Ghibliotheque - A Podcast About Animation and Studio Ghibli

After trekking through the entirety of the Studio Ghibli library, Michael and Jake go back to the beginning... to Isao Takahata's ground-breaking 1960s animated feature Little Norse Prince. A hugely influential film that was something of a box office disaster on initial release, Little Norse Prince set in motion many of the themes, collaborations and techniques that would come to define Ghibli two...

22 episodes later... Michael and Jake reach the final feature in the Studio Ghibli library. This curio - a teen romance in the vein of Only Yesterday, Whisper of the Heart and From Up On Poppy Hill - is not only unique because it is Ghibli's only made-for-TV movie, it's also the first feature from the Studio to be directed by someone other than co-founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. No pres...

Isao Takahata returns! This week, Michael & Jake fill in the final gap in the old master's work at Studio Ghibli. 5 years after Pom Poko and 14 years before The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya, Isao Takahata experimented with Ghibli's first all-digital animation, the slice-of-life domestic comedy My Neighbours The Yamadas. Full of worldly wisdom and gentle, observational humour, and rendered in an...

A follow-up to one of Ghibli's most controversial releases, From Up On Poppy Hill was director Goro Miyazaki's second crack at the whip after his debut, Tales From Earthsea. But Poppy Hill is a very different proposition: a nostalgic, wholesome, period-set romance that harks back to Ghibli gems Only Yesterday and Whisper Of The Heart. Does he find firmer footing as a filmmaker this time around? Fo...

Michael and Jake return to the Ghibliotheque to tackle Hayao Miyazaki's first anime epic, the sprawling fantasy adventure Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. While the film actually predates the founding of Studio Ghibli, many of the key personnel, themes and qualities that would define the Studio's work are here in spades, and the success of Nausicaä put Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Toshio S...

Recorded live at the British Museum in support of their Manga Exhibition, this episode features Michael & Jake's on-stage conversation with exhibition curator Nicole Rousmaniere and animation critic Alex Dudok de Wit , following a screening of Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises. Follow Michael and Jake on Twitter: @MichaelJLeader  – Michael @jakehcunningham  – Jake Produced by Michael L...

Recorded live at the British Museum in support of their Manga Exhibition, this episode features Michael & Jake's on-stage conversation with academic and Ghibli expert Rayna Denison, Manga Exhibition curator Uchida Hiromi and ceramic artist Hosono Hitomi, following a screening of Isao Takahata's The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya. Follow Michael and Jake on Twitter: @MichaelJLeader – Michael @jake...

Recorded live at the British Museum, this episode features Michael & Jake's on-stage conversation with Manga exhibition curator Matsuba Ryoko and Simon Wright, director of programming at Japan House London , following a screening of Isao Takahata's Pom Poko. The British Museum's Manga exhibition runs until 26th August. For more information, visit: https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibit...

Recorded live at the British Museum, this episode features Michael & Jake's on-stage conversation with Manga exhibition curator Nicole Rousmaniere and renowned Studio Ghibli expert Helen McCarthy , following a screening of Hayao Miyazaki's animated classic, My Neighbour Totoro. The British Museum's Manga exhibition runs until 26th August. For more information, visit: https://www.britishmuseum....

In this special episode recorded live at Latitude Festival, Michael & Jake venture out of the podcast recording booth and out of the Studio Ghibli canon altogether to discuss Mary & The Witch's Flower, the first film from Ghibli alumni Studio Ponoc. Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and producer Yoshiaki Nishimura previously worked together at Ghibli on the radical When Marnie Was There, but P...

This season of Ghibliotheque comes to a close with the final masterpiece from the legendary filmmaker, and Studio Ghibli co-founder, Isao Takahata. Described by Hayao Miyazaki as 'descended from a giant sloth', Takahata took his sweet time with his quietly experimental take on the 10th century folk tale, working at his own glacial pace and missing many production deadlines before the film's eventu...

This week, Michael & Jake zero in on Hayao Miyazaki's most recent release, the wildly ambitious biographical, historical, and very technical aviation drama The Wind Rises. Once thought to be Miyazaki's final film, this magnificent mic-drop masterpiece showed the old master still innovating even as he contemplated retirement - blending the magical animation of his beloved classics with deeper t...

