For his first film in fourteen years animation director Isao Takahata embarked on a visually sumptuous adaptation of "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya". A dream project for the director that would hopefully establish the recently formed Ghibli Studio 7, created to meet the demands of a new type of...
A contemporary look at the creation and evolution of Studio Ghibli, from ‘The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun’ (1968) to ‘Princess Mononoke’ (1997).
Studio Ghibli is Japan's most successful animation studio, with helmers Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro") and Isao Takahata ("Grave of The Fireflies," "The Tale of Princess Kaguya") creating a bonanza for producer/prexy Toshio Suzuki. Generously adorned with clips from their...
The story of Au Aurka is set in the hinterland of Tokyo in the eighties. The protagonists are two girls who have a dream that then becomes reality. Produced by Iso Takahata in 1988, the film was positively received by Italian critics
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted,...