Welcome to the second page of the News Archive of GhibliWorld.com. The News Archive has been made to make the main news page a bit faster to load. Although the Ghibli news posted over here is less recent, it's worth reading as it contains a lot of exclusive news! Page one of the News Archive can be found over here and page 3 over here.

1st of May, GEDO SENKI, GORO & HAYAO MIYAZAKI AND GHIBLI IN CONCERT VIDEO: As always, I’ve got some very nice news for you. First of all my Japanese friend Takahiro has let me know that according to the Gedo Senki Production Diary of May 1st, key animation and background painting production will be completed this week. The members of the Gedo Senki production staff who will have finished their work, will take a vacation before they start working on the next project (Miyazaki Hayao’s new project perhaps?). At the moment 997 of 1,236 (80.7%) cuts of Gedo Senki were completed. Below some more details of the production situation:

Key animation: 1,233 cuts (99.8%)
Animation: 1,121 cuts (90.7%)
Background painting: 1,221 cuts (98.8%)

But there’s more, LAWSON opened their special LAWSON Gedo Senki website. It has some interesting stuff like an interview with Goro Miyazaki which can be read over here. Also, Studio Ghibli posted some info over here about a Miyazaki Hayao interview in the Nikei Shinbun of today. My other Japanese friend Nanashi made a translation which can be found over here.



Finally for today a nice present: Ghibli in concert! I think that probably most Ghibli fans never had the opportunity to watch and listen to Ghibli theme songs being performed live in concert by their original singer. Well, thanks to my other Japanese friend Makoto, now you do > Last year NHK broadcasted a program called “BS2 Eternal music: a collection of anime theme song perfection” and I’m happy to tell I’ve got a compilation video. It shows three famous Ghibli theme songs performed by their original (!) singer. The first song is the main theme song of “Tonari no Totoro”, a.k.a. “My Neighbor Totoro”, performed by Azumi Inoue backed up by the Tokyo Children’s Choir. The second song is the theme song of “Mononoke Hime”, a.k.a. “Princess Mononoke” performed by Mera Yoshikazu. The third and final song is the original theme song of “Spirited Away” Youmi Kimura. The picture below shows the Ghibli singers mentioned above from left to right. Check out the “Ghibli in Concert” video over here! Note: it is advised to watch the video at a small screen size, because in respect for the original copyright holder the image quality is kept low. The video is posted here only to encourage interest in, and discussion about the works of Studio Ghibli.



To give you some extra info, here’s some background information on each of the individual singers.

Mera Yoshikazu, who performs the theme song of “Mononoke Hime”, is a Japanese counter tenor who was born Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, 1971. The counter tenor sings the part which is higher than tenor, but lower than alto. Yoshikazu is one of about twenty counter tenors in the world. His register is three and a half octaves. Yoshikazu sings classical music, foreign music, Japanese Classical Music, a Negro spirituals, folk songs, and songs from musicals. He wants people to become interested in classical music or other types of music on their own. That is why, now Yoshikazu is active in all over the world, and continues to learn new fields of music with his beautiful clear voice.



When he was at university, Yoshikazu learned about classical music and changed to counter tenor. It was when he was a junior. He used to be criticized by one professor because he was not a real counter tenor. That is because Yoshikazu had a high voice by nature. Yoshikazu suffered from the difference of opinion between the professor and him, but he continued to go straight the way he believed.

After he graduated from the Music college, Yoshikazu won the first prize in The Eighth Folk Songs Competition in 1994, and the third prize in Taigaku-Dou's Japanese Folk Song's competition in 1995. In 1997, Yoshikazu became popular among the general public. That is because Yoshikazu sang the title song for " The Princess Mononoke " produced by Hayao Miyazaki. The movie became the most popular movie in the summer. After this movie, he began to sing songs from movies and TV.

Azumi Inoue, who performs the theme song of “Tonari no Totoro”, also did the theme song for “Laputa: Castle in the Sky”.



Youmi Kimura, who performs the original theme song of “Spirited Away”, is a Japanese singer and lyre performer. She was born in Osaka, Japan, and became famous in 2001 for her song “Itsumo Nando Demo”, a.k.a. "Always With Me", which served as the closing theme of Spirited Away. Kimura and Miyazaki had great admiration for each other's works. She was so moved by “Mononoke Hime”, that she wrote a letter to him, enclosed with a copy of her album. Miyazaki wrote her back and mentioned to her about a film he was currently working on called “Entotsu-kaki no Rin”, a.k.a. “Rin the Chimney Painter”. Hoping Miyazaki would use her material on this film, Kimura, with her lyricist Wakako Kaku, wrote a new song called “Itsumo Nando Demo”. Miyazaki did like the song, and intended to use it, but the Rin project was eventually scrapped.

