clair028

Japanese movie website Eiga Natalie reported on Wednesday that Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki has discussed details on Hayao Miyazaki's new film project. In the letter, Suzuki describes the movie as a "hand-drawn action-adventure fantasy". He also states that he understood Miyazaki's motivations for returning from his retirement after reading the story outline. He concludes by promising that Studio Ghibli will continue to make movies "until the day it fails." Suzuki also revealed that Goro Miyazaki, the director of Ronja the Robber's Daughter, is working on a new CG animation project. The details of this project, including possible involvement by Studio Ghibli, were not revealed. Thanks to Anime News Network for their reporting and translation.

I'm trying not to go overboard like some desperate teenager in search of a prom date, so I'll keep this to a minimum. I wrote three books called Zen Arcade: Classic Video Game Reviews, Pop Life and Greatest Hits: An Anthology in Four Volumes. All three ebooks are now available on Amazon. The paperback editions are coming, as I'm only waiting for my proof copies to ensure quality. Zen Arcade is a collection of 140 reviews for video games released on NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, Turbografx-16 and Neo-Geo. It's a great read and an enlightening look at the history of classic games. There are a lot of personal stories in there, and more than a few grouchy wisecracks. It's also wickedly funny. At least I think so. But what do I know? There are no pictures, which ensures that no gamers will ever look at it. Pop Life is a collection of essays and personal memoirs on popular culture and life. You'll read about movies, music, games and politics. You'll

Kiyofumi Nakajima, formerly the head of the Ghibli Museum, has been named the new president of Studio Ghibli on Tuesday. Former studio president Koji Hoshino was promoted to chairman. Studio co-founder Toshio Suzuki will continue in his longtime role as producer. Studio Ghibli's production department was closed in 2013 after studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement from feature films. It was revived earlier this year as Miyazaki announced his return with the production of How Do You Live, which is expected to take three to four years to complete. Nakajima had previously served as the director of the Ghibli Museum since 2005, when Goro Miyazaki was drafted as the director of the Ghibli feature Gedo Senki (Tales From Earthsea). Hoshino was appointed Ghibli president in 2008. The new director of the Ghibli Museum and Tokuma Memorial Cultural Foundation for Animation is Kazuki Anzai, who was previously a director of the museum exhibits and planning. She joined Studio G

Here is a Ghibli Riff that I hadn't noticed at first, but now it seems obvious. The scene with the giant radish spirit in the elevator mimics shots and poses from My Neighbor Totoro's classic scene at the bus stop. I think one of the things I enjoy about Miyazaki's movies is how he fills his canvas with so all these little details, and populates his worlds with minor characters who come and go, yet leave an indelible impression upon our imaginations. This radish character is a throwaway, barely on the screen for a moment and then gone forever. And I'm left wanting more. I'd like to see a whole movie about this character. Wouldn't you? Eh, maybe, maybe not. Whatever. Every Studio Ghibli movie features at least a handful of riffs that aim back to earlier works. Many have well over a dozen. Spirited Away has shots that wink back to Future Boy Conan, Castle of Cagliostro, My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke (the original 1980 storyboard book), among others. If

Vannah Galaxy is an up-and-coming visual artist who is extremely skilled with pens and paper. Her dreamlike illustrations are imaginative and inspiring. She works with colors and paints, but my favorites are drawn in black-and-white, much like underground comics. Here, we see one of her favorite movies, Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away, rendered in intricate detail, capturing its many wonderfully surrealist characters. On her Instagram page, Vannah describes the creative process behind this piece: My personal favourite Ghibli movie ♥ So this was done almost entirely traditionally, with mostly 0.03 and 0.05 copic pens. I finished my shading last night and scanned it today. After I cleaned up some of the black areas (the ink can be a bit shiny, and it shows when scanned), I added some pale grey shadows for a little more depth. This piece is a little smaller than A3 and I'll definitely be selling prints sometime in the future if anyone's interested :)

