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Ghibli has always been synonymous with Miyazaki and Takahata. I think it's fine for the studio to fade away or disband after the two founders exit the stage, their legacy will endure.

Goro's story is tragic. By all accounts Miyazaki is far from the perfect father, to put it mildly, and it's difficult enough to live up to the reputation of someone like Miyazaki even under the best circumstances. The only example I can think of where a son matches the reputation of a 1st rate artist father is the Scarlatti family. Although I think Goro has redeemed some of his reputation with Poppy hill.

Speaking of Shinkai, his Children who Chase Lost Voices is the finest Miyazaki/Ghibli pastiche I have ever seen, and very underrated. It may lack the emotional depth of Miyazaki's best works, but then that's something Miyazaki himself sometimes failed to do. As a homage it certainly is more than adequate.

The "problem" is that, in Japan, Ghibli is much more than a studio movie. It's a profit machine for merchandise, books, and theme parks. You can't just let that fade away.

Disney itself went through rough patches, where the new generations either defected (Don Bluth) or disappointed. Ghibli started going through that; Gorō Miyazaki can keep the flame alive for the time being, but nobody is under the impression that he can take it to new and sunny uplands. The question is whether they can find somebody who can, in the way Disney got Michael Eisner. What they really need now is a successor to Toshio Suzuki who can attract new talent the way Suzuki used to do.

Shifting from being a movie studio to an IP management company might make sense.

Yeah but they don't really have a leadership that can countenance that at the moment. Everyone, from Suzuki and old man Hayao down, is fundamentally a creative, not an admin.

Yes. Nintendo spent decades as an also-ran novelty company before Hiroshi Yamauchi had the foresight to go all-in on video games. Ghibli is obviously a very different company, but with Goro's continued involvement, it seems like it will follow the example of many Japanese firms of essentially being a legal business entity that represents the founding family until - and even after - it happens upon an application that can be sustained by personnel outside the family. In other words, what Ghibli makes doesn't necessarily matter to its continued existence, I think.

While Eisner was great at keeping the lights on, Lassiter was the one who brought back the magic. I didn’t care much of any of Bluth’s work either, but you are absolutely right about a long “rough patch” and it’s existence does not mean the end.

I don't know man, Aladdin was a masterpiece. Lasseter is cool but some of the '90s stuff is <chef kiss>

> You can't just let that fade away.

A westerner would say that, but it's far more appropriate for Disney than Ghibli. Ghibli will fade away. Miyazaki is an auteur. You won't recreate him.

That's rose-tinted glasses speaking. Ghibli today is not just Hayao and Gorō Miyazaki like it wasn't just Hayao and Isao Takahata before. Everyone likes money, even (or rather, especially) Japanese animators; the Japanese have a very prosaic approach to their IP. All the moves from Toshio Suzuki over the last decade indicate that he is trying to negotiate a creative transition to keep the show going. Whether he can do it in his lifetime or not, that's another question, but IMHO there is no doubt that he's trying hard.

The question of "how do academic families arise?" is an interesting one. Off the top of my head, the Huxley, Darwin, and Witten families. Perhaps it's the irrational, human desire to map meaning where there is none?

Goro's story is tragic. By all accounts Miyazaki is far from the perfect father, to put it mildly, and it's difficult enough to live up to the reputation of someone like Miyazaki even under the best circumstances. The only example I can think of where a son matches the reputation of a 1st rate artist father is the Scarlatti family.

It reminds me of Jiro Dreams of Sushi in a way, where Jiro, as masterful at making sushi as Miyazaki is at making movies, has two sons. The older son is expected to live up to his father's name. Not surpass his father, not put his twist on things, but to do everything in just the same way so that one day he can take over the restaurant. As such, he is treated very much like a 50-something trainee and will likely never step out of his father's shadow (Jiro's younger son already has his own successful sushi restaurant). I feel like Goro is in the same situation. He's expected to do everything like his father, even if he doesn't want to or if his talents are better suited to something else. I don't know if this is a universal thing for successful, controlling people, or if there is something particular about Japanese culture at play here (I know, 2 points don't necessarily make a trend).

As far as artistic families where a child matches or succeeds their first rate father, I'd have to say Andrew Wyeth is a more impressive artist than N. C.

In this case, the elder Miyazaki did not want his son to go into the business at all, and after Earthsea, also wanted him to stop. It's a different but similarly difficult dynamic.

> Ghibli has always been synonymous with Miyazaki and Takahata. I think it's fine for the studio to fade away or disband after the two founders exit the stage, their legacy will endure.

Perhaps Disney should have as well. Would have spared the world "The Love Bug", "The Apple Dumpling Gang", etc.

> of a 1st rate artist fathe

Going on a tangent here, but I'd say Jean Renoir was as good at making movies as his father was at being a painter, imo he was even more important for the history of the art of cinema than his father was the history of painting as an art.