When Miyazaki started working on his Spirited Away, and listened to the song again, he would listen to it obsessively throughout the entire production. He would later realize that Kimura's song about finding inner peace meshed perfectly with his coming of age story of a girl who finds her inner strength. Kimura would again work with Miyazaki’s next project, providing the theme of “Hauru no Ugoku Shiro”, a.k.a. “Howl's Moving Castle”.

29th of April, MORE GEDO SENKI AND GHIBLI NEWS: Yesterday I had some very nice news: the 2nd Official Gedo Senki trailer and more stuff. Today there’s more Ghibli news straight from Japan (thanks to my Japanese friends Takahiro and Nanashi). First of all today at 12:00 Studio Ghibli launched the official Gedo Senki website. With it’s flash animation and the official OST playing on the background, it looks very nice! However, the page is quite heavy to load and it’s all in Japanese. The website has the main staff of Gedo Senki clarified.

Original: Ursula K.Le Guin "Tales from Earthsea"
Reference drawings: Shuna no Tabi (Miyazaki Hayao)
Script: Miyazaki Goro, Niwa Keiko
Music: Terashima Tamiya
Producer: Suzuki Toshio
Production: Studio Ghibli
Director: Miyazaki Goro
Animation Director (Sakuga Enshutsu): Yamashita Akihiko
Chief Animator (Sakuga Kantoku): Inamura Takeshi
Art Director: Takeshige Youji
Color Design: Yasuda Michiyo
Image Director: Okui Atsushi
Digital Animation Director: Kataama Mitsunori
Recording Director: Wakabayashi Kazuhiro
Mixing: Takagi Tsukuru
Mixing Supervisor: Inoue Shuji
Sound Effects: Kasamatsu Kouji



Cast: Okada Junichi as Arrren, Teshima Aoi (New Face from Spirited Away) as Teruu, Tanaka Yuuko as Kumo, Kobayashi Kaoru as Kokuou, Natsukawa Yui as Ouhi, Kagawa Teruyuki as Usagi, Naitou Tsuyoshi as Hajia-uri, Baishou Mitsuko as Onna-shujin, Fubuki Jun as Tenaa, Sugawa Bunta as Gedo.

Special Support: Asahi Soft Drinks Co. Ltd
Special Cooperation: Lawson, Yomiuri Shinbun
Distributor: Toho
Release date: July, 2006, all over Japan at Toho Theaters
System: color / Vista-size / equivalent to DLP
Sound: Dolby Digital Surround-EX, DTS-ES (6.1ch)

But wait there’s more! Studio Ghibli announced over here that anchor Testuya Chikushi had a conversation with Hayao Miyazaki at Miyazaki's atelier Butaya. It will air on TBS's "NEWS23" program (23:30-24:35) May 5th. Besides that you can also watch a movie clip about a "Ghibli Channel" coming soon.

28th of April, 2ND GEDO SENKI TRAILER, KAZUO OGA TRAILER AND MUCH MORE: As I was really busy this week I didn’t have the chance to post any news this week, but I’ll definitely make it up to you today! How? Plain simple, some time ago I already posted that a second Gedo Senki trailer was to be released. Well, yesterday Studio Ghibli announced over here that tomorrow the second trailer for Gedo Senki will air on NTV's "Zoom In Super" program (5:30am - 8:00am). Of course that would mean that today would be that day and you know what? Ghibli World presents to you the second Gedo Senki trailer directly from Japan with the help of my Japanese friend Takahiro. You can watch it now by clicking over here (small) and here (medium) from my friend Nanashi. But wait! That's not all (thanks to Konan). You can also see the trailer for Kazuo Oga's director debut film "Taneyamagahara no Yoru" here and the trailer for Studio Ghibli's DVD rerelease of Takahata's "Gauche the Cellist" here.



