the 1988 animated historical war drama from Studio Ghibli and director Isao Takahata and as a Limited Edition Steelbook on July 8 The film will be available in two formats: a standard Blu-ray + DVD edition and a Limited Edition Steelbook that also includes Blu-ray + DVD Both versions will feature a collection of bonus materials Special features included in the release are: and it describes the story:Orphans Seita (voiced by Tsutomu Tatsumi) and Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi) fight for survival in post-World War II Japan and they come to the somber conclusion that they can neither escape the hardships of war nor find enough food to survive Named the Best Animated Feature at the 1994 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival this film proves that not all anime tales are pixie-dust fantasies or brutal sci-fi standoffs You can pre-order the Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray & DVD via Amazon, while the Limited Edition Steelbook is available on the Shout! Factory website.Source: Press Release©Akiyuki Nosaka the acclaimed animated historical drama directed by Isao Takahata (Pom Poko The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) will be released on high-definition Blu-ray on July 8 from GKIDS The standard edition and the Grave of the Fireflies Limited Edition SteelBook will each include a Blu-ray + DVD and special features will include storyboards Synopsis: When an American air raid kills their mother in the final days of World War II 14-year-old Seita and his four-year-old sister Setsuko are left to fend for themselves in the devastated Japanese countryside After falling out with their only living relative Seita does his best to provide for himself and his sister by stealing food and making a home in an abandoned bomb shelter the siblings can only cling to fleeting moments of happiness in their harsh reality Based on the personal accounts of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki Grave of the Fireflies is hailed as one of the most stunning contributions to animation and cinematic history Deftly depicting the beauty of the human spirit as well as its devastating cruelty Grave of the Fireflies is a singular work of art from Academy Award-nominated director and Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata © 2025 Animation Magazine. All Rights Reserved. The Business, Technology & Art Of Animation And VFX © 2025 Animation Magazine. All Rights Reserved. The Business, Technology & Art Of Animation And VFX We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalised ads or content, and analyse our traffic. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to our use of cookies. We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below. The cookies that are categorised as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse how you use this website, store your preferences, and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you. These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent. 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Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customised advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyse the effectiveness of the ad campaigns. Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon We help you navigate a myriad of possibilities Sign up for our newsletter for the best of the city By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. Tokyo Legendary anime director, producer, and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata (1935–2018) was renowned for his deeply humanistic storytelling and distinctive artistic approach. A longtime collaborator and friend of Hayao Miyazaki, Takahata remained a role model for the latter throughout his life. The exhibition will also highlight its protagonist’s pre-Ghibli contributions and artistic evolution, offering a rare glimpse into some of his lesser-known works. Following its Tokyo run, the show will travel to Paris in the fall of 2025, bringing Takahata’s legacy to a global audience. facebooktwitterpinterestinstagramAbout us An Isao Takahata exhibition named Takahata Isao Exhibition: The Man Who Planted Japanese Animation is set to take place at Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills Gallery from June 27 JST to September 15 JST The exhibition will also head to Paris in the fall one featuring Grave of the Fireflies art and the other highlighting Heidi Takahata Isao Exhibition: The Man Who Planted Japanese Animation hopes to enable visitors to look back at the techniques and ideas that the late director cultivated in his pre-Studio Ghibli works The hosting of the exhibition this summer was inspired by two factors one being that 2025 would have been the late director’s 90th birthday 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War there will be a A Grave of the Fireflies-focused exhibit Studio Ghibli lent its cooperation in regards to the planning of the exhibition Source: Press release (via Catsuka) Two-time world medallist Masatora Kawano clocked a world record* of 2:21:47 to win the 35km race walk at the All Japan Race Walking competition – a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze meeting – in Takahata on Sunday (27) It’s the first performance to meet the world record requirements that were set out by World Athletics in 2022 when the discipline was made official stipulating that any performance faster than 2:22:00 – provided it also met all of the other standard criteria – would be submitted for world record ratification Kawano set out at a steady pace and went through 5km as part of a seven-man group in 20:30 The tempo soon increased and he reached 10km in 40:25 putting him on course to finish inside 2:22:00 just three men remained in contact with Kawano: Satoshi Maruo leaving the lead trio to reach 20km in 1:20:58 with a 23-second lead Yoshikawa was next to lose contact; by 25km he trailed Kawano and Satoshi by more than a minute world bronze medallist Kawano started to edge ahead of Maruo the fourth-place finisher over 50km at the 2017 World Championships and that grew to almost three minutes by the time he crossed the finish line in 2:21:47 Maruo finished second in 2:24:24 while Takahashi held on to third place in 2:26:18 With less than a year until the Japanese capital hosts the World Athletics Championships Kawano’s performance puts him in the frame as one of the host nation’s leading medal contenders two-time world champion Toshikazu Yamanishi won the 20km in 1:17:56 from Hiroto Jusho (1:18:46) Masumi Fuchise won the women’s 35km in 2:52:38 *Subject to the usual ratification procedure The company will also release a limited edition Steelbook on the same day Special features include storyboards and interviews with director Takahata and film critic Roger Ebert Central Park Media, ADV Films, and later Sentai Filmworks released the film on home video in North America, and GKIDS acquired the North American theatrical rights Netflix added the film on September 16 The film is based on late author Akiyuki Nosaka's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name The story follows a brother and sister's struggle to survive in the waning months of World War II Takahata and Ghibli's 1988 film was double-billed with Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli's My Neighbor Totoro by August 20, 2024Source: YouTube "Why do fireflies have to die so soon?" One of the saddest films ever is getting a proper streaming release on Netflix this fall Grave of the Fireflies is one of the masterpieces directed by the late Japanese animation master Isao Takahata It never got a US theatrical release in 1988 when it initially opened known by all who love & appreciation animation Based on Akiyuki Nosaka's Naoki Prize-winning short story Grave of the Fireflies is set in Kobe near the end of World War II and depicts the tragic fate of war orphan siblings and the horrors of this period It was made by Studio Ghibli and released by Toho though it was also the same year as My Neighbor Totoro which is why it never achieved the same amount of fame it is also regarded as one of the saddest films ever made because it is so tragic following these kids Netflix is already playing Ghibli's films (outside of the US) but it's great to see this one join the ranks for everyone to watch anytime Here's the Netflix trailer (+ alternate posters) for Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies, from YouTube: Find more posts in: Animation, Foreign Films, To Watch, Trailer Add our RSS to your Feedly +click here+ Latest posts now available on Bluesky: Get the latest posts sent on Telegram Want emails instead?Subscribe to our dailynewsletter updates: Studio Ghibli’s World War II masterpiece is coming back with a limited edition steelbook The steelbook will contain a DVD and a Blu-ray of the critically acclaimed movie The steelbook will become available on July 8, 2025. Crunchyroll has the steelbook available to pre-order on their store here: https://store.crunchyroll.com/products/grave-of-the-fireflies-movie-blu-ray-dvd-limited-edition-steelbook-826663251449.html The steelbook will also contain the following special features: Grave of the Fireflies is described as follows: As the Empire of the Sun crumbles upon itself and a rain of firebombs falls upon Japan the final death march of a nation is echoed in millions of smaller tragedies This is the story of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko and now cast adrift in a world that lacks not the care to shelter them Forced to fend for themselves in the aftermath of fires that swept entire cities from the face of the earth their doomed struggle is both a tribute to the human spirit and the stuff of nightmares Based on the retellings of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki and directed by Isao Takahata (co-founder of Japan’s legendary Studio Ghibli,) Grave Of The Fireflies has been universally hailed as an artistic and emotional tour de force it is one of the rare films that truly deserves to be called a masterpiece You can find a review of Grave of the Fireflies here: https://www.theouterhaven.net/2015/02/anime-review-grave-fireflies/ Source; Crunchyroll Before founding Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki directed Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), his first feature film. In 1984, he made his second, Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind), which was based on his own popular manga strip The first official Studio Ghibli release was Tenkū no shiro Rapyuta (1986; Castle in the Sky) Most of the films produced by Studio Ghibli were written and directed by Miyazaki and include Tonari no Totoro (1988; My Neighbor Totoro) Majo no takkyūbin (1989; Kiki’s Delivery Service) and Kaguyahime no monogatari (2013; The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) Its attractions included exhibits about animation and original short films from Studio Ghibli Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb that the day has come when we can make this announcement we will be husband and wife," they wrote on Instagram Tuesday so that we can show everyone a better version of ourselves in our work and we hope you will continue to support us warmly." Okada’s agency confirmed that the couple plans to finalize their marriage registration by the end of the year Japanese actor Masaki Okada and actress Mitsuki Takahata as the couple had maintained a low-profile relationship first crossed paths while working on the Prime Video series "1122: For A Happy Marriage" (2024) they spent significant time together and were often seen chatting during breaks on set during promotions for "1122: For A Happy Marriage" saying her role as a married woman made her think about the joys of having a lifelong partner Takahata debuted as an actress in junior high school and gained prominence for her performance in the NHK drama "Toto Neechan" (2016) She is currently starring in the NHK historical drama "Dear Radiance" Okada is internationally recognized for his role in the Oscar-winning film Drive My Car which won the Best International Feature Film award in 2022 He has also appeared in popular series such as "The Tiger And Her Wings" and the film "Last Mile" (2024) Email: evne@vnexpress.netTel: 028 7300 9999 - Ext 8556 Actors Masaki Okada and Mitsuki Takahata are getting married their management agencies announced Tuesday please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent The two first appeared together in the TV drama “1122 Iifuufu,” first broadcast this June but from now on we will be a married couple,” the two actors wrote in a comment on a social media “We will work even harder to give the best performances we can while supporting and encouraging each other so we hope you will continue offering us your kind support.” Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun Masaki Okada and Mitsuki Takahata, who co-starred as the couple Otoya and Ichiko Aihara in the live-action 1122: For a Happy Marriage series this past summer announced their real-life marriage on their respective Instagram accounts on November 19 A post shared by 岡田将生/Masaki Okada (@masaki_okada.official) A post shared by 高畑充希 (@mitsuki_takahata) The two actors released a joint message regarding their marriage Okada and Takahata have received nearly one million likes combined The 1122: For a Happy Marriage series' Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) accounts also posted congratulatory messages to the actors and included an image of the couple making gyōza dumplings from the series A post shared by 『1122 いいふうふ』ドラマ公式アカウント (@1122_ifufu) Okada has also appeared in the live-action Space Brothers film as Hibito Nanba, the live-action Gintama film as Kotaro Katsura, the live-action JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable film as Keicho Nijimura, among others. His agency lists his full résumé Takahata has appeared in the live-action Golden Kamuy film as Umeko Kakizaki, the live-action HK/Hentai Kamen film as a TV reporter, Napping Princess as Kokone Morikawa, among others. Her agency lists her full résumé Netflix has announced that it will exclusively stream Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies war drama anime film in 190 countries starting September 16 The streaming service released the film’s trailer on its YouTube channel and Twitter account The United States and Japan were previously announced by Netflix as excluded regions for the film but a recent update no longer mentions the U.S Grave of the Fireflies first premiered in Japan on April 16 1988 as a double feature with Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro It is based on Akiyuki Nosaka’s semi-autobiographical short story that was first published in 1967 In addition to directing, Takahata wrote the film’s screenplay. Other notable staff include the late Yoshifumi Kondo (Whisper of the Heart) as character designer and animation director, the late Nizo Yamamoto as art director Studio Ghibli was the animation production company The film has been released several times in English in several regions outside of Japan Central Park Media first released the film on VHS in 1993 and later dubbed it into English in 1998 ADV Films released the film on DVD in 2009 with Sentai Filmworks later rescuing the license and releasing a remastered version in 2012 GKIDS acquired the North American theatrical rights in 2012 Netflix describes Grave of the Fireflies as:  Orphans Seita and Setsuko fight for survival in post-World War II Japan Source: Netflix Official Website, Netflix Anime YouTube Channel  Want to follow our weekly chart updates and news? Subscribe to our newsletter to get more content in your inbox! Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Isao TakahataHayao Miyazaki has become a legend but Takahata’s relentless experimentation is just as remarkable by John Maher note: This essay contains end spoilers for Grave of the Fireflies.] At the mouth of the abandoned bomb shelter the teenager kneels beside his starving sister and opens a pocket knife he cuts a slice out of a small watermelon and gently feeds it to her by hand It’s a devastatingly memorable sequence in Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies one of the most powerful war movies ever made The film is so heart-wrenching that many viewers can only bear to watch it once And yet decades later, its director, Isao Takahata, who died in 2018, remained unsatisfied with the scene. “The cutting is weird,” he says in a documentary about the making of the film So when Takahata decided to include another melon-cutting scene in what became his final film, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, he had his animation team bring knives into the studio He demanded that the animators slice into melons again and again learning with their own hands how quickly and in what way exactly the blade enters the fruit grasping every detail before they would be allowed to finish animating The completed scene is patient and purposeful The melon-cutting takes up only a few seconds “paku paku” is an onomatopoeic description of the sound flapping lips make while eating a reference to the director’s habit of showing up nearly late to the studio each morning “that at several points in the production he will begin yelling Yet make them he did: five masterful feature films for Studio Ghibli alone even though he came to animation after studying French literature and even though he had no interest in learning to animate himself but he was adamant that he would do so in the world of animation and practically fated to be less globally successful than Miyazaki’s 11 features for their studio due to riskier choices in both content and style And he pissed off a whole lot of people in the process of making them including some of his own staunchest allies But when it comes to the sheer excellence of their respective filmographies Studio Ghibli’s two great directors are equals Paku-san himself