The Complete Catalog

The resonance of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1992 film Porco Rosso is hard to deny. From an iconic line to a chilling moment of morbid beauty, Tristan and film historian Matt Page address the many connections to Miyazaki’s personal temperament, life, and beliefs, even while they celebrate the movie’s ability to serve as a thrilling “genre picture” with universal appeal.

With Only Yesterday, Studio Ghibli’s 1991 film, director Isao Takahata took a number of creative liberties and experimented outside the bounds of typical animation processes of the day. As writer and critic Marta McFly (host of Rewind and Revive ) and Tristan discuss, this approach is the basis of a reflective piece with universal empathy on growing up, centered on a young girl’s, then woman’s, ex...

Studio Ghibli broke into big box office hit territory with Hayao Miyazaki’s 1989 cozy movie Kiki’s Delivery Service. As friend of the show Garrett Arseneault and Tristan discuss, the film’s vibes are impeccable, with classic “I want to go to there” scenery, but they contain a depth of commentary on growing up, found family, and young womanhood.

David Blakeslee, host of the Criterion Reflections podcast , is used to thinking seriously about often overwhelming films. That comes in handy in his conversation with Tristan about Isao Takahata’s 1988 masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies, a stunning and moving work of art that many praise and proclaim they’ll never watch again in equal measure.

Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro is now an animation milestone and famed title in the Studio Ghibli catalog, although as writer and journalist Caroline Delbert and Tristan discuss, its success was not immediately assured. Their conversation attempts to explore the rich depths of the amazingly pleasant movie, a film so revered and analyzed in so many different ways.

Isao Takahata’s 1987 live-action documentary The Story of Yanagawa’s Canals is probably Studio Ghibli’s most obscure feature. As James Willey ( @moviegoodormoviebad on TikTok and YouTube ) and Tristan discuss, however, this seemingly uncharacteristic Ghibli film, only the studio’s second, still carries a lot of beautiful and recurrent themes for the director.

Shawn Hall, behind the @shawntokssilents TikTok account and The Everyday Cinephile , and Tristan both admire the beauty and deeper themes of the first official Studio Ghibli work, Hayao Miyazaki’s 1986 film Castle in the Sky. While a recurring disconnect from some of the characters and action doesn’t dominate the conversation, they commiserate on why this feels left out of the extremely warm feeli...

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a thorny film without easy answers, as film historian and cultural critic Paul T. Klein and Tristan find. Their conversation does, however, attempt to plumb the depths of the pacifist, environmental, and feminist messages woven throughout the arresting images of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1984 classic. Paul writes at howtoreadmovies.com and co-hosts the Cold War Cinema...

Listeners to this show will soon hear a lot of quotations from Rayna Denison’s book Studio Ghibli: An Industrial History . Although Isao Takahata’s 1982 film Gauche the Cellist still resides in the pre-Ghibli history, Rayna’s great expertise on the director’s work is brought to bear on this conversation about this gorgeously animated movie with a classical music focus.

Journalist Andrew Osmond has made a career of writing about animation and anime, including the books BFI Film Classics: Spirited Away and 100 Animated Feature Films . So it makes sense that Tristan came upon his work, specifically Andrew’s review of the 1981 film directed by Isao Takahata: Chie the Brat, which the two discuss as an underseen yet delightful gem of its director’s varied career.

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, Hayao Miyazaki's feature directorial debut, seems like the product of immaculate conception. But as friend of the show Austin Clark and Tristan discuss, Miyazaki's incredibly fluid and beautifully structured 1979 film is a great success based on over 15 years of television work.

Welcome to The Complete Catalog, a podcast for media deep dives! For this first season, host Tristan Ettleman and his guests explore the 30 films of Studio Ghibli (including some pre-history and shorts, TV shows, and other projects). Friend of the show Trevor Bermingham inaugurates The Complete Catalog by joining Tristan to talk about The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun, future Ghibli...

