Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli Inc. (株式会社スタジオジブリ) is a Japanese animation studio based in Koganei, Tokyo, founded in 1985 by directors Hayao Miyazaki? and Isao Takahata? and producer Toshio Suzuki?. ¹⁵¹ It is widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed and influential animation studios in the world, known for the high quality and artistry of its filmmaking. ¹⁵¹³ Its films have won both critical and popular praise and have influenced other animation studios. ¹⁵

The studio was established in June 1985 as a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based publishing company Tokuma Shoten, with the express purpose of producing the animated films of Takahata and Miyazaki. ⁷¹⁹ Miyazaki and Takahata had first worked together in the 1960s at the studio Tôei Dôga, beginning a collaborative relationship that spanned their careers. ¹⁹¹⁸ The immediate catalyst for founding Ghibli was the box-office and critical success of Miyazaki’s 1984 film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, adapted from his own manga and released under the Tokuma Shoten name before the studio existed. ¹⁸¹⁹¹⁵ Suzuki, who had co-founded the animation magazine Animage and worked on the Nausicaä production, joined Miyazaki in setting up the studio and invited Takahata to take part. ¹³¹⁸

The name

The name “Ghibli” was chosen by Miyazaki after a World War II–era Italian aircraft, the word deriving from the Italian rendering of the Libyan Arabic term for a hot desert wind. ¹⁷¹⁹ The founders intended the studio to “blow a new wind through the Japanese anime industry.” ⁹¹⁸ Although pronounced with a hard g in Arabic and Italian, the Japanese pronunciation uses a soft g. ⁹

Films and international success

The first official Studio Ghibli release was Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), the story of an orphan boy and a farm girl journeying to a mystical floating city, which became Japan’s highest-grossing animated film that year. ¹⁵¹⁸¹⁹ In 1988 the studio released two films simultaneously to shore up its finances: Takahata’s wartime tragedy Grave of the Fireflies and Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro. ¹⁸¹⁹ My Neighbor Totoro was a commercial disappointment on release but became a beloved cult classic, and its title spirit — a large forest creature encountered by two young sisters — became the studio’s mascot and logo. ¹⁸¹⁹¹² The studio’s first real box-office success came in 1989 with Kiki’s Delivery Service, a coming-of-age story about a young witch that became Japan’s highest-grossing film of the year. ⁹¹⁹¹⁸

Porco Rosso (1992) topped Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Japanese box office. ¹⁹ The studio’s popularity remained largely confined to Japan until Princess Mononoke (1997), set in the late Muromachi period, which revisited Miyazaki’s recurrent environmental themes and incorporated computer animation, 3D rendering, and digital compositing. ¹⁸ It became Japan’s highest-grossing film of all time, holding that title until it was overtaken in 2001 by another Ghibli production, Spirited Away. ¹⁸

After Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was heavily edited for its U.S. release as Warriors of the Wind (1986), Miyazaki forbade Western releases of his films for years; in 1996 a deal allowed Walt Disney Studios to distribute Ghibli’s films on condition that no editing take place. ¹⁵ The studio adopted a strict “no cuts” policy, reportedly sending Miramax an authentic katana bearing the message “no cuts” during negotiations over Princess Mononoke. ⁹

Spirited Away (2001), set in a bathhouse for spirits drawn from Japanese lore and Shinto belief, won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, becoming the first non-English-language film to win the category. ¹⁵¹⁶¹⁴ Later Miyazaki films included Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), which received the Osella Award at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013). ¹⁵¹³ Beyond the Spirited Away win, the studio received Oscar nominations for Howl’s Moving Castle, The Wind Rises, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There, and The Red Turtle. ¹³

Miyazaki came out of retirement to make The Boy and the Heron (2023), a semi-autobiographical fantasy about a boy who follows a talking heron into a magical world against the backdrop of World War II. ³⁴ The film spent seven years in production, was described by Suzuki as one of the most expensive Japanese films ever made, and grossed more than $136 million worldwide. ³⁴ It won the Golden Globe — the first for a non-English animated feature — the BAFTA, and the 2024 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the studio’s second Oscar and Miyazaki’s second. ⁴¹⁰³ At 83, Miyazaki became the oldest director to receive the award; the film was the first released domestically by the independent distributor GKIDS. ³

Style and themes

Ghibli films are characterized by handcrafted animation, lush painterly backgrounds combined with expressive character animation, and rich fantasy worlds — some drawn from ancient Japanese lore, others blending Japanese and European townscapes. ⁵¹⁶¹⁷ Recurring themes include love of nature and environmentalism, pacifism, tolerance, and children forced to grow up while retaining their youthful wonder. ⁵¹⁴¹⁶ A signature feature is the strength and complexity of the studio’s female protagonists, present from Nausicaä onward, who are marked by courage and a capacity for transformation. ⁵¹⁶ The films are noted for finding beauty in quiet, everyday moments and for their use of stillness, a device Miyazaki relates to the Japanese concept of “ma,” or negative space. ¹⁶¹⁷ Antagonists are rarely simple villains, but complex figures with understandable motivations. ¹⁷¹⁹

Miyazaki’s production process is unusual: he typically storyboards an entire film himself without a finished script, allowing the narrative to develop organically. ¹⁷ The vast majority of the studio’s scores were composed by Joe Hisaishi?, whose music balances Western symphonic traditions with Japanese minimalism. ¹⁷

Corporate history and influence

Ghibli built its own studio at the current Koganei site in August 1992, having initially been based in Kichijōji. ¹⁷ In June 1997 it merged with Tokuma Shoten before being reconstituted as the independent Studio Ghibli Inc. in April 2005. ¹⁷ In October 2023 the company became a subsidiary of Nippon Television Network Corporation through a share transfer. ¹ As of the June 2026 company profile, the studio employed 190 people, with Suzuki serving as chairman and representative director. ¹ Suzuki had earlier returned as the company’s president in 2008, at the age of 74 according to a Jiji Press report. ⁶

The studio operates the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. ¹⁹ In 2026 it received the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, cited as an international reference in animation whose influence has transcended generations and borders. ⁵ Directors including Guillermo del Toro and Wes Anderson have cited Miyazaki and Ghibli as inspirations, and Anderson’s Isle of Dogs has been described as building a world similar to Ghibli’s. ¹⁴²¹ Ghibli and Pixar? have been described as connected by mutual inspiration, and the studio is credited with helping make anime a staple of Western pop culture. ¹⁴