Studio Ghibli - Japanese Animation

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2016

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

In August 1986 the first Studio Ghibli film hit the cinema screens. It would go on to bring Japanese animation to a world audience. Hirokatsu Kihara was a young animator who joined the studio to work on 'Castle in the Sky' its first feature length film. He has been speaking to Ashley Byrne of Made in Manchester about the early days of the great animation studio.

Photo: Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki, one of the founders of Studio Ghibli. Credit: Getty Images.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and thank you for downloading Witness from the BBC World Service with me Ashley Byrne.
0:05.0	Today we're taking you back to 1986 and the release of the first film from the now internationally renowned Studio
0:11.8	Gibley, the animation company that brought a very Japanese
0:15.2	sensibility to a world audience. It's August 1986 and Japanese audiences are getting their first glimpse of a new kind of animation
0:40.1	with greater detail and more sophisticated storytelling,
0:43.9	courtesy of Studio Gibley.
0:47.1	Laputa Castle in the sky was a fantasy adventure featuring floating cities,
0:52.0	airships,
0:52.8	magical amulets and epic battles.
0:55.4	But it's the complexity of the story
0:57.5	seen through the young eyes of main characters Sheeater and Pasu
1:01.4	that really captured the imagination of the audience.
1:05.0	Studio Gibley had been formed in 1985 bringing together seasoned animators Iso Takahata,
1:17.9	Torohara and Hio Miyaki with other people experienced in storytelling.
1:23.0	When Studio Gibley was
1:25.0	a dictator not to show,
1:26.0	Mirai was a lute.
1:28.0	When Studio Gibley was launched,
1:30.0	we didn't have a particular future vision for ourselves, but we knew our mission was to succeed and thrive.
1:37.0	To put it simply, Mr Meijazaki said, failure is not an option. If we fail, that is the end.
1:44.0	He repeatedly told us it's not just about finishing this film, but making a perfect film.
1:49.0	Otherwise we'll have no future, so I need all of your help to succeed.
	...

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