Disney Should Learn These Lessons From Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli produces many classic anime movies, and many of them have an audience and themes that overlap with animated Disney movies. Both studios are known for their gorgeous scores and award-winning animation. Both studios even adapt some of the same fairy tales; Studio Ghibli produced Ponyo and Disney produced The Little Mermaid, both directly adapted from the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, The Little Mermaid.
There are some aspects of Studio Ghibli movies and practices that Disney should take note of, though. Recently, many fans critiqued Disney over their new releases. While some of their releases like Moana and Encanto are smash hits, other releases feel uninspired. In contrast, Studio Ghibli maintains its artistic and high-quality reputation.
Split Images of Spirited Away, The Boy and The Heron, and Howl’s Moving Castle
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Focus on the Small Daily Joys
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One of the best parts of Studio Ghibli is how it takes moments to breathe. There are plenty of quiet moments in between major plot points which let the audience relax and be in the moment. Rain falls gently on rocks, soaking the countryside; characters find small joys in creating a lovely meal or taking a bite out of fresh garden produce. In contrast, Western storytelling and film studios like Disney focus a lot on pacing and maintaining an audience’s attention.
The quieter moments in Ghibli films aren’t just pleasant for the audience, though; they can also do productive character work that makes the story feel alive. When Satsuki prepares a bento box lunch for her father and sister in My Neighbor Totoro, it shows that she loves her family and wants to make their days happier and easier. When Lisa makes ramen for her son Sosuke and Ponyo in Ponyo, she nurtures the children and gives them a moment to slow down and have fun during a raging storm.
Ponyo Official Poster
Ponyo
A five-year-old boy develops a relationship with Ponyo, a young goldfish princess who longs to become a human after falling in love with him.
DirectorHayao MiyazakiRelease DateJuly 19, 2008StudioStudio GhibliCastKazushige Nagashima, Yki Amami, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Hiroki Doi, Yuria Nara, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Liam NeesonWritersHayao MiyazakiRatingGRuntime101 minutesMain GenreAnimeGenresComedy, AdventureAwards WonTokyo Anime AwardsWhere to watchHBO MaxDistributor(s)Toho
Truly Capture the Nature of Childhood
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Disney movies are primarily geared toward a child audience. Most Disney movies are fairy tale retellings and have young adult protagonists. Studio Ghibli produces many movies for a young child audience, and they tend to also have child protagonists, like Mei and Chihiro, who the audience can relate to.
Mei is a young toddler who’s not yet in school in My Neighbor Totoro. The movie perfectly captures the nature of childhood, and what many children’s behaviors and thought patterns are like. Mei is intensely curious about everything from stories her sister tells her to her backyard, she has magical thinking (from her hopes to her fears), she loves repeating words and phrases, and she’s incredibly imaginative. Few other child-centered movies portray a relatable childhood like My Neighbor Totoro does.
Satsuki and Totoro at the bus stop in the rain in Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro
My Neighbor Totoro
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
DirectorHayao MiyazakiRelease DateApril 16, 1988StudioStudio GhibliCastHitoshi Takagi, Tanie Kitabayashi, Sumi Shimamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Chika Sakamoto, Noriko HidakaWritersHayao MiyazakiRatingGRuntime86 MinutesMain GenreAnime
Complex Women & Girl Protagonists
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Kiki from Kikis Delivery Service; San atop her wolf from Princess Mononoke; Chihiro Ogino from Spirited Away.
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Many Disney protagonists are women, and the Disney Princess brand is an enormous part of the franchise. Many of the Disney Princesses have wonderful qualities, like Cinderella’s hope and kindness, and Belle’s bravery and literacy in Beauty and the Beast. Studio Ghibli takes women and girl protagonists a bit further by giving them some complex flaws and nuanced, relatable character arcs.
Sophie Hatter is a highly creative young lady, but she is also insecure. She also has a biting humor that challenges the other characters around her in Howl’s Moving Castle in an astute but compassionate way. Shizuku in Whisper of the Heart constantly compares herself to her peers, but she’s also deeply committed to growing as a creative writer. Both characters have lovely character arcs that audiences can take a lot from.
Whisper Of The Heart
Whisper of the Heart (1996)
A love story between a girl who loves reading books, and a boy who has previously checked out all of the library books she chooses.
