Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. A founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished filmmakers in the history of animation.
Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijo, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori, and Hisaya Morishige.
Serial Experiments Lain is a Japanese anime television series created and co-produced by Yasuyuki Ueda, written by Chiaki J. Konaka and directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura. Animated by Triangle Staff and featuring original character designs by Yoshitoshi Abe, the series was broadcast for 13 episodes on TV Tokyo and its affiliates from July to September 1998. The series follows Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl in suburban Japan, and her relation to the Wired, a global communications network similar to the internet.
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro "Sen" Ogino, a ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, inadvertently enters the world of kami. After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world. The film was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distributed by Toho.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 Japanese animated post-apocalyptic fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his 1982–94 manga series of the same name. It was produced by Topcraft and distributed by Toei Company. Joe Hisaishi, in his first collaboration with Miyazaki, composed the score. The film stars the voices of Sumi Shimamoto, Gorō Naya, Yōji Matsuda, Yoshiko Sakakibara and Iemasa Kayumi. Set in a post-nuclear futuristic world, it tells the story of Nausicaä (Shimamoto), the teenage princess of the Valley of the Wind who becomes embroiled in a struggle with Tolmekia, an empire that tries to use an ancient weapon to eradicate a jungle full of giant mutant insects.
Castle in the Sky, also known as Laputa: Castle in the Sky, is a 1986 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was produced by Isao Takahata, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by the Toei Company. In voice acting roles, the original Japanese version stars Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, and Minori Terada. The film follows orphans Sheeta and Pazu, who are pursued by government agent Muska, the army, and a group of pirates. They seek Sheeta's crystal necklace, the key to accessing Laputa, a legendary flying castle hosting advanced technology.
The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun is a 1968 Japanese anime fantasy adventure film. It is the directorial feature film debut of Isao Takahata and was also worked on by Hayao Miyazaki. Horus marked the beginning of their partnership that would last for the next 50 years across numerous animation studios.
Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transport and the Nippon Television Network, and stars the voices of Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma and Kappei Yamaguchi. The story follows Kiki, a young witch who moves to the port city of Koriko with her cat Jiji and starts a flying courier service.
Goro Miyazaki is a Japanese landscape architect and animation director. His landscape projects include the Ghibli Museum and Ghibli Park. The son of Hayao Miyazaki, Goro has directed three films—Tales from Earthsea (2006), From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), and Earwig and The Witch (2020)—and the television series Ronja, the Robber's Daughter.
Howl's Moving Castle is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is loosely based on the 1986 novel by English author Diana Wynne Jones. The film was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by Toho. The Japanese voice cast featured Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura, while the English dub version starred Jean Simmons, Emily Mortimer, Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Josh Hutcherson and Billy Crystal. The film is set in a fictional kingdom where both magic and early twentieth-century technology are prevalent, against the backdrop of a war with another kingdom. It tells the story of Sophie, a young milliner who is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
Helen McCarthy is the British author of such anime reference books as 500 Manga Heroes and Villains, Anime!, The Anime Movie Guide and Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. She is the co-author of The Erotic Anime Movie Guide and the exhaustive The Anime Encyclopedia with Jonathan Clements. She also designs needlework and textile art.
Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation is a scholarly book which uses techniques of literary criticism on anime by Susan J. Napier published in 2001 by Palgrave Macmillan. It discusses themes of shōjo, hentai, mecha, magical girlfriend and magical girl anime using select titles. It also discusses some aspects of the English-speaking anime fandom. The book has been translated into Japanese, and had four editions, before a revised fifth edition was published in 2005 as Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation.
Nausicaä, renamed Princess Zandra in the Manson International Warriors of the Wind English dub, is a fictional character from Hayao Miyazaki's science fiction manga series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and his anime film of the same name. Her story is set in the future on a post-apocalyptic Earth, where Nausicaä is the princess of the Valley of the Wind, a minor kingdom. She assumes the responsibilities of her ill father and succeeds him to the throne over the course of the story. Pushed by her love for others and for life itself, Nausicaä studies the ecology of her world to understand the Sea of Corruption, a system of monstrous flora and fauna which came into being after the Seven Days of Fire.
Susan Jolliffe Napier is a professor of the Japanese program at Tufts University. She was formerly the Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin. She also worked as a visiting professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, and in cinema and media studies at University of Pennsylvania. Napier is an anime and manga critic.
Thomas Mark Lamarre is an American-Canadian academic, author, Japanologist and professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies.
KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!, often referred to simply as KonoSuba, is a Japanese light novel series written by Natsume Akatsuki and illustrated by Kurone Mishima. The series follows Kazuma Satou, a boy who is sent to a fantasy world with MMORPG elements following his death, where he forms a dysfunctional adventuring party with a goddess, an archmage, and a crusader. Originally serialized as a web novel on Shōsetsuka ni Narō between December 2012 and October 2013, KonoSuba was published as a printed light novel series by Kadokawa Shoten under the company's Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint from October 2013 to May 2020. The light novel series features a divergent plot.
Dani Cavallaro is a British freelance writer who specializes in literary, cultural theory, and visual arts topics.
Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan is a 2012 book by Marc Steinberg, published by University of Minnesota Press.
Raz Greenberg is an Israeli animation scholar and writer.
Several books have been written about Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator, filmmaker, manga artist, and co-founder of Studio Ghibli. The books explore Miyazaki's biography and career, particularly his feature films. According to Jeff Lenburg, more papers have been written about Miyazaki than any other Japanese artist. The first English-language book devoted to Miyazaki was Helen McCarthy's Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation in 1999, focusing on the films' narrative and artistic qualities. Many authors focus on Miyazaki's career and films, like Dani Cavallaro and Raz Greenberg, while others examine the themes and religious elements of his works, such as Eriko Ogihara-Schuck and Eric Reinders. Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc's 2009 book explores the careers of both Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and Susan J. Napier's 2018 book Miyazakiworld highlights the ideological connections between Miyazaki's films and personal life. Two books compiling essays, articles, lectures, and outlines written by Miyazaki were published in 1996 and 2008.
