The Studio Ghibli (JP) Discussion Thread

[Scream]

Whaaat!?!??!


Damnit guys we shoulda flown over there and just bought out the cinemas showing the films

[SleepyHobo]

My friend who speaks Japanese says that in the pictures, Toshio Suzuki is saying that they are restructuring, taking a small break, and thinking about what they are going to do next.

[deschain]

Originally Posted by SleepyHobo

My friend who speaks Japanese says that in the pictures, Toshio Suzuki is saying that they are restructuring, taking a small break, and thinking about what they are going to do next.

This has given a little spark of hope for ghibli, I'm praying that its just a PR stunt by Toshio Suzuki to make the Japanese people to appreciate ghibli and go see marnie and they'll make another film.

If your friend could translate the stills line for line that'd be amazing.

[filmmusic]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Ghibli was my last chance after Disney stopped releasing hand-drawn animation and didn't care any more about the artistic quality of its films..
I hope they change their minds!!!

[SleepyHobo]

Originally Posted by deschain

This has given a little spark of hope for ghibli, I'm praying that its just a PR stunt by Toshio Suzuki to make the Japanese people to appreciate ghibli and go see marnie and they'll make another film.

If your friend could translate the stills line for line that'd be amazing.

I don't want to bother her and my Japanese is still not on a good enough level to translate all of this so I just put it in Japanese text if that helps...

[Show spoiler]



言葉はちょっときついんですけれど。。。
制作部門を解体しようかと



スタジオジブリの全容に大きな変更を加える



リストラクチャーっていうのか横築



やっぱり宮崎監督の引退というのはすごく大きかったんですよ



その後のジブリをどうするか




そういうことで言うとそのまま延々作り続けることは



決して不可能ではなかったんですけれど



一旦ここらへんで小休止してこれからのことを考えてみる

[deschain]

Originally Posted by SleepyHobo

I don't want to bother her and my Japanese is still not on a good enough level to translate all of this so I just put it in Japanese text if that helps...

[Show spoiler]



言葉はちょっときついんですけれど。。。
制作部門を解体しようかと



スタジオジブリの全容に大きな変更を加える



リストラクチャーっていうのか横築



やっぱり宮崎監督の引退というのはすごく大きかったんですよ



その後のジブリをどうするか




そういうことで言うとそのまま延々作り続けることは



決して不可能ではなかったんですけれど



一旦ここらへんで小休止してこれからのことを考えてみる

thats great thanks

[ultlife2013]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Ghibli was my last chance after Disney stopped releasing hand-drawn animation and didn't care any more about the artistic quality of its films..
I hope they change their minds!!!

Ugh.

[GenPion]

Well, doing basic 'internet' translation doesn't make it sound like they are planning to stay open with the production studio. It sounds like they are closing the production studio as the first person said but that they are also 'restructuring'. What all that will entail is not something entirely clear... but closing the production studio fits in line with that...

[deschain]

from what I've read on someones blog they're closing the production end down and restructuring the company, the part of the Ghibli that produces commercials have a staff that are currently freelance where as the film production staff were all employees on long term contracts which they can't afford to pay, so now they're going back to a system the same as they were before Porco Rosso where they paid staff in a freelance style and

"Now they will focus on licensing, and Ghibli Museum. And wait for new viable projects."

hopefully these viable projects are new films and not more commercial projects and hopefully the quality of these possible films are not effected by hiring temp staff for each project. I feel bad for the employees at Ghibli.

[joelgutheil]

Originally Posted by deschain

from what I've read on someones blog they're closing the production end down and restructuring the company, the part of the Ghibli that produces commercials have a staff that are currently freelance where as the film production staff were all employees on long term contracts which they can't afford to pay, so now they're going back to a system the same as they were before Porco Rosso where they paid staff in a freelance style and



"Now they will focus on licensing, and Ghibli Museum. And wait for new viable projects."



hopefully these viable projects are new films and not more commercial projects and hopefully the quality of these possible films are not effected by hiring temp staff for each project. I feel bad for the employees at Ghibli.

Makes me feel a bit better I suppose

[DanielMann]

Originally Posted by GenPion

This is horrible news. Is it really that bad for them in the box office? I know The Wind Rises underperformed in the box-office (but was still a relative success), but having two films in release with poor box office (The Tale of Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There) is enough for them to close shop and not produce more films?

To the best of my knowledge, The Wind Rises was the top grossing film in Japan last year. I know Kaguya flopped and Marnie isn't doing particuarly well either. But The Wind Rises was quite a success.

You know, as I was writing the opinion piece I wrote for my blog a few weeks back, I kept hoping against hope that it wouldn't happen, but I kind of had a sinking feeling that it will most likely happen. Talk about a staggering blow to hand-drawn animation

from what I've read on someones blog they're closing the production end down and restructuring the company, the part of the Ghibli that produces commercials have a staff that are currently freelance where as the film production staff were all employees on long term contracts which they can't afford to pay, so now they're going back to a system the same as they were before Porco Rosso where they paid staff in a freelance style and

If that's what it is, then perhaps there is still hope. Considering the flop of Kaguya and Marnie, I can certainly understand the lucrative reasons as to why they'd gut the company and dissolve the full-time in-house production studio. It's becoming harder and harder to justify the lucrative means I guess. But still, quite a blow to traditional hand drawn animation.