The boys are back nearly a year after Tears of the Kingdom's release to bring you a bonus episode reflecting on the latest installment in The Legend of Zelda series. Its massive scope has digested a bit and they have opinions (especially Isaac). Also, guest Luke Stoutenburg shares how the new hit affected him in the midst of a deeper dive into the franchise in general. And an updated guest ranking...

The end of Butt Heads season 1 is here...for now! On the eve of the release of Tears of the Kingdom, the boys look back on their journey across the 19 (soon to be 20) mainline games in The Legend of Zelda series. Tristan and Isaac walk through their respective lists, butting of heads actually results in some changes, the "Boscars Hemmys" are awarded to various outstanding aspects of the series, an...

Breath of the Wild came out of the gate with fans calling it not only the best Zelda game, but also the best game of all time. That's quite the reputation to build in so little time and the boys discuss how that conflicts with their nostalgic feelings for older games in the series. Plus, Corey Sotelo joins the show again for this penultimate episode, talking his in-depth experiences with the 2017...

Tri Force Heroes will always and forever be defined by how hard its structure and multiplayer is to access years removed from its 2015 release, however basically solid its gameplay is. The boys discuss that "disappointment..." ...but as Eric R. Miller (three-time guest and apparent resident multiplayer Zelda expert) points out, disappointment might be too strong a word.

A Link Between Worlds' reputation as an underrated Zelda game is certainly earned, as the boys discuss one of the best 2D games in the series...and indeed, period! Also, Madeleine Clermont returns and joins the three-time guest club to talk about how much she loves the game and how the 2013 installment was such a breath of fresh air.

Skyward Sword faced a lot of revisionist history shortly after its release in 2011 and to this day is still beloved and harshly criticized. Both of the boys see the problems with it, but they mostly discuss how it's a magical time that carried a lot of the core emotions of the Zelda series. They are also joined by guest Debe Ili (Isaac's own wife!) to discuss how this installment was her first Zel...

The boys' conversation about Spirit Tracks has a lot in common with the one about Phantom Hourglass, but then this 2009 follow up is in fact quite similar to its predecessor. And that's not necessarily a good thing. Guest Madeleine Clermont also returns to the show to be a bit of a moderating influence on some negativity!

Phantom Hourglass was novel in some ways, but both of the boys have issues with the 2007 Legend of Zelda game's "streamlining" of the series' formula and its inaccessible controls. Additionally, guest Bella Stoutenburg (and Tristan's S.O.) comes on the show to go back into her childhood experiences with the game.

Twilight Princess has emerged as both a dark horse favorite and controversial installment in the Legend of Zelda series. The boys wrestle with both opinions as they range far and wide in their mega-discussion about the 2006 game. Guest Trista Thurston also joins the show to highlight standout story elements and how Twilight Princess fit into an angsty teen's life. Plus: coverage of spin-off Freshl...

In this episode on The Minish Cap, the Butt Heads boys sound much more negative about the game then they may ultimately feel. Dan Vandervort also guests once again to talk about how the 3DS Ambassador Program gave him access to a run of great Game Boy Advance games, one of which was of course this 2004 entry into the Legend of Zelda series.

Butt Heads is back! The boys return from a major hiatus to talk an overlooked installment in The Legend of Zelda series: Four Swords Adventures. The butting heads gets a little more intense for this 2004 gem! Also, guest Eric R. Miller, the show's resident multiplayer Zelda expert, returns to dissect the game's place in Nintendo's history.

The boys get back to another big 3D entry in The Legend of Zelda series: The Wind Waker. The first GameCube Zelda game turns out to be one of both Tristan and Isaac's favorites, although there's another hair-splitting Butt Heads segment to come out of the phenomenal 2002 entry. Seth S. Scott also returns to the show to give his take on what is also one of his favorite Zelda games!

Four Swords just might be it: the ultimate last game in both Tristan and Isaac's Zelda rankings. There are still many games to come, but as the boys discuss, it'll be hard to find something worse than this mostly forgettable entry in the series. But it's not all bad. Guest Eric R. Miller hops on the show to discuss the neat ideas to come out of the 2002 Game Boy Advance game!