ghibli movies use this version instead of the previous one.
On the HD master of Pom Poko (on at least the British Blu-Ray), the image of Totoro is white and looks glitchy. This is very likely an error with the print used. This variant can also be found on the French trailer of the aforementioned film.
A special variant appears on the trailer for episode 2 of Ghiblies. The image of Totoro is slightly off-center, then it rotates to reveal a character from the shorts using a laptop. He removes "ジブリ作品" using his laptop, then reenters it as "ギブリ作品", making it "スタジオギブリ作品" (Sutajio Giburi, an alternate spelling of the Japanese name).
On the short Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo, the logo has a red background, is in scope, and has a film effect. It's also positioned to the right.
On The Red Turtle, the logo's background is also red, which is a reference to the film's titular character. The logo is centered compared to the previous one.
On the original NHK G airing of Earwig and the Witch, no text appears on the logo, leaving just the Totoro image. The regular version is used on international prints, the 2021 theatrical cut and later airings of the film.
On theatrical prints of The Boy and the Heron, a copyright date appears below.

Technique: None.

Audio: None, or the opening theme of the movie.

Audio Variants:

On the German dubbings of Howl's Moving Castle and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the logo uses the last half of the VIP Media Group music (likely due to a reverse plaster). This oddity can be seen on the Region 2 DVDs of the aforementioned titles.
On the unreleased 1999 Disney dub of Castle in the Sky (which was later given a public release in 2003 on DVD), the opening theme can be heard, but it is silent if you select either the "Japanese" or "French" tracks. This is mostly due to Disney demanding Joe Hisaishi (the film's composer) to rescore and extend the film's musical score to appeal more to American audiences (aside from use of celebrity voices and additional dialogue).

Availability:

Can be seen on Studio Ghibli movies since 1991 starting with Isao Takahata's Only Yesterday, but also put at the beginning of re-releases of older Ghibli films such as Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service among others.
It is also used as a de-facto home video logo on releases of their titles outside of Asia since around 2009 (it was also used on the 1994 Fox Video release of My Neighbor Totoro) following the logo for whatever distributor distributes their material (the North American Disney releases however only have their logo). On post-2017-US prints of their back catalog, this logo would be preceded by the GKIDS logo. It is spotted on the Australian and UK Blu-rays of Ponyo.

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 '''Technique:''' None.
-'''Music/Sounds:''' None, or the opening theme of the movie.
+'''Audio:''' None, or the opening theme of the movie.
-'''Music/Sounds Variants:'''
+'''Audio Variants:'''
 *On the German dubbings of ''Howl's Moving Castle'' and ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'', the logo uses the last half of the [[VIP Media Group]] music (likely due to a reverse plaster). This oddity can be seen on the Region 2 DVDs of the aforementioned titles.
 *On the unreleased 1999 Disney dub of ''Castle in the Sky'' (which was later given a public release in 2003 on DVD), the opening theme can be heard, but it is silent if you select either the "Japanese" or "French" tracks. This is mostly due to Disney demanding Joe Hisaishi (the film's composer) to rescore and extend the film's musical score to appeal more to American audiences (aside from use of celebrity voices and additional dialogue).