Release DateDecember 13, 1996RatingGRuntime1 Hour 51 MinutesMain GenreAnimationGenresFamily, DramaCharacters ByYoko Honna, Issei Takahashi, Takashi TachibanaProduction CompanyTokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network (NTV), Hakuhodo
Have More Complex Villains
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Some Disney villains are truly frightening, like Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. He is a raging misogynist who wants to capture a woman who rejects him, going so far as to threaten her reputation and her family to try to control her. Many other Disney villains are more caricatures of evil, like the jealous Scar in The Lion King. Studio Ghibli humanizes their villains in a way that makes the audience examine their own biases and ask themselves what they would do if they were them.
Hayao Miyazaki said that he puts a bit of himself in each of his villains, which serves to make antagonists like Lady Eboshi in Princess Mononoke and Yubaba in the isekai Spirited Away very complex characters with good development. Rather than dismissing these people as merely evil, these movies ask “How can the problem be solved?” Yubaba changes when she understands and respects Chihro; Lady Eboshi changes when she’s humbled.
Chihiro poses on Miyazaki’s Spirited Away film poster Studio Ghibli
Spirited Away (2001)
During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, a world where humans are changed into beasts.
DirectorHayao MiyazakiRelease DateJuly 20, 2001StudioStudio GhibliCastYasuko Sawaguchi, Takashi Nait, Mari Natsuki, Miyu Irino, Rumi HragiRatingPGRuntime125 minutesMain GenreAnimeGenresFamily, Adventure
Get a Little Weird with the Sidekicks
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Sweet sidekick characters are a staple in both Studio Ghibli and Disney movies. Cinderella feeds and clothes tiny little mouse friends who sew a ballgown for her, and Briar Rose dances with her woodland creature friends in the forest. Disney’s sidekicks tend to be sweet and simple. The most popular Studio Ghibli sidekick characters are the Soot Sprites in two movies, Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro.
The Soot Sprites have an interesting lore; they live in old, empty houses as mild and benevolent spirits who neither help nor hurt the Kusakabe family. Other Studio Ghibli sidekicks get even more interesting. No Face takes a liking to Chihiro in Spirited Away, and though he looks rather creepy, he has a sweet, if very unpredictable side. Calcifer in Howl’s Moving Castle is incredibly sassy, and he’s tied to a major plot point; not only is he a great source of irreverent comedy, but he also ties the movie’s major events together.
The cover art for Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle anime film
Howl’s Moving Castle
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
DirectorHayao MiyazakiRelease DateJune 17, 2005StudioStudio GhibliCastChieko Baisho, Tatsuya Gashin, Takuya KimuraWritersDiana Wynne Jones, Hayao MiyazakiRatingPGRuntime1 Hour 59 MinutesMain GenreAnimationGenresFamily, AdventureProduction CompanyBuena Vista Home Entertainment, DENTSU Music And Entertainment, Mitsubishi.
Trust the Audience
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Split Images of Sosuke & Ponyo, Calcifer, Nausicaa & the Ohmu
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Princess Mononoke was a big turning point for Studio Ghibli, especially when it came to studios outside of Japan. The movie covers very difficult and complex themes, like war and what to do with hatred and violence. There are no easy answers, but Hayao Miyazaki fought to justify his film’s themes to American studios and to keep them from sanitizing his message. Disney has not yet made a major feature film to tackle such weighty topics.
Studio Ghibli trusts its audience, especially the teenage-and-up audience Princess Mononoke is made for. There’s trust that the audience will want to explore these topics rather than be distracted from them and that giving a sincere explanation for violence is better than sugar-coating it. Disney also loves to end their love stories on unmistakably clear notes with celebratory kisses, grand romantic gestures, and weddings. Princess Mononoke has a far more nuanced, yet optimistic, ending for the film’s lovers, San and Ashitaka.
Princess Mononoke anime poster
Princess Mononoke (1997)
On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami’s curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
DirectorHayao MiyazakiRelease DateDecember 19, 1997StudioStudio GhibliCastYji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yko TanakaWritersHayao Miyazaki, Neil GaimanRatingPG-13Runtime2 Hours 14 MinutesMain GenreAnimationGenresAction, AdventureProduction CompanyDENTSU Music And Entertainment, Nibariki, Nippon Television Network (NTV)
Stop Watering Down Social & Environmental Justice
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Disney’s made some moves in more recent releases to explore social issues, like Belle’s attempt to teach a village girl how to read in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. In the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, Prince Eric stresses the importance of forming bonds with other countries, learning from them, and exchanging goods and medicines fairly. But Disney seems to hesitate to make hard-hitting movies about social and environmental issues.