It's time for another "greatest hits" retrospective of the Studio Ghibli movies, and UK movie blog Set The Tape  is the latest contender. The first part of their multi-episode saga began last week and will continue in the coming days and weeks. The writers are working backward, and here's where the rankings stand so far: 23. Tales From Earthsea 22. Porco Rosso 21. Pom Poko 20. My Neighbors the Yamadas 19. Ocean Waves 18. Whisper of the Heart This is going to be interesting reading. If nothing else, it's gutsy to put fan favorites Porco Rosso and Whisper of the Heart at the bottom of the pile. I'm looking forward to reading the fan comments defending their favorite Ghibli movies. Do people still leave comments on blogs? Whatever. I do hope the writers will continue to shake things up as they move down their Ghibli rankings. Please don't let this be yet another list that puts My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away on top. That's just lazy. Be a little more

It's no secret that Yonebayashi and Studio Ponoc see themselves as the next generation of Studio Ghibli. Many of their artists are alumni from the famed studio, and wish to continue the tradition of high quality, hand-drawn animation into the future. This will be a daunting challenge, as CG has completely overwhelmed everything in its path, but hopefully there will be enough people in the world who prefer the old ways. We will see. Mary and the Witch's Flower at times feels like a mashup of all your favorite Hayao Miyazaki movies, including Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away. Here, in this shot, we see a riff that points back to Miyazaki's 2001 Oscar-winning classic, albeit with a slight change in camera angle. It is here that Yonebayashi makes a fascinating choice: he quotes the Ghibli movies, but not in the slavish blink-and-you'll-miss-it style you see from other films. When Marnie Was There did the very same thing, quoting and riffing on Omohide Poro Poro

Pom Poko is visually dazzling, wildly surreal, intensely multi-layered, and masterfully weaves together mock documentary, comedy and drama all at once. It's the most colorful and inventive of Isao Takahata's movies. And, yet, it is arguably the least appreciated of all the Studio Ghibli movies in the West, and I've never fully understood why. Pom Poko is a very Japanese movie, drenched to the bone in that nation's history and mythology. It probably helps to know some of the folk tales and children's songs to appreciate its depths. For Westerners, it may be too "inside baseball" for casual viewers to grok. You can't just pop in the videotape and veg out on the couch. This isn't another formulaic cartoon that you can enjoy while getting your digital methadone fix on your smartphones. Participation is required. Patience is required. When this movie was finally released on DVD in the US, I imagined that it could become a cult classic, especially among

Studio Ghibli Fest 2017 concludes with Hayao Miyazaki's 2004 sprawling epic Howl's Moving Castle in theaters on November 26, 27, and 29. This will include both "dub" and "sub" screenings, so everyone will be able to enjoy this great movie. Of all the Studio Ghibli films, I feel that Howl benefits the most from the big screen. Miyazaki paints with a wide canvas, he fills the edges and corners with little details and grand, sweeping gestures. Its episodic structure reminds me greatly of the Nausicaa books, which made radical shifts in tone and style as its story progressed. This is Miyazaki at his most lavish and self-indulgent. Many people at the time were thrown off as a result, especially fans of Diana Wynne Jones. I don't think they were expecting an adaption of Howl's Moving Castle that chucks half the plot, kidnaps the characters, and then just runs on a wild tangent. But that's what Miyazaki does, and it's something you will either love

A big happy birthday to Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, which was released in Japan on November 20, 2004. This movie is now officially a teenager, which explains Howl's crazy mood swings. If nothing else, that crazy, disjointed castle is one of the zaniest creations Miyazaki has ever envisioned. It's the most entertaining bucket of bolts you'll find this side of the Millennium Falcon, with an added dose of Terry Gilliam weirdness. I really need to watch this movie again. It's been too long.