Do you think that's all? There’s more! First of all, you might know that a pretty long while ago I put some pictures online of my own personal Ghibli Collection showing various limited items from Japan. However, these are only some pictures I took and it only shows about 30 to 35% of my collection. However, I’m finally busy trying to put my complete collection online and the first update is about a wonderful Yoshfumi Kondou art book called “Futo Furikaeru To”, a.k.a “When I turn around". This book has some gorgeous art (rare, especially for western people) and you can find out what it’s about with various detail pictures of the exquisite pieces made by Yoshfumi Kondou (director “Whisper of the Heart”, et cetera) over here!



I’ve also got recap of the Ghibli news of the last days. Some of you might already know that a synopsis of "Tales from Earthsea" has been posted to the official website of Ursula K. Le Guin which was sent to her by Studio Ghibli (source: Nausicaa.net). Le Guin comments “Any inquiries should be directed to Studio Ghibli, please, not to me, as I have no further information concerning the film, and of course will not discuss it until I have seen it.” For those who have not read the synopsis yet (spoiler warning), I made a nice Ghibli World version of it. Check it out over here!



Also, some other Ghibli news send to me by my Japanese friend Takahiro is that Nikkei BP Consulting,Inc announced the result of "Brand Japan 2006". A total of 1,500 brands were evaluated by 43,000 general consumers and business persons using a questionnaire survey. In the B to C section (Consumer market section), the comprehensive standard score of Studio Ghibli was set to 87.9, and pulled apart TOYOTA of the 2nd place greatly. Ghibli was in 5th place in 2004, and won a 2nd place in 2005. Ghibli ranked less than 4th in all sections, man, woman, under 29, 30's, 40's, over 50. It also ranked 1st of the 2 of 4 factors which constitute brand synthesis power, "friendly" and "outstanding". Moreover, an item "sympathize, feeling suit", it ranked 1st for five consecutive years. An English version of the report can be read over here. Finally, Asahi Soft Drinks announced the 1st special Gedo Senki campaign over here. The 1st special campaign "Gedo Senki special preview" will be held on July 7,8,9 in 17 cities for which 20,000 people will be invited by lottery. Registration of application starts from May 1st on their special website which opened the 24th.

20th of April, GHIBLI PROMOTING “LE ROI ET L’OISEAU” A.K.A. “OU TO TORI” WITH TRAILER AND TOSHIO SUZUKI: Today Ghibli announced over here that they have released the Japanese film trailer of "Ou To Tori". There are two versions available, one that’ll be used in Japanese cinemas and one for the official website. Both of the trailers have been made under the supervision of Isao Takahata! For those who still haven’t heard of “Le Roi et L’Oiseau”, I’ll repeat myself: it is one of the true classics of animation in France, and it has been a very important source of inspiration to Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata! Designed by the master of French animation, Paul Grimault, based on a story by Hans Christian Anderson and scripted by the celebrated poet, Jacques Prévert, “Le Roi et L’Oiseau's” credentials are impeccable and its reputation unassailable. The film was already released on DVD in Japan earlier in 2000 with a re-release in 2003, but it doesn’t have English subs. As far as I know there’s no English Subbed DVD available anywhere in the world, but the French Collector’s Edition or the Limited Edition is worth buying anyway!



But that’s not all for today. Toshio Suzuki was interviewed in the latest issue of the Japanese magazine “Invitation”. The news post of April 13th already had some info about it with the fact that Toshio Suzuki mentioned that "Miyazaki anime will not end" and that “I had not imagined that a director like Goro would appear”. Anyway, Ghibli has posted the interview online over here and will also give it a follow-up. Perhaps a translation at Ghibli World will be posted at a later time. Besides that last week Toshio Suzuki was also to be heard in the J-WAVE "Tokyo REMIX family" radio show. Ghibli posted an announcement of it over here.

13th of April, MORE ON GEDO SENKI: It simply doesn’t stop! It’s time for a nice load of “Gedo Senki” news again (thanks to my Japanese friend Takahiro)! First of all Buenavista Home Entertainment Japan announced their "2006 Ghibli ga Ippai Collection Summer Campaign". As you might know the 7th of July Kazuo Oga’s first film "Taneyamagahara no Yoru" will be released straight on DVD together with a new DVD release of "Gauche the Cellist". The DVD’s from the first production will come with a special “Gedo Senki” collectors item: a special Arren or Theru stamp. Click the picture below for a better view!



