Ghibliotheque - A Podcast About Animation and Studio Ghibli

In this third episode of our Hosodathon miniseries, Michael, Jake and Steph discuss Mamoru Hosoda's Wolf Children, the first feature produced by his independent production company Studio Chizu. Once again mixing personal themes and high-concept storytelling, Hosoda turns his awestruck feelings upon seeing his friends become parents into a sweeping fable about a single mother tasked with bring...

In this second episode of our Hosodathon miniseries, Michael, Jake and Steph team up to tackle Mamoru Hosoda's Summer Wars, an epic tale of an everyday, dysfunctional family banding together to face a world-threatening threat in a virtual world - bringing together two of the director's recurring themes: family dynamics and the impact that the internet has on our lives. Get in touch with Ghibl...

Michael, Jake and Steph return with an all-new Ghibliotheque spin-off miniseries, leaping into the filmography of one of today's leading anime filmmakers, Mamoru Hosoda, whose latest film Belle is a hotly anticipated new release in early 2022. We start our Hosodathon journey with 2006's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the fan-favourite anime gem that first introduced many viewers to Hosoda and hi...

It's the annual Ghibliotheque Christmas episode! At the virtual Christmas party, Michael, Jake, Steph and Harold look back at 2021, declare their favourite books, films, games and music of the year, read out some superb casting choices for a Ghibli Nativity play, and of course it wouldn't be a Ghibliotheque Christmas episode without Harold singing some Ghibli remixes of some festive favourites. Fo...

Since we're now on hiatus we thought we'd give a nod to a new podcast from some friends and colleagues of the pod, that also digs into the wonderful world of Anime! Anime To Z features comedian Bec Hill and rapper Che Lingo digging through the intricate worlds of some massive anime franchises, starting with the Evangelion rebuild film series. Have a listen, and if you like it, please subscribe ove...

As the Ghibliotheque book is now available in shops and from online retailers in the UK, Michael and Jake have a short chat to mark the occasion. Listeners - thank you for all your support of the podcast to date, and if you do pick up the book, we hope you enjoy it! If you haven't picked up a copy yet, you can do so from your local bookshop in the UK, or you can order online from various online st...

In this final episode of The Chat Returns, we're very excited to welcome Siobhan Reddy into the walls of the Ghibliotheque, to talk about how the works of Ghibli have inspired and crossed over with her hugely successful, ambitious and creative works. Studio Director at Media Molecule, the video game developers behind LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway and last year's acclaimed Dreams, we spoke to Siobhan a...

We are very excited to welcome comic artist and big Ghibli fan Erica Henderson into the Ghibliotheque for this episode. Erica's stunning work can be found in the revolutionary Marvel comic Squirrel Girl, the Archie comics standout Jughead and much more, she joins us for a conversation about the Cantonese language Ghibli films that got her into the studio, the Chinatown basement that housed some hu...

For this episode of The Chat Returns, we're joined by the incredible, BRIT award winning, artist Arlo Parks. Whilst recording her acclaimed debut album 'Collapsed in Sunbeams', Arlo and her producer would watch a different Ghibli film each day, so we get into how much Ghibli crossed over into the record, the first time she discovered Ghibli and her fairly controversial choice for a Ghibli hidden g...

In this episode we get an early glimpse of an event that Ghibli fans the world over will be clamouring to see, the Hayao Miyazaki exhibition at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. Sadly we can't visit the museum and the exhibition, which opens on 30 September, so for this episode we spoke to Jessica Niebel and J. Raul Guzman, the curating team behind it. Featuring more than 300 objects, including o...

We're so excited to welcome Emily VanDerWerff, one of the finest film and TV critics working today, on to the podcast, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Spirited Away, her favourite film of all time. Together we explore the deep depths of Miyazaki's Oscar winner, Emily's thoughts on the wider Ghibli catalogue and how Hayao Miyazaki's work compares to David Lynch's.  Keep an eye out for wee...

The Ghibliotheque dysfunctional family welcomes Mike Rianda - director of 'The Mitchells vs The Machines, one of our favourite films of the year - on to the podcast to talk about his love of Ghibli, the lessons in animation he took from watching documentaries about the studio, and how he wanted to create a unique art style for 'The Mitchells vs The Machines' Keep an eye out for weekly episodes in...

We're very proud to welcome Peter Lord, one of the co-founders of legendary animation studio Aardman, on to the podcast this week to talk about Aardman's relationship to Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki's influence on an Aardman exhibition at the Ghibli Museum and a lot more. Keep an eye out for weekly episodes in our Chat Returns miniseries - featuring conversations with filmmakers, writers, and ani...

