

I recently finished watching a few Studio Ghibli movies, _Spirited Away_ ,
_Princess Mononoke_ , and _Howl's Moving Castle_. From my impression they were
not bad, but I don't understand the hype people have behind them. _Spirited
Away_ without a doubt must be something, considering how it won an Oscar.

I understand the animation has a steady flow, the story is simple and well-
made, but what makes them so popular? It intrigues me a bit to find out.


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2018-03-21T19:03:38.120
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studio-ghibli
What drives the popularity of Studio Ghibli movies?


They are so good because they are creative, original and new. The style of the
stories are also fairy tale-like. The world building also has a lot to do with
their successes.

Take world in spirited away for example. Another entirely different world for
spirit inhabitants. You get to see what the spirits are like, what the
lifestyles of the workers are like. How the world floods after heavy rain, the
train, the stations and outside world to the bath house. The witches, magic,
curse and spells.

World building plays massive part in stories. Its mostly why Harry Potter 1
was so great. The first time i saw diagon alley, i was blown away.

Another great thing is the way how they portray japanese culture. The
animation, story and creativity in the films is really awesome. They give a
cozy, dreamy and peaceful vibe, So sometimes when I'm depressed, lonely or
even when its raining, I just go near the window and start watching one of
their films. Even the Ambience in the films is good.


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2018-03-22T05:50:34.627
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answer


The popularity of Studio Ghibli ultimately boils down to the spirit,
aesthetics, and sensibilities of Hayao Miyazaki expressed through their
respectives story and visuals. Not every Ghibli work is created equal, the
ones where he is are quite memorable to audiences.

Filmaker Asher Isbrucker offers an interesting take on Studio Ghibli's appeal
in his video-essay “The Immersive Reality of Studio Ghibli”, that the studio’s
biggest asset to its lasting appeal of their so-called “immersive realism”.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Q6y4-qKac>

While you may think that elements such as parents being turned into pigs (from
_Spirited Away_ ), or a story about a warrior princess raised by wolves (from
_Princess Mononoke_ ) and or even one about WWI fighter-pilot that's a pig
(from _Porco Rosso_ ) may not be instill what some would regard as "realism".
The collaborative effort and vision of the director and their animator’s
ability to breathe like these fantastical narratives to make them feel through
their passion and detail give Ghibli movies their appeal. The world-building
done allows audiences to suspend their belief and buy into the Ghibli-created
world where even the most imaginative and fantastical elements become feel
normal and common place.

Finding a balance between fantasy and reality is often times very tough. The
writers along with the animators develop even the most basic and mundane
elements from scratch, with an ever so particular attention to detail, no
matter how far fetched or mundane it may be, it still feels tangible and real
to the audience. Such realism is not made to a tee. It's not a complete
facsimile of real-life but rather an analogue of it where rules can be bent
and broken to create fantasy. If something feels too real or too emulated it
can easily feel fake to an audience. This is where the animators really show
off what they can do.

Roger Ebert once commented in [one of his
interviews](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hayao-miyazaki-interview)
with Miyazaki:

> I told Miyazaki I love the "gratuitous motion" in his films; instead of
> every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit
> for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do
> something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time
> and place and who they are. "We have a word for that in Japanese," he said.
> "It's called ma. Emptiness. It's there intentionally."

In _Starting Point_ , Miyazaki explains his underlying philosophy:

> Anime may depict fictional worlds, but I nonetheless believe that at its
> core it must have a certain realism. Even if the world depicted is a lie,
> the trick is to make it seem as real as possible. Stated another way, the
> animator must fabricate a lie that seems so real, viewers will think the
> world depicted might possible exist...

Miyazaki also mentioned that "animators are themselves actors". These
animators need to consider the various aspects character’s motivations, and
considered their unspoken mannerisms and expressions as well. These minor
details provide a connection with the audience and makes them relatable.

You can see this things like the animated expression of movement, emulating
the semblance and familiarity of how how we perceive our physical world the
video-essay notes things like Kiki’s bow blowing in the wind (from _Kiki’s
Delivery Service_ ), the flickering lights of the Catbus (from _My Neighbour
Totoro_ ) or the heavy-feeling movements of the hulking insectoid creatures of
_Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind_ , or even how Chihiro from _Spirited
Away_ puts her shoes on, noting how she takes her time to tap them, make them
comfortable, then set out like an actual girl in real-life would.

Not only that but the detail and effort made to scene establishes the setting
very well and makes the setting feel all the more real. The video-essay notes
in particular how the bathouse in _Spirited Away_ depicts various job posts,
areas for sleeping, an even the varieties of soap and countless other details
that make each seems to have their own story on top of the main story
unfolding with Chihiro. Another noteworthy scene mentioned is the contrast of
labor roles by gender of Irontown in _Princess Mononoke_ , such as what the
women do while the men are out gathering resources.

Aside from the visual appeal of the art and animation, the story aspect of
Ghibili works are split across a spectrum of fantastical, simple and
relatable, and nostalgic elements with mature themes. At the heart of most
Ghibli series is a coming of age story, but the trope is not played off a
novelty as you'd typically see with anime. These stories do very well in
empathizing with its audience universally understood ideal and emotions of
it's world and characters through a combination vivid expressions and
fantastical elements in a way that can only truly be expressed through an
animated medium. The studio does it in such a way that subverts what audiences
typically expect from an animated work through its emotional and impactful
expressions. It at times it can reminds us of who we are as humans and to be
modest, industrious and respectful despite the strife that may come our way.
Such empathy and imagination is likely what persists the popularity of Ghibli
works.


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2020-05-27T05:54:20.993
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answer


This is a fairly simple answer but I would say the world building. Studio
Ghibli isn’t afraid to put you into these new and mystic worlds and when they
do that they really put you into that world, you feel transported in this new
world and it doesn’t feel imaginary cause the way Studio Ghibli describes the
world you can almost imagine them as a place somewhere on this earth.
Comparing them to Pixar (since there animations are available worldwide
dubbed) I would say the major difference between the two is that Pixar builds
stories with the world based around what we already have. Using **nemo** as an
example the story mainly takes place in the Ocean(great barrier reef) and
Australia, we know it’s an actual place so Pixar doesn’t need to work on world
building as much while Studio Ghibli does that seamlessly throughout the
movie. We can really see this in Studio G’s acclaimed **Spirited away** and
lot of their other movies.


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