Second of all is that Studio Ghibli has finally uploaded the first Gedo Senki trailer on their website! They received a lot of e-mails if they could upload it, so they finally did. It’s a bit late as the second trailer is already on the way (to be released the end of April / beginning of May) and of course those who visit GhibliWorld.com regularly, know that I already posted a video of the trailer “ages” ago. Anyway, you can now watch it as an embedded flash file on the official Japanese Studio Ghibli website. There are two options: small and large.

Third of all it’s time for a little bit less recent news, but very interesting anyway and it’ll make you more anxiously waiting for Gedo Senki’s release! It’s a translation of the Gedo Senki production diary of February 24th titled "How to make the Gedo Senki: All roads lead to Rome - View of the world". It describes how Hayao Miyazaki advised the Studio Ghibli staff and how the world of Gedo Senki was born. Though the information below might seem like an art history lesson, it’ll give you more insight on how Gedo Senki is being made and what is being used as influence.



As you know it is said that Hayao Miyazaki opposed Goro to direct Gedo Senki. This is true, however once Hayao Miyazaki did gave his advice to the staff of Gedo Senki (through producer Toshio Suzuki). Miyazaki told them that "There are a lot of types of tales to be found in European paintings. First of all, it is necessary to know the picture. Collect images of European paintings!" He also gave some more tips. Firstly, do not try to produce existence from nothing. The world which becomes the model of a tale surely exists in pictures of all ages and countries. Find this picture! Secondly, observe the time background of a film, the time background of the pictures which should be looked for, and the motif of that picture. And thirdly, look for a word/description which expresses the world (of Gedo Senki).

Goro Miyazaki mentioned to look at paintings made by for example Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569) and Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516). Their paintings express the “Body Copy” of Gedo Senki "People are moving restlessly without a purpose...".



Hayao Miyazaki advised to take a look at the paintings made by Claude Lorrain. Many of the motifs of his paintings were Roman shrines. For example a shrine built at a harbor, with many people waring ancient robes and ship alongside the quay in the setting sun. Very nice paintings, however when Lorrain lived (17th century) most shrines in Rome were ruins. Lorrain drew an ancient ideal scenery into the ruins.



Next, the Studio Ghibli staff was referred to look at paintings of ancient ruins made by the romanticism painters of Europe at the end of the 18th century to the 19th century. Painters like Caspar David Freidrich (1774-1840) and Arnold Bocklin (1827-1901). During those times, Miyazaki said "Architecture reached the peak at the time of the Roman Empire. There hasn’t been any architecture exceeding Rome and won’t be any in the future as well. We who go to human beings' dusk understand this feeling well." The peak of human architecture became ruins, and people who entered the time of dusk remained. When Hayao Miyazaki's words and those of the Ghibli staff joined together, a description expressing the world of Gedo Senki was born. "A world where people are building a termite nest at a magnificent place that was once a capital."



To finish for today some other news. In an interview, which can be read in the latest issue of the Japanese magazine “Invitation”, Toshio Suzuki mentioned that "Miyazaki anime will not end". One of the things he said was that "Studio Ghibli was established for two directors, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. However, Hayao Miyazaki is 65 years old, Isao Takahata is 70, and I'm 57. The total of our age exceeds 200 years old. Even though Miyazaki will make more films, it will only be one or two. Therefore I thought that Studio Ghibli would reach it’s end. However, I had not imagined that a director like Goro would appear. I’d like to emphasize that "Miyazaki anime will not end!".

10th of April, MORE ON THE MAKING OF GEDO SENKI AND MORE: More Gedo Senki news! My friend Takahiro has let me know that according to today’s director's diary, a second Gedo Senki trailer is being made right now. But that’s not all, it’ll be accompanied by a second Chirashi (handbill), TV spot and more promotional items. The new Gedo Senki trailer will be released around "Golden Week" and if luck is on our side I’ll be able to get it on video. For those not familiar with “Golden Week”, it’s a week that normally starts around the end of April through around May 5th and is called this way because in Japan there are a couple of holidays during this time. This year’s Golden Week is from April 29th to May 7th. Because of all of this the Ghibli staff is very, very busy now. Therefore Kishimoto, who appeared in the footage of “Professional”, will be writing the director's diary instead of Goro Miyazaki himself.



