America’s fascination with all things Japanese long predates Keanu Reeves’s backflips or the recent adaptations of Ringu. The popularity of Japanese pop culture is a huge subject and even tackling Japanese manga and anime is daunting. Experts in the fields of manga and anime will have to excuse the necessary compression needed to introduce some …
Studio Ghibli may easily be called the Disney of Japan. An animation film studio founded in 1985 by Isao Takahta and Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli has consistently produced brilliant hand-drawn animated films, and its characters have become ubiquitous in Japanese culture. Over the last 25 years, the production studio has released 17 feature films, eight …
Princess Mononoke Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Written by Hayao Miyazaki Starring Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thornton, Jada Pinkett Smith We all have pop-culture blind spots, and one of mine has been, for a long time, the films of Studio Ghibli. For some of you, the very notion that I haven’t seen every Studio …
It’s a moment of truth on Mousterpiece Cinema this week, as Josh and Mike are joined by special guest Simon Howell from The Televerse and Sound on Sight’s flagship podcast. The trio team up to tackle the 1997 Studio Ghibli release Princess Mononoke. Along with Spirited Away, it’s one of writer-director Hayao Miyazaki’s most beloved …