There really needs to be a blu ray box set of Miyazaki’s movies.
Hey, that’s awesome! I was checking just a few days ago and didn’t see any news about that–looks like it was just announced.
As long as the blu ray gods are listening, I’d also like a box set of Community.
I’m bummed because I wanted to take my kids to the recent movie, but it looks like it’s already pass through and out of our city. It’s from the Studio but not the dude.
We saw Arriety in the theater and rented most of the rest through Netflix, bought a couple of my daughter’s favorites. I don’t even have Blu Ray and am broke, but that boxset sounds pretty cool.
Of his more recent works my favorite is Ponyo. Wind Rises was beautifully animated, but resolute in its determination to never, ever honestly face the consequences of developing weapons, and Takahata’s Princess Kaguya is a better film IMHO.
Some of Miyazaki’s earlier works like the previously mentioned Puss In Boots, Animal Treasure Island, and the Takahata/Miyazaki film Little Norse Prince/Horus Prince Of The Sun are available on DVD in North American from a great outfit called Discotek.
My favorite is also his Future Boy Conan television series, never available in North America, yet warrants a mention on the recent edition of its source material, Alexander Key’s “The Incredible Tide”.
Castle Cagliostro is great (now on blu-ray from Discotek), Laputa is a swell adventure, Totoro is fantastic, Kiki’s Delivery Service is magical, Nausicaa is a masterpiece, Princess Mononoke out-Kurosawas Kurosawa, Porco Rosso is a pulpy adventure, and Spirited Away is one of my favorites. I wasn’t that impressed with Howl’s Moving Castle, to be honest.
It suffered a little from “Rumiko Takahashi Disorder” (Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, etc.) where most of the problems could have been avoided entirely if people had just been open and honest with each other. If there’s a problem, tell someone, and that’s usually the best way to get the problem fixed.
(Takahashi’s humor almost entirely depends on people not telling other people what the problem is. Boy goes to dinner at girl’s house; he’s allergic to her cat. An honest person would just say, “Ouch, I’m reacting to your cat. Can we go out to dinner?” Instead, the victim in her stories will suffer in silence, make up excuses for sneezing and itching, and so on. Bad sit-com writing.)
HMC struck me as having that problem, to a degree.
I too love Studio Ghibli / Miyazaki films since I was introduced to them by TCM featuring some of them back in 06.
I have seen:
Howl’s Moving Castle
Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Castle in the Sky
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Whisper of the Heart
The Cat Returns
The Castle of Cagliostro
The Secret World of Arrietty
The list is sort of in order of my favs; but I love so many it is difficult for me to rate them.
I strongly suggest any Ghibli fan to watch Pom Poko. It’s one of their lesser known works, and it’s adorable. It also features raccoons beating people over the head with their testicles.
I’ve seen every Studio Ghibli movie, including Only Yesterday, which has never been released in the United States (saw it in Japan during it’s theatrical run). I saw When Marnie Was There about a month ago in NYC. Those two plus Up On Poppy Hill are on the only Ghibli films I don’t own on DVD or Blu-Ray.
I am really really bummed that there will be no more Ghibli movies.
And the music in the movies is just magical.
I was introduced to Miyazaki via animator friends in about 1996-7 - Grave of the Fireflies. We all watched it in 30 minute installments over lunch breaks in a darkened conference room and tried not to cry too loud!
After that we watched Totoro and then Kik’s Delivery service, etc. I sent those 2 to my brother’s kids on VHS forever ago - they loved them! I bought some on DVD for my kids a few years back and was sad that the originals w/subtitles as well as the original English dubs were not to be found and that Disney had re-dubbed them! Ugh, love you, Phil Hartman, but hate the voices in Kik’s SO much.
I’ve been searching for copies of any Ghibli’s films before Disney, but haven’t found any that will play in the US. 
I’m thrilled to see they are releasing a boxed set, but it will be with the Disney voices, so that’s a bummer.
Anyone able to find originals w/subtitles or original English dubs?
I don’t think Miyazaki was involved with that movie, but it is Studio Ghibli.
I think they double-featured it with Totoro, too. What an odd day at the theater.
The wife and I are both fans, especially the wife. We could have visited Studio Ghibli in Tokyo, but it’s such a hassle to get to the place, plus you have to specify the exact date and time of your visit in advance, that we blew it off. But there’s a museum and tours, and I understand the voucher you obtain in advance is exchanged upon arrival for a ticket that is an original animation cell from a Studio Ghibli film.
Details here for anyone interested in going.
As for Grave of the Fireflies, it’s the work of Isao Takahata, not Miyazaki.
Ahh, you’re right. It was a long time ago! I seem to remember that I thought Miyazaki worked on it, but didn’t direct it. Apparently, Grave and Totoro were in production at the same time and were a package deal because that was the only way Miyazaki could get backing for Totoro. The story of “Grave” was already well-known in Japanese schools and Totoro was considered a risk, so they were presented together. One of the animators I was working with had worked with a few of the animators at Ghibli, I believe.
The story was well known? Huh. I thought the director/writer based it on his own experiences. Was it a comic book?
According to Wikipedia: “It is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical short story ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ by Akiyuki Nosaka.”
Yes, my understanding was that it was somewhat common in school curriculums at the time.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Kiki’s Delivery Service are my favorites. They take you away to a place that never was, and make you utterly believe it, and that’s what makes them masterpieces.
I’m sorry, but I find this story that Miyazaki couldn’t get backing for Tototo without attaching Grave of the Fireflies very unlikely. By that time, Miyazaki had already written and directed Nausicaa, which set box-office records in Japan, and Laputa, which was also a major financial and critical success. He was the most successful and influential anime director in Japan, and reached that plateau by creating his own original works.
Also, once the anime feature film boom took off in the 80s (largely prompted by Nausicaa), studios and financial backers were throwing their support behind all kinds of major film projects, many of which had far less commercial potential than Totoro and were made by people with much lesser resumes than Miyazaki. This was the go-go 80s, when the Japanese economy was going gangbusters and money flowed like water.
The notion that a Miyazaki film would be seen as a risky financial investment at that time, and would need to be balanced out by a film based on story kids might have read in school (with an incredibly downer ending, directed by someone who hadn’t directed a film in years and never had directed a successful film) just doesn’t fly.
Also, I taught in Japanese high schools for five years. Japanese literature is overwhelmingly taught as a survey course where students read selections and excerpts collected into a textbook. I never saw a class assigned a whole novel to read for lit class. The content leans strongly towards classical, historical, and literary works and forms. The Japanese educational system was very conservative (resistant to change), and while it is possible it was widely read in schools, I can’t see a book making it into the lit textbooks within 20 years of its publishing, especially one with a controversial story.
Before pixar they were the top of the heap, but after pixar i found them overly melodramatic and in the habit of stuffing morals down your throat. I pretty much gave up on them after I saw grave of the fireflies.