Well, there goes any chance of ever getting this DVD released in the US. Thanks for nothing, jerkwad. This rolling wave of harassment scandals sweeping Hollywood and Washington reminds me my freshman year in high school in 1989, when the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain both crumbled. Every day, you were asking, "Who's next?" There was music in the cafes at night and revolution in the air. I have great admiration for the Pixar movies, and will always respect John Lasseter the film artist. He helped to transform animation in a manner not seen since Walt Disney, for better and for worse. But his behavior is shameful, degrading and deeply destructive to countless lives. He needs to go. Now. Let Pete Docter run the place instead. He's from Minnesota, he's nice. He's not a disgusting, hypocritical pig. P.S. You just know that Hayao Miyazaki is going to dish out the trash talk, sooner or later.

Porco Rosso and The Secret World of Arrietty are the newest titles to be reissued this Tuesday, November 21 on Blu-Ray, courtesy of GKIDS. They join the catalog migration to their new home at the US animation distributor. Compared to previous Studio Ghibli reissues, there does not appear to be any notable changes from the previous Disney-released titles. Both movies feature new cover designs which are a genuine improvement, although I did like Disney's Arrietty poster. There were hopes that GKIDS would succeed in securing the UK soundtrack dub for Arrietty, but they were unsuccessful. In any case, every Ghibli collector will want to have these movies in their movie library. Both are excellent films that your family will love. I know that I will be picking up a couple copies of Porco Rosso for early Christmas presents. And Arrietty was the most successful of all the Studio Ghibli movies in US theaters; this movie has a very devoted fan following.

You can never have enough Totoro fan art, it seems. I'm always amazed at the level of creativity and inspiration this humble little movie has spawned. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and remember that My Neighbor Totoro was an extremely obscure movie in the West as recently as a decade ago. Yes, it had a measure of success on home video (read: VHS), but the wider public never really discovered Miyazaki. Today, there is a thriving and growing fan community. I really like this painting, which incorporates several Hayao Miyazaki characters into a Classical Japanese watercolor art style. We even see a cameo by the director himself in the background. Totoro shares the spotlight with No-Face, the Soot Sprites, a Kodama and Catbus, who appears as a kite. The composition is nicely balanced, which is a challenge when there's so many characters in view. The artist who created this piece did an excellent job. Unfortunately, I was not able to discover the artist's name, so if you know

Good news, everybody! I am happy to report that my new books are now available for pre-order on Amazon. Launch Day is this coming Tuesday, November 21. All three titles will be available in ebook and paperback. Simply click on the cover images to go directly to the Amazon pages, where you can pre-order the titles for your Kindle apps and ebook readers. During our "launch period" all three ebooks will be available for only 99 cents . This is a sale that will last for a limited time, after which they will return to their normal prices. I will announce when that time comes. The paperback editions will be available on November 21 for $19.99. Each book is 6" x 9" and ranges from 350-450 pages. These are big books. Enjoy the new books, and happy pre-ordering!

Here are a pair of excellent fan-designed movie posters for two of my favorite Hayao Miyazaki movies, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind and Porco Rosso. I really enjoy these designs, which incorporate an indie comic book style. Nausicaa evokes the surreal images of the Ohmu shell, with the title character seated near the eye and the toxic fungus. Porco Rosso evokes the myth and mystery of its central character, a legendary pilot who has renounced his humanity. Poster designs like these always remind me of the way movie posters were made long, long ago. It was an established art form all its own, as movie collectors and fans will tell you. Once the conglomerates took over the major Hollywood studios, however, everything became subsumed by marketing hacks. Everything just became another crummy commercial. The age of Photoshop has been especially cruel. Movies can still be magical. Most of the time, however, they're nothing more than plastic, a disposable product designed for immediate c