would deny it. “Unfortunately, I’m not a genius like Miyazaki,” he told Variety in 2016 “His creativity was realized in an exceedingly concrete form and as his expression goes beyond abstraction The imagery of his works appeal to a mass audience and is able to be enjoyed by all He is careful not to ignore the commercial and entertainment aspects of his works.” Grave adapts a well-known, troubling semi-autobiographical short story by novelist Akiyuki Nosaka and was expected to be the better-received of the two films Totoro is about a well-loved 4-year-old who befriends a giant Grave is about an orphaned 4-year-old who dies of malnutrition and becomes a ghost wandering the hills of Japan with her dead brother could be bothered to treat them with any compassion it’s tempting to see Takahata simply as the filmmaker who would dare what Miyazaki wouldn’t “When Miyazaki was approached about adapting the manga Only Yesterday he was stumped by its episodic style,” critic David Carter wrote for Indiana University Cinema in 2018 who grasped on to the idea of making the vignettes of childhood flashbacks and having them revolve around and inform a newly added story about a 27-year-old woman struggling with the direction of her life as she goes to visit a family farm for the summer Takahata drew on his own searching demeanor and nostalgia he had as a younger man everyone looks back on who they were to inform what they want to be.” tenderly-paced realism in the present-day life of its protagonist and the sepia-toned haze of her childhood memories the film also bracingly and directly confronts environmental issues and the divide between urban and rural life that defined so many of the changes that came to Japan in the wake of World War II That directness is a major distinguishing factor between the works of Takahata and Miyazaki Their shared interests — Japanese folklore the conflict between the individual and the community strange beauty of childhood — ensured that their films would have some thematic overlap But Miyazaki’s films consider the broader audience where Takahata’s seem to have no patience for such pandering While Miyazaki’s work often engages with Western cultures Paku-san’s films are unabashedly Japanese in context There’s nothing else quite like either in the Ghibli pantheon Neither is there anything quite like The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Takahata’s swan song and perhaps his magnum opus the film that a man famous for hesitating to wrap up his productions took eight years to finish a whopping 14 years after his previous film which as a discipline sought to capture not the exact likenesses of its subjects as if the animators lost control of their own creation based on a 10th-century folktale and realised in a style influenced by traditional Japanese ink-wash painting Yet in contrast to the freewheeling and design-based approach of his more prolific colleague Takahata never put so much as a pen to paper during the animation process character-driven animations explored a diverse range of themes and aesthetic styles often confounding expectations as to what was possible within the medium Grave of the Fireflies presented an emotionally harrowing account of a young brother and sister left to fend for themselves at the tail end of the war after their mother is killed in an allied bombing raid Adapted from a short story by Akiyuki Nosaka the film contained several sequences drawn from Takahata’s own memories as a nine-year-old of the night-time raids over the city of Okayama running barefoot through the night in his pyjamas with his sister a Tokyo office girl’s nostalgic recollections of her childhood in the late 1960s bubble to the surface when she returns to the mountainous Yamagata area where she grew up Isao Takahata in 2009 Photograph: Martial Trezzini/EPAThere were more fantastical works too His feature-length debut at Toei Animation studios about a boy’s quest to defend his village from an evil sorcerer anticipated the style and ambition with which Studio Ghibli would become associated Pom Poko (1994) was a colourful tale of a community of tanuki shape-shifting environmental guardians of Japanese folklore who take the form of a raccoon dog as they rally together to protect their natural habitat from falling prey to a new-town development Takahata moved with his family to Okayama in 1943 After graduating from Okayama prefectural high school he enrolled at the University of Tokyo in 1954 to study French literature It was at this time that he encountered the work of Jacques Prévert and a film that would change the course of his life Paul Grimault’s animation Le Roi et l’Oiseau (1952; released in Japan in 1955) for which the French poet had written the screenplay Studio Ghibli would distribute Grimault’s extended director’s cut of the original film while Takahata published a collection of his own translations of Prévert’s poetry into Japanese in 2006 a company that aimed to produce animations of the scope and quality of Disney He worked as an assistant on the feature-length Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon (1963) before making his directing debut that same year with several episodes of the television series Ken the Wolf Boy (1963-65) The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Photograph: Studio Ghibli//Rex/ShutterstockThe younger Hayao Miyazaki joined the studio the same year initially in the lowly position of an “in-betweener” drawing the intermediary movements between the key images Takahata and Miyazaki immediately formed a close friendship and working relationship that would endure for more than five decades Both shared the ambition to create more dramatic spectacular and cinematic animation than the kind of children’s-oriented films and TV programmes the studio was increasingly focusing on By the time of Takahata’s debut with The Little Norse Prince Miyazaki had been elevated to scene design and key animation duties the production went over budget and over schedule Toei withdrew the film from distribution after just a couple of weeks and Takahata was demoted to television assignments working together to join A Production on the first animated television series of Lupin III based on the popular manga series created by Monkey Punch about the adventures of a suave swindler who is the grandson of Maurice Leblanc’s fictional master thief Arsène Lupin Takahata also directed the short children’s film Panda For much of the 1970s Takahata and Miyazaki would work together on animated TV adaptations of classics such as the popular Heidi a Girl of the Alps (1974) and Anne of Green Gables (1979) with Takahata directing and Miyazaki responsible for the artwork Takahata returned to feature directing with Chie the Brat (1981) and an adaptation of Kenji Miyazawa’s Gauche the Cellist (1982) while working as a producer on Miyazaki’s breakthrough animated version of his own manga The film’s huge success led to the establishment of Studio Ghibli taken from an Italian second world war plane with Takahata producing Miyazaki’s first work for the new enterprise Takahata directed just five features at Studio Ghibli The critical and commercial failure of My Neighbours the Yamadas (1999) with its rough sketch style and vignette-based narrative derived from a popular newspaper cartoon strip about an everyday Japanese family saw him move to a more behind-the-scenes role at the studio at the same time that Miyazaki’s films were gaining international acclaim He returned to directing in 2013 with the critically lauded The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. In 2016 he produced and provided significant creative input into Ghibli’s first non-Japanese production, The Red Turtle directed by the Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit Takahata’s suggestion that the film would be more powerful without dialogue turned out to be absolutely right By | 08/13/2018 11:52 pm | Be the First to Comment! the director of contemporary classics like Grave of the Fireflies and his harsh treatment of film crews “destroyed so many people,” according to new comments made by one of the people who knew him best Studio Ghibli co-founder and producer Toshio Suzuki Suzuki, who produced all of Takahata’s films from Grave of the Fireflies onward, made the comments in a newly published book, The Ghibli Textbook #19: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Ghibli no Kyōkasho 19 Kaguya-hime no Monogatari). The comments were first reported by Anime News Network The respected Ghibli producer also suggests that Takahata was indirectly responsible for causing the death of character designer and animation director Yoshifumi Kondō Kondō told Suzuki after the production of his Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart that Takahata had “tried to kill him,” and he would physically tremble upon hearing Takahata’s name More details from the Anime News Network report: and another animator that Suzuki refers to as “S-san” all attended [Kondō’s] cremation