For any fan of Studio Ghibli you will eventually come across certain titles - both for the fame and for their beauty. My Neighbour Totoro is probably at the top or at least very close to it (of course it is subjective and very personal). Isao Takahata was the director of Studio Ghibli's Grave of the Fireflies. Unlike most animation directors, he had not been an animator before becoming a director. His works are among Ghibli's least known films outside of Japan, including Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, and My Neighbors the Yamadas. Within Japan, though, the movie of Grave of the Fireflies was associated with fan favourite Totoro, as they were originally released together as a double feature. For over four decades, Hayao Miyazaki has been enchanting audiences of all ages. His animation, often featuring children navigating unfamiliar and challenging worlds, offer timeless explorations of youth and what it means to grow up. Celebrated and admired around the globe for his artistic vision, craftsmanship and deeply humanistic values, Miyazaki has influenced generations of artists. The universal appeal of his evocative natural settings and complex characters, many among them strong girls and young women, cuts across cultural boundaries.

PEDRO ALMODóVAR: INSTALLATION/INSTALACIóN DELMONICO BOOKS/ACADEMY MUSEUM OF MOTION PICTURES ISBN: 9781636810195 The book is lavishly produced, with lots of great pictures, and I rarely criticise the design or form of a book. Tastes differ, and that's fine. But I must take issue with whoever designed this book. The main text is probably the smallest I've ever seen in a mass-released work, and the chosen font is a light one. It is a difficult book to read, and that's never good. This is a brilliant book. The structure of working through each film chronologically, spelling out the history and development of each creative enterprise, within the narrative arc of the studio itself, then providing a review of the film, works well. It is a book about the history of Studio Ghibli, the people involved, the creative influences of each film, and the highlights and struggles of bringing creative work to fruition. It also touches on how these films came to the West from Japan. In 1971, he moved to A Pro with Isao Takahata, then to Nippon Animation in 1973, where he was heavily involved in the World Masterpiece Theater TV animation series for the next five years. In 1978, he directed his first TV series, Conan, The Boy in Future, then moved to Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1979 to direct his first movie, the classic Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. As we wait patiently for the UK release of Earwig and the Witch, the Studio Ghibli museum in Mitaka, Japan, has announced the release of a set of art books that highlight Hayao Miyazaki’s expansive works between 2001 and 2020.This book not only charts the film (reading the notes there references to the fact that sections where not even storyboarded they just developed as they progressed - now how many films could make a claim like that). But the book also discusses the technicalities of some of the scenes and how the effects were achieved- after all we are talking about flat images - something that live action filming often would take for granted. I think the title says it all and it more than lived up to its promise. Getting a layered, detailed and revered insight into the Ghibli oeuvre was a journey worth taking. It faithfully covers Ghibli's best, mediocre and downright painful with a tart and honest approach. The movie stays fairly close to the plot of the first book, although it does draw in a character from the second book in the series. The biggest change is certainly the setting, moving the action from 1950s England to modern Tokyo. The change only has one downside in my opinion. The names of the Borrowers are also borrowed from English words, such as Pod and Homily. In a Japanese setting, these names make little sense. However, looking past that, I think this is a fine adaptation that captures the spirit of the book. I was particularly impressed by the sound design, which gave a wonderful feeling of being small in a huge world. Keep in mind, again, this is a children's book. I encountered it at exactly the right age. Older readers coming to it might not get as much out of it as I did, but I still think it holds up and has a lot of interesting things to say about age and self confidence.

I'm not sure if I would recommend the movie or the book first. For me the book will always come first, but I still appreciate the film (I saw it four times at the theatre after all.) If nothing else the book will help to explain a little the sudden and slightly bewildering transformation of a minor character at the end of the movie. It makes a lot more sense in the book. Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo on January 5, 1941. He started his career in 1963 as an animator at the studio Toei Douga, and was subsequently involved in many early classics of Japanese animation. From the beginning, he commanded attention with his incredible ability to draw, and the seemingly-endless stream of movie ideas he proposed. If you are studying Japanese, I would really recommend trying to read Kiki. Having a rough idea of the story from the movie will help you move through it faster, even if like me your Japanese reading skills aren't the best. As the movie and the book differ, there will still be plenty of surprises to keep you hooked. Since it is a kids' book there are furigana to help you out. It's still a very popular book in Japan and you should be able to find a copy in book stores or libraries. Miyazaki and I think alike, so when his offer came in I was overjoyed, because I had admired him for years. The characters are the same as I wrote them, but other things are different. Making something visual is so different from making something to read. It takes more time to make something that you see, so he had to cut things out. Howl is less of a drama queen in the film, and more of a hero. It didn't spoil the essence of Howl.

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The story of the studio, fascinating as it is, becomes almost something to wade through before the review appears. For me, it would have been far better as a separate section of the book. Tales from Earthsea was the first feature film directed by Gorō Miyazaki, son of animator Hayao Miyazaki. It was loosly based on the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin. The English name of the adaptation shares the name of a short story collection by Le Guin, but the movie actually draws on plot elements from many different books in the series. In Japanese the film is called ゲド 戦記 （ せんき ）, literally Ged's War Chronicles.