Clint Eastwood is 11 years older than Miyazaki and still directs movies. I wouldn't be surprised if Miyazaki comes back for yet another movie in a few years!

On the other hand, Ghibli owns a bunch of highly valuable IP. When it comes to business, they could easily survive for decades selling stuffed Totoro and Catbus figures.

I don't think Miyazaki will allow his works to be adapted or remade during his lifetime, but once he's gone the new management might find it hard to resist licensing deals with Hollywood. I for one would love to see someone like Denis Villeneuve take a stab at Nausicaa (the manga version, not the anime) one day. Due to time and budget constraints, Miyazaki's own film barely scratches the surface of the epic saga he had envisioned.

I'd rather James Cameron. Avatar is a closer visual relative to Nausicaa than Villaneuve's Dune, and his long-standing desire to see Gunnm adapted (which he eventually passed to Robert Rodriguez so it could actually get done) tells me that he has a respect for both the originating medium and a lot of the elements that also make Nausicaa work. The two works have very different tones, of course, but so do Nausicaa and everything V's done.

The film sure looks like Avatar. The 7-volume manga series, on the other hand, feels more like Dune, especially after the second or third book. It goes much deeper into the ecological and political history of Nausicaa's world, shoving her unwilling into the middle of a world war and shaping her to become a different kind of Messiah figure than the cute version of the film. The landscape outside of the Valley of Wind is far from the lush green of Pandora, and in fact is just as deadly as Arrakis is. Also, giant worms.

But if James Cameron takes an interest in the Nausicaa universe, he'll probably develop an actual flying contraption that looks and works just like the moeve! Absolutely no complaints about that, either. :)

True, but I also look at JC's work on Terminator 2. If anyone has experience with directing films about a post-apocalypse filled with unfathomably advanced tech which has it out for contemporary humans, it's him.

I also don't know if Villaneuve can handle the Sea of Corruption. So even if he's good with later parts, he fumbles the intro.

Maybe go the Harry Potter route.

Fair point, I'm fine with either. One of the great things about adaptations and remakes -- as long as they don't do it too often -- is that we get to see different interpretations of the source material.

>Who is left to continue the legacy?

Let it die, everything else you list, Disney/Pixar are shadows of their former self.

Things don't have to go on forever and ever, the things they made are still great and at least then they won't be ruined like the great works of Pixar are with sequels.

I'd rather never have another Ghibli movie ever again than have them become what Disney and Pixar are today.

When was Disney the greatest? I enjoyed 90s Disney.

Considering Ghibli hasn't been active in cel-based animation production for a few years in the feature film space, it's entirely possible that after this next movie they won't be doing much cel animation anymore (unless Miyazaki Hayao ends up making another movie when he's 90). Though it would be great if they could use their resources to become an incubator or sorts, to find talent that might be able to keep the spirit alive.

Goro probably needs to find his own niche, he had the pressure on him too early in his career. His work inside Ghibli the last few years also has been computer animation based, so it's clear that Ghibli as a company overall is actually larger and more flexible than what it sounds like in these Miyazaki Hayao-focused articles.

I'm curious of others' thoughts on Shinkai's "Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho" (which was given the unfortunate title of "The Place Promised in our Early Days" ) which was Shinkai's first feature-length work. I actually resonated quite a bit with the characters and their project, though I could see how the angst that develops between them could be construed as overblown. It's not long enough of a movie to fully develop the "what" and "why" but I think it covers the most critical aspects. It's also quite pretty, but that's something shared with everything else he's worked on- the focus in particular on light and reflection, and skies. I met him at a convention a while back and asked about what influenced his style of handling light and color in skies and his answer was basically that he used to spend a lot of time outside (which makes sense, he's from Nagano which is quite mountainous and known for being very scenic). Anyway, Shinkai has only ever treated one subject- distance between people- from various angles, and has only directed films he also wrote himself.

"Weathering With You" is my favorite among his works. Its the closest one to a Ghibli film.

How I wish Satoshi Kon is still around making great films...

You forgot Joe Hisashi, probably one of the most defining characteristics of a Ghibli flim. He's still active though, as far as I know.

I didn't forget him, as I don't expect him to direct any films. But I agree that his music is very important for Ghiblis success.

I saw him in a concert right when covid was starting and I think he's back and performing again. He's such an amazing composer and he seems so kind and energetic, just based on his mannerisms from afar.

As long as they have people they’ll continue. Maybe we’ll be surprised by someone that hasn’t been on the radar at all until now?

> I went to see a Makoto Shinkai (Your Name) movie festival, and some of his early work was less than impressive.

whaaaaa? Everything that he's written (which is everything except his first two and fifth short film) has hit.