S-san had worked with Takahata and Miyazaki since their time at Toei Animation “It was Paku-san [Takahata’s nickname] that killed Kon-chan wasn’t it?” The air in the room froze until Takahata quietly nodded Miyazaki has claimed that he’s the only person to survive Takahata The studio continued to lose potential artistic successors due to Takahata’s work expectations You have to prepare for yourself to break,” Suzuki said Publisher Shinchosha’s was involved with the production of The Grave of the Fireflies Its representative Takashi Nitta told Suzuki he had worked with writers like Seichō Matsumoto Suzuki also described him as someone who never thanked any of the Ghibli staff for their contributions Takahata died last April at the age of 82 His last film was The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) The Japanese animation industry is notorious for its demanding and inflexible pace, which leads to health problems – and occasional death – for the artists who work in the business. A few years ago, an American artist who works in Japan described the conditions at some studios as “illegally harsh.” Amid Amidi is Cartoon Brew's Editor in Chief All recommendations are made independently by our editors Services you subscribe to through our links may earn us a commission many cartoon lovers still haven’t seen some of their most significant works either for want of access or simply because they’ve never heard of them Here is a guide to the major non-Ghibli works directed or written by Miyazaki and/or Takahata left as large an imprint on animation as a director and writer as his protégé turned partner Miyazaki Takahata’s career as a director began long before Miyazaki’s A stylistic departure from previous films released by powerhouse Toei Animation the film — based on a Shintō myth involving a storm god’s battle with the titular eight-headed dragon the mythical Yamata no Orochi — feels more influenced by the visuals of United Productions of America and Disney’s Sleeping Beauty than prior anime landmarks Watch: Available dubbed on YouTube (for now) Watch: Amazon Prime Video (dubbed Now in theaters in a restored version along with its 1973 companion film Panda!’s eponymous massive mammal and the peppy pigtails of his pint-size human companion should trigger instant recognition in anyone who’s ever seen My Neighbor Totoro which really have to be watched to be appreciated — and yes there sure is a baby panda in it.) Both it and Panda Kopanda and the Rainy-Day Circus which Takahata directed and Miyazaki wrote are short films — about a half-hour each — and all sweet both men wanted to adapt Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking series along with their mentor Yasuo Ōtsuka (who was animation director on these films and a handful of other projects on this list) Watch: Now playing in select theaters Miyazaki’s feature-film debut is a barn burner of a pulp-fiction adventure comedy not everyone was pleased with the way the director reimagined famed gentleman thief Arsène Lupin III and his plucky partners in crime (Miyazaki’s unwillingness to baldly sexualize the film’s femme fatale in particular is a move that keeps the film eminently watchable decades later.) It’s arguably Miyazaki’s most purely fun feature film with all the escapism of a James Bond flick and the setting to boot knuckle-dragging henchmen crawling out of every orifice and an exaggeratedly wondrous pseudo-European landscape Watch: Netflix who would go on to co-found the studio alongside Takahata and Miyazaki and become one of the great anime producers of all time Watch: Unfortunately unavailable to stream Takahata’s adaptation of Kenji Miyazawa’s short story of the same name tells the tale of a young amateurish cellist rehearsing Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony hoping not to screw up when he performs it with his local orchestra a handful of very smart local animals show up night after night before the big gig helping him learn the part and become a better musician and it’s a huge bummer that there’s really nowhere to watch it online right now so neither Miyazaki nor Takahata directed or wrote this one but the legendary Osamu Dezaki — director of Ashita no Joe joint director of Rainbow Brite — tapped Miyazaki as the film’s key animator nothing like anything else Miyazaki has ever done: a gritty sci-fi with a bounty-hunter lead a weapon called a “Psychogun,” and villains with names like “Crystal Bowie” and “the Snow Gorillas.” It’s pretty ridiculous Watch: Vudu (dubbed); Tubi (dubbed Watch: HBO Max Watch: Crunchyroll (subbed); PlutoTV (subbed); Tubi (subbed) Watch: Available subbed on YouTube (for now) Takahata was a remarkably prolific TV director throughout the 1970s in particular 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother is yet another adaptation from childhood literature — in this case of a portion of the book Heart by Italian author Edmondo de Amicis It’s another Takahata series that saw lots of love from international audiences and in nations as ideologically disparate as Israel and Iran the series stars a child hero — this time a Genoan boy named Marco flung far from home and into adventure by unfortunate childhood circumstances — with an often sorrowful story and Watch: Available subbed on YouTube (for now) Watch: Available subbed on YouTube (possibly legit!) despite Toshio Suzuki’s impudent skepticism Chie the Brat did well enough that it was adapted into a series which brought back all the original lead voice actors and Takahata as director to boot The series begins as a reimagining of the film then turns to the anime for further story lines you won’t find it streaming anywhere Stateside terrifically animated and a whole lot of fun to boot Then Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate got annoyed and by the time the show was able to go on Miyazaki was too busy to return to the project and Castle in the Sky will do that to you.) The quality took a nosedive after that Watch: Amazon Prime Video (rent or buy) Another spin on a western literary classic, the great Hideaki Anno (of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame and infamy) directed this series based on a concept Miyazaki had dreamed up years earlier production company Toho kept the rights to the story — although Miyazaki would cannibalize pieces of it for some of his own works — and Anno was finally tapped to direct it (Evangelion was initially going to be a sequel to Nadia but that’s another story.) Nadia is flooded with the influence of the works of Jules Verne especially (despite its initial title) Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea which lends Captain Nemo and the Nautilus here in supporting roles Miyazaki’s trademarks are equally noticeable here who’s on the run from jewel thieves seeking her magical pendant and has to save the world from a violent invasion from below the sea Watch: Coming soon from GKIDS Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York By | 05/16/2018 6:19 pm | Be the First to Comment! On Tuesday, Studio Ghibli held a memorial service at the Ghibli Museum for director and studio co-founder Isao Takahata, who passed away last month at the age of 82 A who’s who of the film and animation community showed up at the private memorial service including Yoshiyuki Tomino (Mobile Suit Gundam) and The Red Turtle director Michael Dudok de Wit All eyes however were on director and Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki who delivered his first public words about Takahata’s passing at the memorial It’s an amusing speech in which Miyazaki explains why Takahata’s nickname was Mr He also drops in some black comedy by explaining how he convinced Takahata to quit smoking only to then tempt him by purposely smoking in front him Miyazaki’s eulogy can be seen below with English subtitles: A significant portion of Miyazaki’s eulogy in which he speaks of their experience working on The Great Adventure of Horus [We call Takahata-san by his nickname “Paku-san.”] Actually He always had trouble waking up in the morning When he started working in Toei Douga [or Toei Animation] he would often rush into work at the last minute he would munch [“paku-paku” means “munch munch” in Japanese] the bread he had brought and drink some water directly from the tap Supposedly that’s the reason for his nickname: “Paku-san” Paku-san was taking it for granted that he wouldn’t die before the age of 95 I realize that I don’t have much time left I got a phone call from the doctor of both of ours talk him into giving up smoking”​ with a serious and severe tone of voice Suzuki-san [Studio Ghibli’s producer] and I sat across from Paku-san at a table That was my frist time talking to him that way “Please quit smoking for the sake of work.” Suzuki-san said We had been prepared for a flood of excuses and objections from him I came up to him and intentionally smoked a cigarette but I’ve grown not to crave cigarettes at all.” He was in a different league than me as a man I realized he would surely live until 95 years old I still remember the day when we exchanged words for the first time I was waiting for the bus bound for Nerima at a bus stop in the twilight.