Anyway, it almost looks like “Gedo Senki” is being made in a speed rush. Today's production diary mentions the details of the production situation:
Key animation: 1,201 cuts (97%)
Animation: 942 cuts (76%) cuts
Background painting: 1,034 cuts (84%)

As you can see the speed of production is very fast. This might be the result of the fact that almost everything is being done by computer instead of by hand. Producer Toshio Suzuki once already mentioned over here that "The challenge in the production of “Gedo Senki” is a cost cut. Previous Ghibli film needed about 18 months for the drawing. This may be a reckless challenge, but it is the important thing to improve high cost constitution of Ghibli. The success or failure of this film will control the future of Ghibli." Let’s hope it won’t influence the quality of the end result.



Finally, in addition to the video files of NHK’s “Professional”, I’ve got some handy stuff. First of all my friend Nanashi made a translation guide which you can find over here. And second of all my friend Takahiro provided me with three maps so that you can understand where producer Toshio Suzuki is working in the parts you can see in NHK’s “Professional”. For a better view, click to enlarge and then click the right bottom of the image again to enlarge it a second time!

9th of April, MAKING OF GEDO SENKI, MORE NHK PROFESSIONAL FOOTAGE AND MUCH MORE: I’ve got quite a lot of interesting things before the weekend ends. First of all Studio Ghibli have posted some interesting information online in their production diary of their new feature film “Gedo Senki” which is being directed by Goro Miyazaki. You can find it over here and here. So what is it about? Well, perhaps you already knew that when Spirited Away was being created, parts of it were made by a Korean animation studio. The name of this studio is DR MOVIE and they also happen to do quite some work for the latter half of making “Gedo Senki”.



Studio Ghibli’s chief animation inspector Hitomi Tateno and other staff members of Studio Ghibli visited the DR MOVIE studio to teach them about the animation method of “Gedo Senki” and Studio Ghibli. The online production diary introduces a part of this lecture: how to draw a line, how to use a pencil, how to move a character’s eyelid and mouth. I don’t think I’ll have time to post a translation, but even though it’s in Japanese it’s worth checking out because of the interesting pictures! Also, don’t forget that our friends from Nausicaa.net have been translating Goro Miyazaki's Blog about making Gedo Senki, so chances are high you’ll get to read a translation of the production diary as well…



But that’s not all... Last Thursday I posted a nine minute compilation video of NHK's "Professional" dedicated to Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki (thanks to my friend Takahiro). The compilation video had some very valuable footage of Hayao Miyazaki and the making of Ghibli’s new full length feature film “Gedo Senki”. For those who haven’t seen it, check it out over here!

Anyway, the show actually had a length of 44 minutes, but Takahiro and I decided not to put the complete show online because of copyright issues. However, there was a lot more interesting footage which hadn’t been put into the compilation video. Not wanting all of you other Ghibli fans to miss everything of the excluded parts it’s time some extra footage: NHK “Professional" shows us how the Gedo Senki trailer was born. When seeing this footage, you’ll understand it took a lot of effort making the Gedo Senki trailer. Of course the same counts for any of the other previously released Studio Ghibli films. You can check out the video over here!



Today’s new footage shows producer Toshio Suzuki and other members of the Ghibli staff thinking about the "Body Copy". As you know, there’s often an interesting text placed over the video image of each of the Ghibli trailers (Spirited Away, Howl’s). This is done because Studio Ghibli claims it to be a very important part of promoting a film and therefore call it the "Body Copy". For example the Body Copy of “Gedo Senki” is:

"The balance of the world is collapsing. People moving restlessly without a purpose. Something reflected in their eyes: a dream, death, or a world somewhere else.

People’s faces become estranged. Archmage Ged left to search for the source of this disaster and meets Arren, a boy who has the darkness in his mind.

The boy had been chased by the shadow. Theru, a girl with a burn on her face, meets Arren, the boy frightened by the shadow.

This summer, Man and Dragon will be one!"



Today’s video will show extra "Professional" footage of the making of Gedo Senki’s Body Copy. As I don’t have any subs for you, here’s a short description. You’ll see producer Toshio Suzuki during the creative process, stimulating new staff member Kishimoto (“Nayo”) to come up with a nice copy for their new film. To give him some help, producer Toshio Suzuki tells Nishimura to team up with him and “support Nayo!" (note: Nishimura is the one who also made the Body Copy of Howl’s Moving Castle). The video ends with the completion of the Gedo Senki trailer and Suzuki showing it to a crowd of Japanese cinema owners.