[Puonti]

Wow, I just found out about this.. Really sad day, but from what I've read on the last page here there seems to be at least some hope. Fingers crossed!

Also, I still haven't received my order for Wind Rises and Spirited Away, and it shipped on 16th of July from YesAsia. Should I be worried, or can I expect it to come this coming week? My previous orders never took this long. :/

[Jasonic]

So is there like a big lack of mentoring, that talk of closure comes so easily after retirement of their two legends? You would think by now that they would have been able to bring up and teach tons of new talent.


Really sad if it ends up true. I certainly hope not. I also hope they don't lose touch of their values if it is just a restructure.

[Sinthetic]

Originally Posted by Jasonic

So is there like a big lack of mentoring, that talk of closure comes so easily after retirement of their two legends? You would think by now that they would have been able to bring up and teach tons of new talent.


Really sad if it ends up true. I certainly hope not. I also hope they don't lose touch of their values if it is just a restructure.

After watching The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, it's obvious Miyazaki was a real pain in the ass to work for. He wanted things done his way and stifled the truly talented people for the sake of adhering to his line of doing things.

That strive for perfection left them in this situation.

The fantastic Mamoru Hosoda was once upon a time on the rise in Ghibli and was scheduled to direct Howl's Moving Castle but ended up being taken off the project and left Ghibli.

If you look at where Hosoda is now, that's a pretty ****ing big loss.

[manicsounds]

Especially since they are running advertisements for the new Studio Ghibli TV series about to start in the fall, I doubt that this "closing" news is true.

Plus if they were, it would be on Japanese news and every Japanese news site. But nothing...

[DanielMann]

Originally Posted by Jasonic

So is there like a big lack of mentoring, that talk of closure comes so easily after retirement of their two legends? You would think by now that they would have been able to bring up and teach tons of new talent.


Really sad if it ends up true. I certainly hope not. I also hope they don't lose touch of their values if it is just a restructure.

It's two fold.

1.) Considering the Box Office receipts of their last two films, the lucrative means of keeping the in-house production studio afloat is harder to justify. Marnie and Kaguya did not do well at the box office. Ghibli does 90% of everything they do in-house. Outsourcing is minimal next to none. From a financial standpoint, keeping those in-house studios afloat is harder to justify.

2.) Granted, this is my personal thought, and I think its a personal thought that others may share. I think another part of the problem is that the company was always destined to live and die by the sword of Miyazaki. I think a big part of the problem with Ghibli is that it was perhaps too centered around one personality. Because of that, it did ultimately come back to bite them in the rear once he departed.

They never really did much to groom new talent for this inevitable day. I think its kind of sad to some degree because it always felt to me that the company was too engrained around Miyazaki, at points. To me, Ghibli is much more then just Miyazaki. As much as I respect Miyazaki that is to say.

Especially since they are running advertisements for the new Studio Ghibli TV series about to start in the fall, I doubt that this "closing" news is true.

Plus if they were, it would be on Japanese news and every Japanese news site. But nothing...

The anime series isn't an in-house production though.

To the best of my knowledge, this came directly from Toshio Suzuki. Granted, he did say Restructuring and not "Closed for Buisness." So, who knows at the moment. As Deschain mentioned, there is still some hope in the fact that it may be as simple as making the in-house production staff freelancers as opposed to "full-time" employed staff.

Again, who knows at the moment...this is a crazy whirlwind time. But as we stand, well it doesn't look too promising.

[deschain]

http://www.hypable.com/2014/08/03/st...unces-closure/

another news story about it

[yizhan123]

They can't do it. They just can't. Studio Ghibli cannot close down their animation department. I still want Nausicaa 2 and Porco Rosso 2, and many other fantastic magical adventures in the future. Let's put out a petition. Yes.

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by DanielMann

To the best of my knowledge, The Wind Rises was the top grossing film in Japan last year. I know Kaguya flopped and Marnie isn't doing particuarly well either. But The Wind Rises was quite a success.

You know, as I was writing the opinion piece I wrote for my blog a few weeks back, I kept hoping against hope that it wouldn't happen, but I kind of had a sinking feeling that it will most likely happen. Talk about a staggering blow to hand-drawn animation

Well, I feel silly... I heard it 'under-performed' as Toshio Suzuki thought it didn't do as well as it should have. You are right: It was the highest grossing film in Japan (made by Japanese filmmakers) for the year. Frozen and a few other films recently have made more than it, but it definitely wasn't a slouch at all. Just the most recent two bombed.

I agree with you that this will have a huge impact on the state of hand drawn animation, which is already (and has been) in decline.

[disneywildcat]

http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/stu...shutting-down/



More info about the announcement, which reflects the confusion whether it's just a temporary closure, a shift back to the freelance studio, or a shift to just licensing.



We need a official English news report from Japan to clear this all up.