​ A young man approached me walking down the street where some puddles remained right after it rained “I heard you are meeting up with Segawa Takuo-san.” In front of me was the gentle and wise looking face of a young man That was the moment when I first met Takahata-san I can even vividly remember the look on his face at that time.​ The next time I saw Paku-san was when I was pushed into a member of the board of Toei Douga Labor Union he was put in the vice chairman and I was put in the secretary general.​ I started struggling with the days where I was sick to my stomach because of pressure.​ I would stay over in the shack as the union office​ and be absorbed in talking with Paku-san till dawn We wanted to work for something we could really be proud of I was so glad that I got to encounter a man of such rare intellect The production [of The Great Adventure of Horus Prince of the Sun as Takahata worked as its screenwriter] did not proceed well The staff were not familiar with [Takahata’s] new style The progress was so slow that the project became a headache to the entire company Even as the company’s top management tried to change his direction with I worked by myself over weekends with no AC in the summer drawing the sketches for the background pictures on big sheets of paper The agreement with the labor’s union did not allow the work on weekends but I did not care I just did not punch the time card for the weekend work After I watched the first version [of The Great Adventure of Horus] I could not move I was aware of the dispute over the scene of “Mayoi no Mori/The Enchanted forest” as to whether it should have been edited out or not Paku-san negotiated with the company board patiently and he had no choice but had to agree on the number of the animation frames and the number of work days to the deadline he had to write an apologetic letter [to the company] I was also fully tied up with my own job and I could not help him in that tough fight I watched the scene with Hilda in the Enchanted forest at the first test screening The overwhelming expression and the pictures I came to understand for the first time that this was what Paku-san wanted to create thirty years after the release [of that film] that Paku-san suggested having a gathering inviting the crew the managers who were pressed between the people on the work field and the top members in that company (Toei Animation) the females who worked on the background and coloring to the staff in film shooting You stood tall without bending to any hardships 55 years ago…I’ll never forget about the first time you talked to me at the bus stop after it rained.​ Thank you very much [Note: The translation for the part of Miyazaki’s eulogy that is not in the video was taken from this website.] a Japanese filmmaker who co-founded the animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli and was known for his inventive storytelling and richly drawn movies most notably "Grave of the Fireflies" and "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya," died April 5 at a hospital in Tokyo which he and director Hayao Miyazaki founded in 1985 with producer Toshio Suzuki Sometimes described as the Disney of Japan - indeed a Walt Disney World-like Studio Ghibli theme park is scheduled to open in Nagoya in 2020 - Studio Ghibli is widely recognized as one of the most profitable and inventive animation studios in the world known for producing richly drawn anime movies with young female protagonists and story lines that appeal to both children and adults an Italian war plane and hot desert wind of the same name the studio swept across Japan with an unusual 1988 double feature that paired Takahata's wartime drama "Grave of the Fireflies," about a pair of siblings whose home town is bombed during World War II with Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro," about two sisters who befriend a friendly forest spirit and ride aboard a bus-shaped cat "'Grave of the Fireflies' is an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation," wrote movie critic Roger Ebert who included both films on his Great Movies list but it belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made." Opening with the death of its protagonist and told in flashbacks with the film's main characters sometimes appearing as ghosts "Grave of the Fireflies" was based on a popular short story by Akiyuki Nosaka but also inspired by Takahata's upbringing in Okayama Takahata was 9 when the city was leveled by U.S He later said he ran away from his home with a younger sister amid the attack and was nearly killed while his family hunkered down in an air-raid shelter in their garden Takahata went on to release a handful of critically acclaimed movies that addressed themes of family life memory and conservation: the poignant "Only Yesterday" (1991) centered on a young woman who reminisces about her childhood in the Japanese countryside; "Pom Poko" (1994) about shape-shifting tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs) who battle real estate developers in the Tokyo suburbs; and "My Neighbors the Yamadas" (1999) pastel-colored vignettes about an unassuming middle-class family Yet while Takahata received an Academy Award nomination for best animated film for his final movie his films never attained the worldwide popularity of his more prolific colleague Miyazaki who won an Oscar for "Spirited Away" (2001) The duo struck up a friendship at the Japanese studio Toei Animation where they worked on labor union issues together before leaving to develop television series in the 1970s but maintained a strained relationship that once led Miyazaki to describe his colleague as "a real slugabed sloth." The director nicknamed Takahata "Paku-san" - Mr akin to the video game character Pac-Man - for his habit of finishing his breakfast in the office well after Miyazaki had settled in for a work day that could reportedly last as long as 20 hours the directors stopped talking about their work with one another "It wasn't that I didn't like what he was doing I just couldn't compete with him," he said "I was very conscious of making films that he would steer clear of and I hear he was doing the same as far as I was concerned." who maintained a singular focus on his films music and the French poetry of Jacques Prévert He once broke from animation to make a nearly three-hour documentary on the extensive canal system of Yanagawa and wrote a history of 12th-century illustrated Japanese scrolls he immersed himself in the animation process of movies such as "Princess Kaguya," which took eight years to complete and incorporated impressionistic watercolor and charcoal work Based on a 10th-century Japanese folk story "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter," about a girl who sprouts from a stalk of bamboo the film was also a deeply personal meditation on the brevity of life ending with a folk song that seemed to mark a credo of sorts for Takahata: Takahata was born in the Japanese city of Ujiyamada he studied French literature at the University of Tokyo and became interested in animation after seeing an early version of "The King and the Mockingbird," a movie adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that featured dialogue by Prévert and later collaborated with Miyazaki on the television series "Lupin the Third Part I" and "Heidi Girl of the Alps," based on a book by Swiss author Johanna Spyri He also directed an episode of the Japanese television series "Anne of Green Gables," based on the Lucy Maud Montgomery novel of the same name and in 2010 directed the animated movie "Anne of Green Gables: Road to Green Gables" (2010) A complete list of survivors was not immediately available Takahata and his studio resisted altering their methods to account for the advance of digital animation techniques "It is about the essence that's behind the drawing," he told the Associated Press in 2015 "We want to express reality without an overly realistic depiction and that's about appealing to the human imagination." Images from the ceremony showed a clearly upset Miyazaki and it struck me as a little tacky to take the great director's grief and throw it out there to the public But curiosity eventually got the better of me Miyazaki talked of his and Takahata's very first meeting in 1963 when the older Takahata approached the younger Miyazaki at the bus stop Think about that: for how many people in your life can you recall the very first meeting? Isao Takahata had clearly had a profound effect on his friend Miyazaki, as he had on us all. I want to return to the time of that meeting. See, when an artist of Takahata's stature passes away, there's a tendency to reflect on their artist's later period, when their style was clearly defined. We did that with Satoshi Kon because that happened