Studio Ghibli and other animated works like FernGully: The Last Rainforest (a beloved children’s film entirely about pollution and deforestation), don’t leave their messages to throwaway lines, minor plot points, or heavily veiled subtext. Ghibli’s Marco Pagot makes a bold statement against fascism in Porco Rosso. The environmental collapse due to pollution and imperialism is the main plot and problem in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
Studio Ghibli Porco Rosso movie poster
Porco Rosso (1992)
In 1930s Italy, a veteran World War I pilot is cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig.
DirectorHayao MiyazakiRelease DateDecember 16, 1994CastBunshi Katsura Vi, Tokiko Kat, Shichir Moriyama, Akemi Okamura, Michael Keaton, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Akio Otsuka, Cary ElwesWritersHayao MiyazakiRatingPGRuntime94 minutesMain GenreAnimeGenresComedy, Adventure, FantasyWhere to watchMaxStudio(s)Studio GhibliDistributor(s)Toho
Sugar-Coating History Is Artistically Dishonest
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Son Hak and Yona from Yona of the Dawn; Maomao from The Apothecary Diaries; Prince Zen Wisteria and Shirayuki from Snow White with the Red Hair.
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Like Studio Ghibli, Disney draws from fairy tales, folklore, and history for their movies. While stories about joy and culture are important, if a studio wishes to select a particular time and location, they must create a work that is honest and not misleading. That means exploring nuance, horror, and wrongdoing. Many people criticize Disney’s Pocahontas and Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, and they’re justified in that.
Pocahontas and Pocahontas II take a real indigenous woman’s abduction and colonization and sanitize it. In real life, Matoaka was married to Kokoum and had a child with him before the English took her away, separated her from her family, and renamed her “Rebecca.” Disney further insults an already horrific wrongdoing by turning Pocahontas into someone who is in love with her real-life captor. When Studio Ghibli produces historicals like The Wind Rises and Grave of the Fireflies, the story is grounded in real-life accounts and the studio doesn’t try to sanitize history or romanticize travesties.
Grave of the Fireflies Movie Poster
Grave of the Fireflies
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
DirectorIsao TakahataRelease DateJuly 26, 1989StudioStudio GhibliCastAkemi Yamaguchi, Ayano Shiraishi, Tsutomu TatsumiRatingNot rated Runtime89 minutesMain GenreAnimeGenresDrama, WarDistributor(s)Toho
Commit to Rejecting AI
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When presenters excitedly showed Hayao Miyazaki an AI example, Miyazaki didn’t praise them but reacted with vehement horror. After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he politely and irrefutably denied that AI would ever have a place in his work. He said that AI is the opposite of humanity, that it insults humanity.
Studio Ghibli founders promise that all their work, even CGI work, will be crafted by human hands. The studio has — thankfully — held to that belief because not only is AI soulless (and thus the antithesis of art made from human hands), but it’s technically theft, as it’s only a composite of stolen artwork already created by humans. In contrast, Disney is seizing the opportunity to cut corners at the cost of art and artists through AI. Disney currently has an AI task force exploring how they can use AI across many levels of their company levels.
Cel & Hand-Drawn Animation Is Worthwhile
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Disney fans and audiences beg Disney to return to hand-drawn and cel animation. These pleas and suggestions don’t have very optimistic outcomes, because Disney completely demolished their hand-drawn art department and equipment. In contrast, even though Studio Ghibli uses some CGI, they still use primarily hand-drawn animation.
Studio Ghibli’s most recent release, The Boy and the Heron is made with hand-drawn cel animation. From a business standpoint, there are some pros and cons to hand-drawn animation. Mostly, it comes down to money and time. The Boy and the Heron took seven years to complete production, and Disney produces so many films that they obviously want to speed up their output timelines. But swiftness doesn’t always equal success, and it may be worthwhile to produce thoughtful and high-quality animations over rapid-releasing, and sometimes completely scrapping, so many feature-length titles in a year.
Mahito Maki looks behind him on The Boy and the Heron poster (2023)
The Boy and the Heron
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A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
DirectorHayao MiyazakiRelease DateDecember 8, 2023CastAimyon, Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Takuya KimuraWritersHayao MiyazakiRatingPG-13Runtime2 hours 4 minutesMain GenreAnimationGenresDrama, Animation, AdventureProduction CompanyStudio Ghibli, Toho Company