This week, Michael & Jake go all the way back to the beginning for the very first Studio Ghibli production: the fantasy-adventure epic Laputa, also known as Castle In The Sky. By 1986, Hayao Miyazaki was already a seasoned animator, but the pressure was on. Could this new, independent studio revolutionise Japanese animation? Follow Michael and Jake on Twitter: @MichaelJLeader – Michael @jakehc...

This week, Michael & Jake tackle the controversial Ursula K. Le Guin adaptation Tales From Earthsea, the directorial debut from Goro Miyazaki, son of Studio Ghibli legend Hayao Miyazaki. Le Guin once said that only Miyazaki could do her epic fantasy series justice on the big screen - but little did she know that the task would fall to Goro, who had no prior animation, filmmaking or direct...

Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli. This week, Michael & Jake tackle Hiromasa Yonebayashi's second film as director, the fantasy-tinged drama When Marnie Was There. Still, for now, the final Studio Ghibli feature film to be released in cinemas, this adaptation of Joan G. Robinson's British...

Hosts Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham return to the Ghibliotheque to discuss one of Studio Ghibli's most beloved adventures. Hayao Miyazaki's animated tale of a witch coming of age and leaving home came at a time when the Studio's fortunes were flagging, but the film's box office success secured Ghibli's future for years to come, and would set the tone for many more magical Miyazaki gems, from...

Michael Leader & Jake Cunningham invite Honey Ross and her father, broadcaster Jonathan Ross into the Ghibliotheque to discuss their relationship with the films of Studio Ghibli, from Jonathan's career as a TV host, film critic and avowed Asian cinema fanatic, to the Ross family's visit to Studio Ghibli's headquarters to interview Hayao Miyazaki himself. Follow Michael and Jake on Twitter: @ M...

Merry Christmas from the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli! To round off 2018, producer Steph Watts joins Michael & Jake for a special episode packed with festive treats, ranging from Ghibli Christmas cracker jokes and a Ghibli dad-themed quiz, to Jake's own Leaderboard ranking of all the films covered o...

Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli. To finish this second season of Ghibliotheque, Michael & Jake return to the mighty Hayao Miyazaki for his family-friendly follow-up to Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle: the fish-out-of-water fantasy Ponyo. After the increasin...

Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli. This week, Michael & Jake are joined by Iana Murray to paw over the only feature-length sequel in the Ghibli canon, and Hiroyuki Morita's sole directorial credit for the Studio: the feline fantasy adventure The Cat Returns. Follow Michael and Jake on Twit...

Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli. This week, Michael & Jake discuss Hiromasa Yonebayashi's Ghibli debut, Arrietty. Based on the Mary Norton children's classic, this fantasy following the adventures of a tiny girl and her miniature family was by no means small-scale - eventually becoming t...

Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli. In this episode, Michael and Jake leave the cosy confines of the Ghibliotheque for an in-depth conversation with The Red Turtle director Michaël Dudok de Wit, recorded live at the British Film Institute as part of their Podstock programme. Dialogue-free,...

Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli. In this episode, pigs fly (or one does, anyway) as Michael & Jake take off with Hayao Miyazaki's 1992 porcine aviator adventure, Porco Rosso. Initially planned as short in-flight movie for Japan Airlines, the film ballooned as Miyazaki went the whole hog,...

Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli. In this episode, Michael & Jake get to grips with one of the oddest films in the Studio Ghibli canon: Isao Takahata's 1994 urbanisation polemic Pom Poko. Focusing on a community of magical tanuki raccoon-dogs who use their powers of transformation - and t...

Welcome to the Ghibliotheque, the podcast that leafs through the library of films from the world’s greatest animation studio, Studio Ghibli.   Michael & Jake return to the Ghibliotheque for a new mini-series, and kick things off with one of Studio Ghibli's biggest hits: 2004's magical adventure Howl's Moving Castle. Howl’s was initially slated as the first Ghibli movie to be dir...