to be when he made his best works But Isao Takahata's formative films are what consistently bring me the most joy and those are the works that happened not all too long after that fateful meeting at the bus stop Let's wind the clock all the way back to 1955, which is when the above photo was taken. Takahata (second from the right) was wrapping up high school and getting ready to go to the University of Tokyo It was at this point that he encountered a film that would deeply affect him and awaken a burning curiosity about animation—a film called The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep This movie was the creation of French animation legend Paul Grimault working together with storied playwright (and a college favorite of Takahata's) Jacques Prevert halting thing—a whimsical fantasy film about the titular characters teaming up with a smart-mouthed mockingbird to defeat a vain and dastardly king but it was seized by producer Andre Sarrut when the studio ran out of funds The movie was finished without Grimault's involvement and released to cinemas in 1952 The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep had a profound and lasting impact on the young Takahata Bernard Fiévé's stunning background paintings imparted the movie with a weird stream of hyper-realism making the steps down from the villainous king's high castle seem so much like the steps leading to Montmarte The characters and settings were fantastic and Prevert's snappy and sophisticated dialogue was full of humor and gravitas in a way that other cartoon features had not This fusion of literature and animation is something that Takahata would pursue for the whole of his career the animation director system was formalized It makes a certain kind of sense that the first real supervisory role for the young Takahata another future anime great with a non-animation background whose corner-cutting approach would come to define TV anime This over-production is something else that comes up over and over in Takahata's career and had a good reputation with the animators The approach paid off—after winning concessions through a successful work stoppage in 1964 Miyazaki was elected secretary of the labor union and by the time Takahata got started on his next movie in 1965 That 1965 production, Horus - Prince of the Sun It's an expressive and beautiful adventure movie and tough moral questions created in a time when even the most lavish and ambitious Japanese animation tended to consist of silly adventure stories The movie was also almost Takahata's downfall; the union stopped work twice during production turning what was supposed to be an 8-month project into one that lasted over two years insisting that the original story's depiction of Ainu culture be moved to a safer Several minutes of the movie had to be discarded Two segments weren't finished but had to be included in the film anyway Toei yanked Horus out of theaters after just ten days depicting the title character savagely fighting off a pack of wolves with nothing but a hatchet featuring wildly expressive (and largely uncorrected) animation by Yasuo Ōtsuka Takahata also divided the work up collaboratively assigning different characters to each individual animator Part of what makes the film so memorable is the delicate range of expressions of Hilda teased out by her animator Yasuji Mori a girl who struggles to find the good within herself and asked Takahata and Miyazaki to speak about their film but the encounter nevertheless started a convivial relationship with Suzuki who would join them at Studio Ghibli years later to work on a new project: Pippi Longstocking breezy caper about a globe-trotting thief and focused on hard-boiled criminal antics with Lupin and his gang gunning down crooks and fighting against murderous adversaries so Takahata and Miyazaki were brought aboard to brighten things up Their rescue wasn't 100% successful—the series was still canceled after 23 episodes—but they did succeed in both creating a bunch of memorable and stylish episodes and solidifying the idea of the Lupin gang in the minds of the public the Chinese government gave the Tokyo Zoo a pair of pandas and inspiration struck Takahata: he'd use the stack of Pippi Longstocking pre-production materials whipped up by Miyazaki including the character design of a precocious little girl with flaming red pigtails The public's fascination with pandas was strong enough to elicit not one but two short films about little Pippi er and her adventures with an adorable father-and-son panda duo but here he turns in a delightfully weird performance as the big round panda papa and therefore couldn't decline to take meetings with him which siphoned viewers away by the thousands Heidi was a huge hit with young girls; the magnetism of Heidi and her pals Peter and Clara proved irresistible There had been anime made for girls before Heidi but Heidi was proof that anime for girls could be a top draw The second way that Heidi changed everything was in the introduction of a new system for creating and correcting animation anime would start to take shape via the storyboard the animation was done and ready for color and photography to be handled But there was one issue that kept tripping shows up: the storyboard wasn't always enough If an animator didn't understand precisely what the director wanted from the storyboard they could waste time creating a sequence that would then have to be heavily corrected A more precise blueprint for the animators to work from was needed detailed version of the storyboard; more than storyboard frames but not quite keyframe animation unto themselves They gave the animators a lot more to work from and so the number of reshoots went down while the overall drawing quality ticked upwards only Miyazaki really understood what was needed to create the show's layouts so he drew them all himself: thousands and thousands of them While Heidi was an unqualified success for Takahata, it had the unfortunate side-effect of leaving Miyazaki lastingly bitter about TV anime. He still had it in him to work on TV, like his superb Future Boy Conan But he always complained vociferously about how pitiless and relentless the TV anime business was working staff to the bone for meager wages and demanding an endless repetition of similar shows that would be gobbled up and quickly forgotten about by uncaring mass audiences he was wrong about that last bit—rarely does a year go by without some anime or another referencing Heidi's iconic scenes Still, for a time, Takahata and Miyazaki stayed on the Nippon Animation beat. Takahata followed Heidi with Marco - From the Apennines to the Andes another 52-episode literary jaunt about a good-natured working class kid from Genoa cross-crossing the mountains following his mother from Italy all the way to Buenos Aires Takahata's problem was that he wasn't able to use Miyazaki as animation director – the guy was just too busy drawing layouts the husband and wife duo of Yōichi Kotabe and Reiko Okuyama were available to step in was renowned for her ability to create absolutely meticulous keyframes ones that almost never required correction and as pivotal as it was in introducing the layout system Maybe it's because the challenge for Takahata and his team was a little greater making a warm and wonderful version of Heidi still starts with depicting an irrepressible little girl who makes friends in one of the most beautiful regions in the world motormouthed little scamp in threadbare clothes obliged to help out a pair of aging farmers in a small island village But via a series of simple visual flourishes in the first episode alone Takahata sells the idea that this unmoored young girl is able to charm her way into the lives of her wards the Cuthberts “I don't like that Anne,” Miyazaki reportedly wrote in an amusing farewell note What Takahata gave us in Anne of Green Gables, his last big TV project, is a series full of small character moments, simple visual and musical flourishes that have immense power. You can put the show next to Tomorrow's Joe as a 1970s TV anime series that has aged extraordinarily well It's always been a point of frustration for me that Anne a series based on books written in English but an English version produced in South Africa has recently come to light It's a sheer delight to see Takahata's Anne of Green Gables in the language in which the book was written I hope that this version becomes more widely available It would soon be time for Takahata to take his talents back to the big screen but he spent the 70s refining the most important elements of his approach to filmmaking So many of these works spend time carefully depicting the characters just going about their daily lives cooking and cleaning and getting dressed and doing chores and talking to each other and going places and forming relationships but it's there—and it's where Isao Takahata's greatest strength lives on Isao Takahata: Endless Memories is a week-long series, of which this is