Mi Vecino Miyazaki, the excellent Spanish book dedicated to the films of Studio Ghibli, has now reached its fifth edition. This latest edition has been updated to include all the Ghibli movies released to this date, including The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There, The Red Turtle and Studio Ponoc. In addition, the cover has been redesigned, keeping much closer to the follow-up book, Antes De Mi Vecino Miyazaki, as well as other animation books published by Diablo. I really like this design, it's very colorful and showcases all these wonderful movies in bold color and detail. The layouts have likewise been given a makeover, remaining as bold and inviting as ever, with generous use of screenshots and production artwork. One unfortunate change, unfortunately, has been made to this book. In order to squeeze in the new chapters and updated content, authors Alvaro Lopez Martin and Marta Garcia Villar have removed the collaborators' contributions. These included sho

This is a nice find from one of my recent Ebay searches: a Japanese VHS release of Panda Kopanda and the Rainy-Day Circus, the second of two Panda short films created by Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yoichi Kotabe. I'm surprised to see that both cartoons are not included on this tape, but such things were common back in the day. All the better to get more money from the parents. Of the two Panda cartoons, I like this one more. They're both great fun, of course, but Rainy-Day Circus has a wide and colorful cast of characters, a bouncy tiger, a runaway train, and a massive flood. You can't beat that. Panda Kopanda always seems to fall through the cracks: too short to be considered a "movie," not enough episodes to be considered "television." Not many Miyazaki and Takahata fans are even aware that it exists. But that's a challenge that time will solve, as it has solved that same problem for the Studio Ghibli catalog. Remember that Panda Kopanda is a

At long last, the DT Media website is now live! Please bookmark and visit. DT Media is the name of my indie publishing label that specializes in the creative arts, including art, photography, books and zines. Our website features a pop culture blog, an Instagram gallery, and an ever-growing library of published books and zines. This month, we will release three new books: Zen Arcade: Classic Video Game Reviews , Pop Life and Greatest Hits: An Anthology in Four Volumes . Please click these links to visit each title's page, which features cover art, book description, and selected chapters for browsing. These pages will continue to evolve in the coming days and weeks, as we will include review clips from readers and critics. I've spent the last 18 months writing, editing and assembling these books. The covers are fantastic, the content is fantastic. Once the Amazon pages are up, I will write a formal post announcing all the details. Expect that to happen this week (cough, Thanks

The World of Hans Christian Andersen is the American title to the 1968 Toei Doga animated feature Andersen Monogatari ("The Story of Andersen"). It was released in the US in 1971 by United Artists, in partnership with the legendary Hal Roach Studios, who handled the English-language dub. The movie tells the tale of a young Hans Christian Andersen, who meets a magical storyteller who arrives to Earth from Heaven in order to guide the boy and inspire his talents as a storyteller. As young Hans observes the lives of the villagers around him, we see the trappings of the fairy tales that would make him famous. There are cartoon mice, cats and dogs, as well as about a hundred song-and-dance numbers. Personally, I am not a great fan of this movie. Of all the Hiroshi Okawa-era Toei Doga movies (1958-1972), The World of Hans Christian Andersen feels the most formulaic, the most cliched, the most, shall we say, Disney-esque. In every way, it is a stereotypical "family cartoon"

Studio Ghibli movie posters are a popular front for indie artists and designers to show off their skills, and we've seen many inspired designs that give the official studio posters a run for their money. I really enjoy this series, which features abstract takes on Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. I really like the minimalist, zen approach to these posters. The only text is the title, in Japanese, accompanying a single silhouette with additional details inside. This style appeals most to the fans who are already familiar with these movies. This is a luxury that movie studios cannot afford, as the rules of advertising dominate over art design. Overall, great job, and as always, I would like to see this series expanded to include more Ghibli movies, and even the pre-Ghibli works as well. I could not find the name of the artist who created these pieces. If you can find the designer, please pass it along so that

Here is a novel addition to every Studio Ghibli collection: a fish casserole as seen in Kiki's Delivery Service. You'll have to click the image to view in full size so that you can read the recipe. In Minnesota, dishes like this are extremely common. You can mix up any combination of pasta with meats, fish, vegetables and cheese. Macaroni & Cheese is always a popular choice, as is Meat & Potatoes. Feel free to experiment to your heart's content. Personally, I would just get rid of those olives on the top. Happy cooking!

