“The Next Miyazaki”: Ghibli’s Sustainability Under Question?

As the senior directors at Studio Ghibli getting older, people like to speculate on which young directors will succeed them in providing high quality Japanese animated films to the world. Even before Miyazaki announced his retirement, certain directors such as Makoto Shinkai or Mamoru Hosoda have often been lauded as the “Next Miyazaki,” with Shinkai’s latest feature film your name. even breaking the box office records of Miyazaki’s most successful Spirited Away. Those directors tend to reject such designation, though, whether out of humble respect for Miyazaki’s skills, or for aspiring to create works distinctly their own rather than merely being Miyazaki’s copy.

Hayao Miyazaki Mk. 2?

Interestingly enough, the aforementioned directors are not Ghibli’s staff. While Studio Ghibli itself has announced a halt in producing new films following Miyazaki’s retirement, with When Marnie was There (2014) being their last released full-length feature film for the time being. One of Ghibli’s founders Toshio Suzuki commented that the studio will reconsider its future following the retirement of Miyazaki. It seems as if Ghibli can not produce younger talents who are sufficient enough to succeed the senior directors. Ghibli films that were directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi or Miyazaki’s son Goro did not reach the same level of success as films directed by Miyazaki or Takahata.

The truth is, Studio Ghibli is strongly hierarchical. The senior directors, especially Miyazaki, are charismatic master artist figures, with the younger animators lending their labor to serve the masters’ visions. Such a system is not exactly conducive for younger animators to develop their own styles, because the younger staff have to follow everything the master says. Mamoru Oshii even consider the Studio Ghibli system to have totalitarian streak, inhibiting innovation, experiments, and individuality. Ironically, animators who work on anime with limited animation outside of Ghibli tend to have more freedom to experiment and produce their own distinct styles (more details on that in this article).

When he was still at Toei Animation, Mamoru Hosoda himself once almost got to direct Howl’s Moving Castle at Studio Ghibli. However, he had to part ways with the project as his ideas got rejected by the higher ups, leading to Miyazaki taking over the director’s chair. Returning to Toei with the help of some friends, Hosoda then illustrated his frustrating experience at Ghibli through the One Piece film Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (2005). While Koji Morimoto, who worked as an animator in Miyazaki’s film Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), described Miyazaki like an emperor. “(he) has his own style … everybody abides by what he says.” Though he acknowledged Miyazaki’s signature style, Morimoto himself said that he would like to be a different kind of creator than the old master, one who is more open to incorporate ideas from other people in his works.

Read more: Battle of Surabaya, Miyazaki, and the Action/Adventure Genre

Notably, Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Marnie) had left Ghibli and founded a new studio named Ponoc with some other ex-Ghibli staff, with their first feature film Mary and the Witch’s Flower set to debut in Japan in summer 2017. Meanwhile, despite his previous intention to retire, Miyazaki is said to have been working on an idea for a new feature film. Though it’s not certain yet if Ghibli is going to put it forward for production. How will these recent developments leave their mark on Japanese animation in the coming future reamins to be seen.

Such was how Studio Ghibli is constructed as a unique creative voice in the field of Japanese animation, basing itself on certain vision and idealism regarding the true nature of the art of animation, and brought into form through strict, hierarchical system. On one hand, this shows a loyal commitment to the artistic ideals they believe in, but on the other hand, there’s a risk of becoming overly conservative. Can such a system sustain itself in the long run?

References

The Indonesian Anime Times | By Halimun Muhammad

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