Part II. Join us tomorrow for an in-depth look at two of Takahata's early films, Chie the Brat and Gauche the Cellist, by Andrew Osmond By | 04/05/2018 9:16 pm | Be the First to Comment! The animation world is mourning the loss of one of its giants: Isao Takahata an iconic animation director and co-founder of Studio Ghibli Takahata died at age 82 in a Tokyo hospital yesterday following an undisclosed illness according to a report by Japanese public broadcaster NHK In an illustrious career that lasted over 55 years Takahata wrote and directed the features Grave of the Fireflies He also storyboarded and directed numerous tv series in the 1960s and ’70s Takahata co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Hayao Miyazaki He produced two of Hayao Miyazaki’s films – Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky – and also served as artistic producer on Michael Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle His wide impact on the animation world can be witnessed in the outpouring of tributes to him being posted by artists on Twitter Here’s a look at what people are saying about Takahata’s legacy Really sad to hear about the passing of Isao Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli. “Grave of the Fireflies” is an amazing, emotional film. And “My Neighbors the Yamadas” is incredibly charming. It also had a big influence on Michael Arndt’s script for “Little Miss Sunshine.” pic.twitter.com/0dfXC3t2sL — Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) April 5, 2018 bye bye takahata-sama😢 pic.twitter.com/6gQ53AjPTn — 𝔊𝔢𝔬𝔯𝔤𝔦𝔢 𝔐𝔞𝔤𝔢𝔯 (@georgemager) April 5, 2018 Today we lost a giant in Isao Takahata; Among many things, catalyst in helping change the face of animation in Japan with his debut film, introducing us to a young talent who would later be a legend and the other half of founding Studio Ghibli. Rest easy Takahata-Sensei. ✨🙏🏾😢 pic.twitter.com/ts8u7cgxKz — LeSean Thomas (@LeSeanThomas) April 6, 2018 Takahata's only yesterday has to be one of the best films ever made Layers of intricate human moments flow through the narrative of personal understanding — John P (@Peavolov) April 5, 2018 Thank you for making films impacting us in ways that have made us better persons — AYMRC (@AYMRC) April 6, 2018 Farewell Isao Takahata. You touched so many hearts with your whimsical & charming films. Only Yesterday is a firm favourite for my mum and I 💕 pic.twitter.com/0TnNprrNmh — Domareen Fox (@DommiFox) April 5, 2018 Very sorry to hear about the death of this terrific director and delightful man. https://t.co/NwxjmkjDEV — Peter Lord (@PeteLordAardman) April 5, 2018 — Dice Tsutsumi (@tonkohouse) April 5, 2018 isao takahata's depth and sensitivity will be remembered by humankind for eternity. thank you for everything isao. your films made me cry in guttural pure sobs, something no other filmmaker has ever done to me. pic.twitter.com/csUo0yjOd1 — Isaiah Saxon (@isaiah_saxon_) April 5, 2018 The creative career of Isao Takahata — a lot of art and off-quiet storytelling that no one else was doing Grave of the Fireflies haunts me to this day… — Kenard Pak (@kenardpak) April 5, 2018 True genius has left us…https://t.co/JpSFKPj2xQ — Shannon Tindle (@ShannonTindle_1) April 5, 2018 The realism of Isao Takahata‘s work is so rare My heart feels raw as soon as I see it onscreen — katie mitroff (@katiemitroff) April 5, 2018 Muy triste noticia. Se va una de las almas de Studio Ghibli. https://t.co/vCfBySNCtj — Enrique Gato (@enrique_gato) April 5, 2018 Sad news about Isao Takahata, his films were captivating, beautiful and touching. Only Yesterday and Princess Kaguya were favourites of mine ✨ pic.twitter.com/OhSxPaUAAI — Louise Bagnall (@elbooga) April 5, 2018 No animated movie has made me cry more than this tender, gorgeous, profound, soulful and landmark film. A giant of our art form has left us. RIP maestro Isao Takahata pic.twitter.com/YRR6eJBmp4 — Jorge R. Gutierrez (@mexopolis) April 5, 2018 RIP Isao Takahata… You will live forever in our hearts through your absolutely beautiful work and legacy that you have generously left us. Thank you for all that you've done.https://t.co/HwKOfqjosd pic.twitter.com/4NfbiT0al4 — Marie Lum 林 (@PuccaNoodles) April 5, 2018 Isao Takahata has passed away… He was a true genius, always shadowed (in many senses) by Miyazaki, but I think he was a superior storyteller. And "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" is a masterpiece and a perfect farewell. Rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/UJ6p6anCZd — Franz Xavier Manuel (@franzsteam) April 5, 2018 — 赤毛のブライアン (@brianruh) April 5, 2018 Really sad to learn of Isao Takahata's passing one of the truly great masters of visual story-telling — Julieta Colás (@jujujulieta) April 5, 2018 Greatly saddened to hear this news. His work is a huge inspiration- he made some of my favorite films and TV shows. Make some time to watch his cartoons, okay? https://t.co/GGAVoU3fdX — ian jq (@ianjq) April 5, 2018 (Photo at top: Martin Holtkamp) literature scholar Kimberly Takahata gave a guest lecture at Wagner College about the famous eighteenth-century Irish scientist and philosopher Hans Sloane whose book about his travels to Jamaica influenced the development of science and taxonomy Takahata is currently finishing her PhD in the English department at Columbia University Her presentation was attended by students from Dr Rita Reynold’s senior RFT for history majors Brian Palestis’s biology class as well as some members of the Wagner faculty The title of Takahata’s lecture was "'All but the Bones': Reading Taíno Remains in Hans Sloane's A Voyage to Jamaica.” She demonstrated Sloane’s use of natural history conventions in Jamaica categorize the remains of indigenous Taíno peoples as observable artifacts that supposedly prove their extermination In her analysis of Sloane's interest in the physical preservation of these remains Takahata aims to demonstrate how Sloane’s narrative is actually dependent on the care of the living for their dead to provide a model for resisting settler colonial narratives of removal Concluding her lecture by juxtaposing Sloane’s troubled colonialist discourse with the voices of modern-day Taino writers still very much alive and writing about their heritage Takahata shed light on the complicated literary history of the Taino people Hayao Miyazaki's new film is described as semi-autobiographical Producer Toshio Suzuki explains what that means exactly Christian Holub is a writer covering comics and other geeky pop culture He's still mad about 'Firefly' getting canceled Courtesy of Studio Ghibli and GKIDS; Jason Merritt/WireImage Courtesy of Studio Ghibli and GKIDS; Jeff Vespa/WireImage own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment Loughborough University provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK View all partners Takahata’s films always had the same resonance and foregrounded their own style and preoccupations defines the Ghibli style as much as Miyazaki; his grasp of the beauty of the mundane and his impressionistic apprehension of memory and feeling is as memorable as Miyazaki’s epiphanies in flight Both began their careers at the Toei Studio Takahata directing the commercially unsuccessful Horusu Prince of the Sun or The Little Norse Prince (1968) The pair then achieved success on the Takahata-directed and Miyazaki-designed Panda Kopanda films (1972/1973) and the literary adaptations produced by Nippon Animation with whom they went on to form Studio Ghibli The studio’s manifesto was to focus on the artist auteur and produce high quality animation a significant risk in the highly commercial Japanese market of the time Studio Ghibli had produced what have become two acknowledged masterpieces Miyazaki’s My Neighbour Totoro (1988) and Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies (1988) the latter the product of Takahata’s personal convictions as an anti-war activist An adaptation of a short story by Akiyuki Nosaka the film is informed by Takahata’s own wartime memories in Okayama as he tells the tale of an orphaned brother and sister as they try to survive after the allied fire-bombing of Kõbe it comes as no surprise that an animated film can deliver narratives of significant import and emotional affect Takahata’s films feature children and childhood and depict the childlike in such sensitive ways they are never childish nor made only for a children’s audience Rather they speak to the commonality of experience for adults and children and use the emphases on everyday gesture that animation so powerfully amplifies – the cutting of fruit placing a comforting hand on a shoulder – to communicate universal themes and connections I had the good fortune to meet Takahata at Ghibli he noted that drawing always suggests the hand that creates the image that drawing always reminded him of the resourcefulness Inspired initially by his studies of French literature in the 1950s, and particularly the poetry of Jacques Prévert, Takahata was