Nintendo created Mii Characters are player avatars for their home video game systems. They first appeared on the Wii in 2006 and continue to this day. Players can mix and match "Miis" and trade them with family and friends, and there options for creating characters is virtually limitless. The Mii Characters fan website has been around almost since the very beginning, and they continue to post their creations and allow visitors to rate them (Nintendo once had an excellent Wii Channel called "Check Mii Out" that is, sadly, no longer available). And wouldn't you know it, there are some Studio Ghibli characters to check out. At the present time, there aren't very many Ghibli Miis out there. I've had No-Face in my collection for years, which was fairly common. Hayao Miyazaki is new, as is Porco Rosso and Totoro, which is especially inspired. Great jaerb! I really do wish I could download these to my Wii system, but as I've said, Check Mii Out was closed

Here are some nice DVD screenshots from the 1973 short film, Panda Kopanda and the Rainy-Day Circus. This is the second of the two Panda cartoons made by Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki, Yoichi Kotabe and much of the old Toei Doga crew. It's also the better one, more interesting and funny and visually diverse. This roughly-half-hour cartoon is packed with scenarios and funny situations. I really do wish more of these little movies had been made, at least one or two more. However, time moves quickly, and only a year later, Takahata, Miyazaki and Kotabe unleashed Heidi, Girl of the Alps to blockbuster success, leading the anime revolution of the 1970s. They would unleash an unparalleled string of animated classics over the next four decades, barely catching their breath. Panda Kopanda is a children's cartoon, and there are no pretensions otherwise. There are no complex deeper themes or preachy moral lessons, no cynical attempts to sell toys or merchandise. Thank Heavens for that. T

This is just too funny: Mei and Totoro recreate the famous painting American Gothic. It's one of the most parodied paintings of the modern era, and artist Katie Wu gives it a Studio Ghibli spin. Mei looks a little bit like a Peanuts character, which would have been even funnier. You can find Katie's artwork and many others at the Fans of Studio Ghibli page on Facebook. There are countless drawings and illustrations by Ghibli Freaks of all ages and skill levels, and it's quite impressive. Good work, everyone!

Have you downloaded your free e-zine yet ? Many years ago (longer than I care to admit), I created zines to nourish my love of writing and popular culture. I wrote about Star Trek and science-fiction, video games, music, art, and the ups and downs of daily life. They were created on simple desktop publishing software, word processors, and an assortment of clip art and marker pens. It was very low-tech, but highly enjoyable. I even managed to score some freelance writing work at GamePro, which was tremendous fun Ever since then, I wanted to return to zines. I even had recurring dreams about finding an old computer with long-forgotten websites that were still active, and communicating with old friends. 21 years later, while working on my multiple book projects, I thought it would be fun to finally take the plunge again and create a zine that I could share with my readers and fans. And so Bocanada Issue 1 was born. Bocanada: A Journal of Pop Culture and the Arts. That long-winded title m

Some years ago, I posted on this riff from My Neighbor Totoro, where Mei looks through a bucket, giving us this fascinating little camera shot. This bit was quoting an early episode of Future Boy Conan. To my surprise, I only recently realized that this shot originated in the 1971-72 Lupin the 3rd TV series, from one of the episodes directed by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Hayao Miyazaki always likes to recycle certain gags and shots. It's what makes exploring his films and TV series so much fun. There are Easter eggs scattered everywhere. Why is this still such a mystery? Hardly anybody in the Ghibli fan community every talks about this. Perhaps we still need to spread the word of the pre-Ghibli era. Once you've seen Horus, Lupin, Heidi and Conan, your eyes will pop out of your heads. Lupin the 3rd: Series One is currently available on DVD in the States, courtesy of Discotek. When is somebody going to license Future Boy Conan, already? What exactly are we waiting for?