To finish for today, I’ve got three nice recent news I hadn’t had the chance to post earlier… Last March I already posted up some news about the French animation film “Le Roi et L’Oiseau” by Paul Grimault. This film has been a very important source of inspiration to Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Studio Ghibli lets us know over here that they have updated their special dedicated website which can be found over here. It’s all in Japanese, but my Japanese friend Nanashi made a translation of a nice part of the website: a conversation with Isao Takahata about “Le Roi et L’Oiseau”. You can read the translation over here.

Another tibdid is that Studio Ghibli posted the official release date of the CD single which is part of the “Gedo Senki OST” over here. This is the same song that can be heard in the trailer and of which a translation can be found on my Japanese friend Nanashi’s website over here. The CD single will be released June 7th and for a price of only 500 Yen it’s yours!



Finally, Studio Ghibli and Yomiuri Shimbun let us know that starting May 20th 2006 “an English friend will be introduced”: a special Aardman Studio exposition can be visited at the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan. Aardman Studio was responsible for making “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”, a clay animation film which claimed this years Oscar for Best Animated Feature (instead of Howl’s Moving Castle). The exposition is scheduled to last a full year and a special dedicated page can be found over here.

6th of April, GEDO SENKI, MIYAZAKI AND TOSHIO SUZUKI IN NHK’S PROFESSIONAL WITH VIDEO: I’ve got a great new item for you fellow Ghibli fans today! Today a new episode of NHK’s show called “Professional” was aired. It was about Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki and his professional life at Studio Ghibli. Since last January a three man NHK interview crew has been coming by at Studio Ghibli nearly every day, which resulted in enough footage for a very interesting show! Thanks to my great Japanese friend Takahiro GhibliWorld.com has a nine minute compilation video.



You definitely need to check it out for yourself, but I can give you the following hints. There’s footage of the Studio Ghibli staff working on their new feature “Gedo Senki” directed by Goro Miyazaki. But more importantly never before seen new footage of “Gedo Senki” together with Ekonte storyboard footage. Then there’s Hayao Miyazaki talking about the next film and you get to see him working on a globe for the Ghibli Museum. And there’s also footage of Suzuki & Miyazaki thinking about the design of the new Studio Ghibli office that is being designed by Miyazaki as well.



I can’t think of any reason why you shouldn’t see it, can you? Be a wise man and check out the nine minute compilation video of the show over here! Oh, and be sure to check out the pictures as well > click to enlarge them for a better look! Finally, if you happen to spread the “Ghibli love” and want somebody to see the video, do not mirror or directly link to the video itself! Instead please use this link.

1st of April, GHIBLI MUSEUM SUPER SPECIAL: Time for a Ghibli Museum Special. Why? To encourage everybody to go and visit it, even if you live at the other side of the world!!! Haven’t got the money? Start saving it, because the following special will show you it's really worth visiting. Find out why it’s so special and read the Ghibli Museum Super Special at it’s own dedicated page at GhibliWorld.com!

29th of March, MORE ON MIYAZAKI'S CLOCK PROJECT (WITH FOOTAGE): In the previous news post you could read some information on an enormous mechanism clock designed by Hayao Miyazaki himself. Today there’s a nice follow-up! Yesterday Ghibli posted a reminder over here that you should definitely not miss the "Zoom in SUPER" show of March 29th, because a detailed introduction would be broadcasted. Well, today it’s the 29th and my Japanese friend Takahiro provided me with some of the footage. You can check it out over here. Enjoy!

24th of March, GEDO SENKI AT TAF 2006 & MIYAZAKI'S CLOCK PROJECT: Earlier this week Studio Ghibli and Yomiuri Shimbun posted up some news about the Tokyo Anime Fair 2006 over here and here. That news wasn’t that special, so I didn’t post it online. However, I received some better pictures from Manu Robles who runs the Spanish Ghibli blog La Coctelera, so now I do! More pictures can be found at Manu’s website. But wait, there’s more news...



My Japanese friend Takahiro has let me know that Studio Ghibli have posted a sketch of a clock made by Hayao Miyazaki over here. So what's the deal with this? Well, in a period over four years Miyazaki-san has designed an enormous copper clock which will be made for the NTV tower at Shiodome, Tokyo. The clock will be 10 meters high and 18 meters wide and is planned for completion in the middle of July. Production will be done by sculptor Shachimaru Kunio who also made some nice items for the Ghibli museum. Most notably the giant Laputa robot on the rooftop of the Ghibli museum, but also the tortoiseshell-shaped bathtub, the Robot Soldier for the “Rising Sea Stream” exhibition and the cover for the patio drain are Ghibli Museum items made by his hand.