enthused by an animated adaptation of Prévert’s Le Roi et l’Oiseau (1952) – The King and the Mockingbird – made by director Paul Grimault Grimault’s lyrical style and colour palette were influential on Takahata’s more realistic cartoon aesthetic such as in My Neighbours the Yamadas (1999) like The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) This calibration of form and subject enabled Takahata to adopt different tones and outlooks on what were essentially potentially tragic themes – suffering and death in Fireflies; pastoral utopia and urban drudgery in Only Yesterday (1991); environmental transformation in Pom Poko (1994); and dysfunctional families in the Yamadas Takahata drew upon the distinctive language of expression available in animation often using metamorphoses and visual metaphors to move seamlessly between comic vignettes and serious observations Takahata observed that he didn’t believe audiences watched live action films carefully because it produced reality more solidly than it actually is This is surely never more affecting than in Setsuko’s demise in Fireflies and the poignancy of her question Takahata once perceived himself to be a failure because he had not made a film like Frederic Back’s The Man Who Planted Trees (1986) with its vivid commitment to human endeavour and the power of nature But his own legacy refutes this self doubt As we wipe away our tears when watching Fireflies we might hear the voice of Takahata himself Very sad news: Indiewire has reported that Isao Takahata Although he did not enjoy as much universal name recognition compared to his Ghibli partner Takahata was very much Miyazaki’s equal as a master filmmaker each crafting exceptional films with profoundly humanist themes that represent the absolute zenith of what the animated medium could ever achieve the fledgling Ghibli produced and released two films together in one of the more tonally divergent double features you could ever see is an ebullient icon of the child-centric whimsy and wonder that is pervasive in his oeuvre adapted from an autobiographical mea culpa is anything BUT ebullient: an absolutely devastating harrowing journey of a young brother and sister trying to survive in World War II-ravaged Japan Totoro unsurprisingly became the mascot for the studio and a huge merchandising hit Grave of the Fireflies achieved a somewhat different reputation My first watch of Grave of the Fireflies came in March 2013 and although as a somewhat informed anime fan I knew of its notoriety as “one of the most depressing films ever,” I was totally unprepared for the emotional ride I was in for over the next 90 minutes devastated wreck at the end of it (and even frantically called my little sister to tell her how much I loved her that what Takahata achieved was monumental and transcendent The deeply resonant themes combined with gorgeous painterly animation – not only was Grave of the Fireflies one of the greatest animated films I had ever seen (of which I’d say only WALL-E and Pinocchio would be in the same tier) Not long after my first experience with Fireflies, Roger Ebert ultimately lost his battle with cancer. While revisiting some of his older reviews, I was elated to find a “Great Movies” entry for Grave of the Fireflies where he extolled its virtues “as an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation.” Praise from Ebert doesn’t really get much higher than that and Ebert really went to bat for Fireflies The rest of Takahata’s filmography at Ghibli was varied and uniformly excellent: from the quirky family portrait My Neighbors the Yamadas to the hilarious pro-environment tale about mischievous racoons to the wistfully moving coming-of-age drama to the tone poem fable that finally landed Takahata’s first (and perplexingly only) Oscar nomination A diverse slate of films — all accomplished works that demonstrate Takahata’s penchant for empathy and introspection and worthy counterparts to the many Ghibli masterpieces Miyazaki created over the same period Isao Takahata was unequivocally a giant in film leaving behind a brilliant cinematic legacy with few equals A24 has dropped a teaser for the latest Spike Lee Joint https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ2V8znYMSk Also starring:.. © 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme © 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article Print In 1988 three years after they founded Japan’s celebrated Studio Ghibli Isao Takahata and his friend Hayao Miyazaki unveiled one of the oddest double bills in animation history: “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Grave of the Fireflies.” Even at this relatively early point in the careers of the two writer-directors their strengths were clear: Miyazaki was the fantasist who would take viewers beyond their imaginations; Takahata was a director of exceptional versatility whose work ranged from the earthy slapstick of “Pom Poko” to the gentle nostalgia of “Only Yesterday” to the fragile beauty of the Oscar-nominated “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,” he remained best known for the heartbreaking poignancy of “Grave of the Fireflies.” undernourished teen Seita collapses in Kokutetsu Sannomiya Station with the chilling words 1945 … that was the night I died.” In flashbacks Takahata shows how Seita attempted to care for his younger sister after they were orphaned in the American firebombing of Kobe The film suggests a flower on the grave of countless children who died needlessly in wars they neither fought nor understood The name Ghibli comes from a hot North African wind that blows into Italy; Miyazaki and Takahata wanted to blow fresh air into the Japanese animation industry That sense of freshness was evident in Takahata’s later features which were less devastating than “Fireflies,” but equally human In “Only Yesterday,” 27-year-old Taeko remembers her first conversation with a boy she liked and how they were too tongue-tied to utter more than a few awkward words Takahata underscores the authenticity of the moment by having the watercolor backgrounds fade into the surrounding white paper the blandly inept patriarch of the domestic comedy “My Neighbors the Yamadas,” has moments of reflection Does Basho’s haiku about “A cicada trapped under a samurai’s helmet” really describe Takashi While Takahata’s films never quite broke through with U.S audiences the way Miyazaki’s work (which includes “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”) did Takahata still exercised an outsize influence on American animators and live action filmmakers “I was inspired to finally sit down and write ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ — after years of procrastination — after seeing Takahata’s ‘My Neighbors the Yamadas’ at the [Museum of Modern Art] in New York in 2000.” Takahata celebrated the beauty of the fields and forests of Japan although he knew their existence was threatened Taeko returns to the countryside she visited as a girl; there she falls in love with the earnest farmer Toshio they will preserve a small corner of a countryside most young people have abandoned to live in cities The rowdy tanuki (raccoon dogs) in “Pom Poko” strive to protect from human developers the farms and woodlots of their home in the Tama Hills But these celebrations of nature were restrained by the Japanese concept of “mono no aware,” an awareness of the inevitably transitory nature of life and beauty “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” as “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.” The picture was Oscar nominated for animated feature in 2015 “I had no interest in displaying a 10th-century literary classic as if it were a picture scroll to be unrolled… I wanted to tell the ‘true story’ of Princess Kaguya in a way that would be convincing to modern audience.” an old man finds an infant no bigger than his thumb hidden in a stalk of bamboo He and his wife lovingly care for the tiny child where she attracts a string of high-born suitors But she refuses them all after discerning flaws in their characters just as she rejects the artificial refinement of urban life Kaguya flees the city for the country village where she grew up The stately pace of the animation accelerates as the animators use rough brush lines to show her ripping off her finery to touch leaves and flowers The striking sequence encapsulates Takahata’s rejection of the artificial his love for nature and his abiding faith in human nature “I am not aiming to create a ‘fantasy’ by representing a finely detailed surface reality to enclose people in another world I want to have people recollect the realities of this life by sketching ordinary human qualities with simple props I want to have the wind blow freely between the reality of our daily lives and what we see in the film.” observing the “ordinary human qualities” that made his films touch the viewer like a cool calendar@latimes.com Hollywood Inc. 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