It’s summer. Not officially – but it’s like a billion
degrees out there and although the weather says rain is on the way (good old
England), I have that summery feeling. So what do I do? Instead of reading
inside, I take my books outside and expose my pale limbs to some vitamin D. I
swear all you need when the sun is shining is some books, a blanket, some
friends and snacks and it’s pretty much the best feeling ever. Oh and a day off
– you need one of those too.
I had mine yesterday, my one full day off for the week. So
what was I reading? Well, it was my birthday on Monday (I swear, after you turn
21, there aren’t any more exciting birthdays.
I am essentially just aging. Woo!), and thanks to various kind friends
and JJ, I received some books, one such book being that mentioned in the title
of this very blog post. It sports a friendly looking green cover with
Totoro - arguably studio Ghibli’s most famous character, and their logo mascot
- romping through grass with Mei and Satsuko.
For those of you unaware, Studio Ghibli (pronounced
with a soft ‘g’, like ‘genie’) is a Japanese animation company pretty much created
by the above names. This book was especially relevant, as Miyazaki has just
announced his retirement after completing The Wind Rises, which is showing in
cinemas as I write this (although he has done this before, only to return to
work on Howls Moving Castle in 2004, so maybe he’ll do another film yet. We can
only hope.) Various Ghibli films you might be aware of include My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s delivery service and the most recent
DVD release From up on Poppy Hill. These films and all of the others are well
worth watching – beautiful animation and simple, yet honest storylines bring a
totally refreshing film experience. I am a big fan – so what did I think of
this book?
Great! For die-hard fans, and Ghibli novices alike,
this book holds the secrets of Ghibli, without being too ‘non-fiction’. It
doesn’t feel like an information book. It’s easy to read and the way in which
it is set up really lends itself well to those especially not well educated in
Studio Ghibli’s films or history.
The first part of the book explores animation and what
Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were up to, pre-Ghibli. There’s some great
examples of earlier work produced or directed by both before they formed Studio
Ghibli, and especially about Nausicca – a film I believed to be created under
Ghibli, but was actually pre-Ghibli. Nausicca was actually the success that led
to the two being able to form Ghibli studios. The second section
takes you through the films, in release order, made under the Ghibli name. It
gives the director for each one and a small plot outline, peppered with other
interesting tit-bits about its production or themes, for example. There are a
couple of pages in the middle picturing some stills from various films. The
third section is called 'other projects', detailing things like music videos, TV shorts etc that Ghibli have worked on, with a small section about the Ghibli museum in Tokyo and a section on collaborations with other Studios to finish.
Overall I’d rate this 9.5 out of 10. I’d loved to have seen
some more pictures and obviously there hasn’t been an updated version to
include Ghibli’s releases post Ponyo (in
release order: Arriety, From up on Poppy Hill and The Wind Rises). However this
makes an excellent companion text to all of the films and gives a great sense
of background to Ghibli and its works. I definitely went straight to my DVD
collection after finishing it and watched Kiki’s delivery service to round off
the experience!
Over and out.
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