Yomiuri has an article up over here in which Miyazaki explains "As time passes, the characters of the animation will be forgotten. Therefor I want to make something that will be loved by future generations as well." Producer Toshio Suzuki also gives some feedback on the clock project "The design was made to be look funny, but without forgetting the functional aspect of the clock and have the customers at NTV tower rejoice. Making a movie follows the same concept!" The model of the clock will be displayed at Shiodome until April 25th and more details of this project will be announced in the NTV's program "Zoom In Super" aired on the 29th.

22nd of March, A PERSONAL CONVERSATION WITH ISAO TAKAHATA: Last February I made a special visit to the Anima 2006 in Brussels, Belgium. Of course this could have been to watch the beautiful animation movies they were showing of for example Youri Norstein, the Russian animation director who Hayao Miyazaki greatly admires. Or perhaps to see the short animated features which took part at the Palmares International Competition. Though this time my visit had a better reason.

The 25th edition of the Anima had a special guest this year: master animation director and co-founder of Studio Ghibli Isao Takahata. As guest of honour a retrospective of his movies took place, most of them never released in Belgium or even Europe, as well as a 2-hour conference by Takahata-san about Japanese animation. In addition I had the chance to meet the director in person himself and ask him my questions during a personal interview at the 5* Metropole Hotel.



One of the unique things about your movies is the fact that they are all completely different. Not only story wise, but most notably stylistically. You have once said that you originally planned Hotaru No Haka (Grave of the Fireflies) to look really different but had to go for a more regular look because of the time limit of the production. Can you tell me something about your original ideas for the film and how would it have looked like?

“Well, that is not completely true. I originally wanted to research it more thoroughly, but around that time it was to be released March next year so unfortunately there was little time. So yes, I did wanted to do more research to look for more ideas for the film, but style wise I wasn’t planning to make it look completely different. Even though I couldn’t explore my directions completely, I am still very glad with result and I thank Hayao Miyazaki for this! During the pre-production stage of the film he was the one who advised me to make it, because this would probably be my only chance and otherwise it would have never been made” (Note: again Takahata shows his gratitude towards Miyazaki in relation to the making of Grave of the Fireflies, something he has done in other interviews as well).



Linking back to the first question, about your films all having different styles, is there a particular reason for this?

“Well, I do not fit in this logic of where I should change collaborators each time. I don’t know if this is normal in Japan, but animators do not let them be pushed into a corner of having only one clean animation style. They‘d rather have the capacity to adapt, like for example manga, which must have a graphic personality.”

Except for the uniqueness of your films being all completely different style wise, they also one particular similarity. You could say that you have a preoccupation with realism with a oeuvre of films that all flirt with documentary.

“I am unaware of my films being perceived like that in Europe, but there is indeed a documentary part in them. For My Neighbors the Yamadas, which was inspired by a manga, the heart is described in such a manner that one can see a documentary aspect there. I want to avoid inserting something completely unreal in the middle of a scene. This is a process which I refuse.” Sometimes this preoccupation with realism leads to propose harder scenes or images… ”It is my intention to build a film with the aim of causing some particular emotion”, corrects Takahata. “I absolutely do not want to manipulate the reaction of the viewer. But the choice of using hard images is necessary: like it was necessary for Grave of the Fireflies to tell the story about how life was in a bombarded city.”



Could you say that Grave of the Fireflies has an anti-war message?

“I can understand people think it has, but I did not deliberately put an anti-war message in it.”

Some current manga seem to portray the opposite and justify Japans part in World War II in terms of not having had a choice. What do you think about that?

“I am not aware of this as I don’t read many manga, but if there would be such a trend in current Japanese manga I am fiercely against this. Also I completely disagree with that Japanese people that claim that Japan had no other option than to go to war. It was no reaction to something that happened, but Japan’s own choice to attack the other Asian countries and also the war with America was a result of this wrong choice.”



With the exception of the short feature you made for Fuyu no hi we (Winter days) we haven't heared a lot from you after My Neighbors the Yamadas was released. My contacts from the French Buta-Connection informed me about your visit in France of yesterday where you told them something about three future animation projects. What have you been doing lately and could you tell something about this possible next Takahata-features?

