Studio Founders

There are four founders of Studio Ghibli who are Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki, Isao Takahata and Yasuyoshi Tokuma. They are good colleagues of each others. Some of them are directors, animators, producers and publisher. And we are now introducing them to you!

Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, born January 5, 1941) is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, author, and manga artist. Through a career that has spanned five decades, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and as a maker of anime feature films and, along with Takahata. Miyazaki has been described as combining elements of Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg and Orson Welles.

Miyazaki began his animation career in 1963, when he joined Toei Animation. From there, Miyazaki worked for Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon, where he pitched ideas that eventually became the movie's ending. He continued to work in various roles in the animation industry until he directed his first feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, released in 1979. 

After the success of his next film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), he co-founded Studio Ghibli, where he continued to produce many feature films. While Miyazaki's films have long enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan, he remained largely unknown to the West until Miramax Films released Princess Mononoke (1997). Princess Mononoke was briefly the highest-grossing film in Japan and it became the first animated film to win Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards. Miyazaki's next film, Spirited Away (2001), topped Titanic’s sales at the Japanese box office, won Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards, and was the first anime film to win an American Academy Award.

Miyazaki's films often contain recurrent themes, like humanity's relationship with nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. The protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women. While two of his films, The Castle of Cagliostro and Castle in the Sky (1986), involve traditional villains, his other films like Nausicaä and Princess Mononoke present morally ambiguous antagonists with redeeming qualities. 

Miyazaki's newest film The Wind Rises was released on July 20, 2013 and screened internationally in February 2014. The film would go on to earn him his third American Academy Award nomination and first Golden Globe Award nomination. Miyazaki announced on September 1, 2013 that The Wind Rises would be his final feature-length movie. In November 2014, Miyazaki was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his impact on animation and cinema. He is the second Japanese filmmaker to win this award.

In 2002, American film critic Roger Ebert suggested that Miyazaki may be the best animation filmmaker in history, praising the depth and artistry of his films.

Return to Top | Toshio Suzuki | Isao Takahata

Toshio Suzuki

Toshio Suzuki (鈴木 敏夫, born August 19, 1948) is a film producer of anime and a long-time colleague of Hayao Miyazaki, as well as the former president of Studio Ghibli. Suzuki is renowned as one of Japan's most successful producers after the enormous box office success (in Japan) of many Ghibli films.

His professional career started at Tokuma Shoten, joining the company shortly after graduation. In his capacity as Animage editor he approached Isao Takahata and Miyazaki, who had worked on the animated feature film Hols: Prince of the Sun. Suzuki and Miyazaki encountered each other again after the release of The Castle of Cagliostro when Suzuki again approached Miyazaki for an Animage article. This time the meetings result in an enduring collaborative relationship. 

About the issue Suzuki has stated: "here is where it all started". Suzuki was among those who facilitated the creation and publication of Miyazaki's manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. He was instrumental in getting the Nausicaä anime made and helped establish Studio Ghibli after the film's release. The film was released on March 11, 1984. Studio Ghibli was founded in June 1985. Miyazaki has stated, "If it were not for Mr. Suzuki, there wouldn't have been Studio Ghibli." Takahata, producer on the Nausicaä film, has acknowledged the pivotal role of Suzuki in bringing the Nausicaä manga series into the world and used nearly identical words as Miyazaki to acknowledge Suzuki’s essential role in the creation of Studio Ghibli. Takahata also credits Suzuki for his steadfast support of Miyazaki and has cited Suzuki’s responsibility for making his friendship with Miyazaki endure.

In March 2004, Studio Ghibli became independent from Tokuma Shoten and Suzuki was appointed Ghibli corporation president. He stepped down from the position in 2008. As of 2014 he still serves as the company's managing director and continues to work as film producer.

In March 2014 Suzuki retired as a producer and assumed a new position of general manager. In 2014, Suzuki was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature as the producer of The Wind Rises. At the 64th Annual MEXT Art Encouragement Prizes, Toshio Suzuki was awarded the Grand Prize for his involvement as producer inThe Wind Rises and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

Return to Top | Hayao Miyazaki | Isao Takahata

Isao Takahata

Isao Takahata (高畑 勲, born October 29, 1935) is a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter and producer who has earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director of anime films. 

Takahata is the co-founder of Studio Ghibli along with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki. He has directed films such as Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, and My Neighbors the Yamadas. Takahata's most recent film is The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, which was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Animated Feature Film at the 87th Academy Awards. Takahata does not draw and had not worked as an animator before he became a full-fledged director. According to Hayao Miyazaki, "Music and study are his hobbies". 

He graduated from the University of Tokyo French literature course in 1959. While he was job hunting at his university, Takahata was tempted to join Toei Animation by a friend who knew the company wanted an assistant director. He took the company's entrance examination, and was hired. The reason he decided to join the company was his thought that "If it was animation, I can be something interesting, too". Takahata finally directed his first film after he was recommended for the position by his instructor Yasuo Ōtsuka. 

Later in 1971, Zuiyo Enterprise invited Takahata, Kotabe, and Miyazaki to direct an animated series of the novel Heidi. The resulting series was called Heidi, Girl of the Alps. 

Takahata was later invited by Miyazaki to join his animation production company Studio Ghibli to which he accepted, this came after the success of Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The first movie directed by Takahata for Ghibli was Grave of the Fireflies. The film was widely acclaimed by film critics, like prominent and influential film critic Roger Ebert who considered it "one of the greatest war films ever made". Takahata went on to do the music direction for Miyazaki when it came to Kiki's Delivery Service. On November 4, 2007, Takahata was awarded the Special Award at the Kobe Animation Awards. After more than ten years in November 2013 his latest movie The Tale of the Princess Kaguya was released, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. 

Takahata's films have had a major influence on Hayao Miyazaki, prompting animator Yasuo Ōtsuka to say that Miyazaki gets his sense of social responsibility from Takahata and that without him, Miyazaki would probably just be interested in comic book stuff.  As with Miyazaki, Takahata and Michel Ocelot are great admirers of each other's work. Ocelot names Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies and Pom Poko among his favourite films.

Return to Top | Hayao Miyazaki | Toshio Suzuki

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