Studio Ghibli marks 40 years, but future looks uncertain

Japan’s Studio Ghibli turns 40 this month with two Oscars and legions of fans young and old won over by its complex plots and fantastical hand-drawn animation.

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But the future is uncertain, with latest hit “The Boy and the Heron” likely — but not certainly — the final feature from celebrated co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, now 84.

The studio behind the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” has become a cultural phenomenon since Miyazaki and the late Isao Takahata established it in 1985. Its popularity has been fuelled of late by a second Academy Award in 2024 for “The Boy and the Heron,” starring Robert Pattinson, and by Netflix streaming Ghibli movies around the world.

In March, the internet was flooded with pictures in its distinctively nostalgic style after the release of OpenAl’s newest image generator — raising questions over copyright. The newly opened Ghibli Park has also become a major tourist draw for central Japan’s Aichi region.

Julia Santilli, a 26-year-old from Britain living in northern Japan, “fell in love with Ghibli” after watching the 2001 classic “Spirited Away” as a child. “I started collecting all the DVDs,” she told AFP.

Ghibli stories are “very engaging and the artwork is stunning,” said another fan, Margot Divall, 26. “I probably watch ‘Spirited Away’ about 10 times a year still.”

- ‘Whiff of death’ -

Before Ghibli, most cartoons in Japan — known as anime — were made for children. But Miyazaki and Takahata, both from “the generation that knew war,” included darker elements that appeal to adults, Miyazaki’s son Goro told AFP.