“This is true, I have been working on several projects. The first project is a traditional epic story about the large war between clan lords during the 12th century. I have also been busy with a project about the Ainu, a ethnic minority who live in the northern part of Japan (Hokkaido) from who it is said the Japanese people originated from. They have their own culture and left an oral literature. They also have remarkable lyric poetry and I would very much like to adapt one of these poetries. Then the final project I’ve been working on. Perhaps you know that Gauche the Cellist is an adaptation of one of the works by Kenji Miyazawa. Another project I’ve been working on is another adaptation on one of his works. I wrote many texts and I would very much like to adapt one of these projects, but they’re all still in their research stage. Unfortunately, they don’t advance much and I cannot tell you when they will be finished or even if they will actually be made.”



Pompoko is your only film which is not an adaptation of a novel or a manga. Why?

“I really do not regard it as a personal work. Anyway, not more than my other works. However, I had often wondered about the tanuki. They are part of the Japanese ecosystem, but one does not know them anymore in their true biological surroundings. Only the folklore remained. According to traditional Japanese tales tanuki are able to transform into humans. These stories stimulated my imagination. In Japan, a lot of tanuki get killed by cars when passing roads. It was difficult to explain that when they are able to take human form. The easy way was to justify it by a loss of their ability and their knowledge. Like us, they forgot their instincts. Another reason is that the tanuki always lived close to men near the forests, which made it possible for me to approach another topic as well: the relationship between men, nature and his environment. By destroying the forests, the tanuki disappeared, just like what happened with the extension of Tokyo.”



Some people link Pompoko with eco terrorism. What do you think about that?

Takahata-san laughs. “I did not know about this point of view. They consider the tanuki to be terrorists? But they are the victims. The film depicts a drama; it is the end of a world, the end of the tanuki world. I wanted the viewer to look from the point of view of the animals and try to make us perceive how our world appears to us seen from the outside. However, the terrorist label does not disturb me. Today, terrorists are public enemy number 1. But historically, terrorism was sometimes a mean of asking attention of the established society. This state of mind existed until in the seventies. Terrorism sometimes had the capacity to make the world or people reflect on their condition.”



Your works are often anchored in realism. When something imaginary does happen, it is never related to any of the often used anime subjects like fantasy or science-fiction. Why is this?

“I cannot speak for other countries, but in Japan there is indeed a domination of what I consider as "fanatasy", in cinema or in manga. For these types of art, there are of course often interesting works. However, it’s because of its monopoly that the young people tend to consume only these types of works and only live in these chimerical universes. All of the video games or the films water the young spectators of these universes. Another element which strikes me is that aesthetically speaking, these works tend towards ultra-realism, either using real photos which are manipulated using a computer or using 3D often blurring the border between the real world and the "fantasy" world. The problem with this is that when the young people find themselves in reality, they find it dull and depressing and only dream of living in a factitious universe. I think this is a shame and consider it as dangerous. This is why I do not appreciate "fantasy" in general.”



What is your opinion regarding people who say your work (Grave of the Fireflies and Pompoko) appear to have one constant: humans are not having it’s best day. They claim your films to be a little pessimistic.

“Indeed, I have been told sometimes that my films tend to be pessimistic, but I do not agree / understand how one can come to this conclusion, even if this manner of perceiving them interests me.” Takahata-san looks at his characters and their story differently: “The end of Pompoko is completely clear. In the end it’s not all good, but if one chooses to live, it is necessary to have hope. It is the only way of living. That is my message, and I hope that my films contribute to that message!”

18th of March, STUDIO GHIBLI AND PAUL GRIMAULT: Studio Ghibli announced that a digital remaster version of the French animation “Le Roi et L’Oiseau”, also known as “The King and the Mockingbird” or "Ou to Tori” in Japanese, will be released in Japanese cinemas on July 29. A special website has been made for this occasion which can be found over here.



So what’s so special about “Le Roi et L’Oiseau”? Well, it is one of the true classics of animation in France, and it has been a very important source of inspiration to Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata! Designed by the master of French animation, Paul Grimault, based on a story by Hans Christian Anderson and scripted by the celebrated poet, Jacques Prévert, “Le Roi et L’Oiseau's” credentials are impeccable and its reputation unassailable. The film was already released on DVD in Japan earlier in 2000 with a re-release in 2003, but it doesn’t have English subs. As far as I know there’s no English Subbed DVD available anywhere in the world, but the French Collector’s Edition or the Limited Edition is worth buying anyway!

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