The Chat Returns, or should we say 🇮🇹 Torna la Chat 🇮🇹 this week with Luca director Enrico Casarosa, on his love of early Miyazaki and how the Studio Ghibli philosophy informed his style of storytelling. From watching Future Boy Conan on TV as a kid in Italy, to screening his Pixar short La Luna at Studio Ghibli, it turns out that Enrico's connection to Miyazaki and the Studio runs deep. Keep an e...

This week in our Chat Returns miniseries, friend of the show Alex Dudok de Wit returns to tell us all about his new book on Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies - which is available now from all good booksellers. Keep an eye out for weekly episodes in our Chat Returns miniseries - featuring conversations with filmmakers, writers, and animators who have either worked directly with Ghibli, or have...

This week in our Chat Returns miniseries, we are joined by Elizabeth Ito, creator of the delightful Netflix animated series City of Ghosts, which chronicles the adventures of the Ghost Club as they discover the histories of various vibrant Los Angeles neighbourhoods. Keep an eye out for weekly episodes in our Chat Returns miniseries - featuring conversations with filmmakers, writers, and animators...

This week, the Chat Returns and so does the Cartoon Salooniverse, as Michael and Jake speak with Will Collins, co-writer of both Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers. Down the line from Ireland, Will tells Michael and Jake about his relationship with the films of Studio Ghibli and his ongoing collaboration with Cartoon Saloon filmmakers Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart. Keep an eye out for weekly episodes i...

This week in our Chat Returns miniseries, we are thrilled to speak with one of the leading characters of the Ghibliotheque story so far... Studio Ghibli's long-serving producer, enabler, genius-herder and former President, Toshio Suzuki. Suzuki has played a key role in every Studio Ghibli film to date, and has had significant influence on the careers of all Ghibli's filmmakers, not least Goro Miya...

Kicking off our new interview miniseries, Michael talks with director, museum project manager and all-round Ghibli veteran Goro Miyazaki about his career, his relationship with the Studio, and his new film, Earwig and the Witch - which is now screening in cinemas across the UK. Keep an eye out for weekly episodes in our Chat Returns miniseries - featuring conversations with filmmakers, writers, an...

Before we close the swing doors of the Cartoon Salooniverse, Michael, Jake and Steph cast the new wide to discuss everything the studio does that isn't feature length, from the Oscar-nominated short film Late Afternoon, to the delightful children's series Puffin Rock, and everything in between, including a conversation about Cartoon Saloon's pitch for a Winnie the Pooh series, and a tantalising lo...

This week's episode of our Cartoon Salooniverse miniseries brings us up to date, as Michael, Jake and Steph talk about Cartoon Saloon's latest, Oscar-nominated feature, Wolfwalkers, which sees Tomm Moore completing his Irish folklore trilogy of stories, this time working in collaboration with co-director Ross Stewart. Get in touch with Ghibliotheque at ghibli@littledotstudios.com or follow us on T...

This week in our Cartoon Salooniverse miniseries, Michael, Jake and Steph leave behind the folklore-filled landscape of Tomm Moore's Ireland for The Breadwinner, the animated drama about a young girl growing up in Afghanistan in the dying days of Taliban rule, directed by Cartoon Saloon co-founder Nora Twomey. What happens when such a distinctively Irish studio looks abroad? Read the article 'The...

How do you follow a widely-renowned, Oscar-nominated debut feature? In this episode in our miniseries about the Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, Michael, Jake and Steph discuss their second feature, Tomm Moore's coastal fantasy Song of the Sea - a film about a young boy, his little sister (who also happens to be a magical selkie creature), and the rich folklore that rises out of the very lan...

Michael, Jake and Steph return with a new Ghibliotheque spin-off miniseries, dedicated to the wonderful work of Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, who are often referred to as the Ghibli of Kilkenny. Listeners may remember our interview with Cartoon Saloon directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart about their latest film WolfWalkers and the enduring influence of Studio Ghibli, but in this episode...

This week, Michael and Jake are thrilled to tackle something new for the Ghibliotheque podcast... a brand-new Studio Ghibli film! The latest from Goro Miyazaki, Earwig and the Witch may come from a familiar source, as it's adapted from a novel by Howl's Moving Castle author Diana Wynne Jones, but it showcases a radical new direction for Ghibli as the Studio's first 3D, CG-animated feature. But how...