Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli, Inc. (株式会社スタジオジブリ, Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Jiburi) (formerly known as Topcraft (トップクラフト, Toppukurafuto) until June 15, 1985) is a Japanese animation film studio founded on February 1, 1972 by former Toei Animation producer Toru Hara. Under the Topcraft name, the studio was known for the production of Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind and doing hand-drawn animation for Rankin/Bass. It filed for bankruptcy in 1984, which resulted in most of the animators to create a new company called Pacific Animation Corporation (later sold to Disney and renamed to Walt Disney Animation Japan in 1988 and was dissolved in 2004). Meanwhile during the studio's bankruptcy, Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki and Isao Takahata bought the studio and renamed it to its current name.

In 1996, Tokuma and The Walt Disney Studios inked a worldwide distribution agreement (including Japanese home video rights, except Asia) between the two parties, which included the Studio Ghibli theatrical library. This deal would begin with the Ghibli ga Ippai Collection, which began in August of that same year while the U.S. would get Kiki's Delivery Service via Buena Vista Home Video two years later, albeit briefly edited. While the entirety of the library was included, certain productions such as My Neighbor Totoro  were excluded in certain territories due to existing distribution agreements, which were lapsed and were later given to Disney. Beginning with 2001's Spirited Away, Ghibli began working with Wild Bunch International to handle global sales of Ghibli's future works (with the company adding most of their past titles in the coming years). In 2017, GKIDS took over their past catalog in North America, officially ending the Disney-Ghibli deal for good. In 2019, Ghibli opened up their catalogue to digital retailers and streaming services, which led to HBO Max (later known as Max) purchasing the streaming rights to the library in the U.S., while Netflix picked up the rights elsewhere on behalf of Wild Bunch International (and in Canada via GKIDS) the following year respectively. The studio previously was a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten until 2005.

The name "Ghibli" was chosen by Miyazaki from the Italian noun "ghibli" (also used in English), based on the Libyan Arabic name for hot desert wind (قبلي, ghiblī), the idea being that the studio would "blow a new wind through the anime industry".

The company's mascot, as shown in its logo, is Totoro from the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro. Several anime features created by Studio Ghibli have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award including Laputa: Castle in the Sky  in 1986, My Neighbor Totoro in 1988, and Kiki's Delivery Service in 1989. In 2002, Spirited Away won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the first anime film to win an Academy Award. However, Studio Ghibli never used this logo until 1991, instead they used "TOKUMA PUBLISHING PRESENTS" in their films. On August 3, 2014, Hayao Miyazaki (the director) retired, temporarily halting production. However, Miyazaki came out of retirement on February 13, 2017 and announced a new movie titled The Boy and the Heron, which was released on July 14, 2023.

After failing to find a successor, Nippon Television announced that it would buy a controlling stake in the company and make it a subsidiary on September 21, 2023. The takeover took effect on October 6 of that year.

Logo (July 20, 1991-)

ImagesVideosLogo Variations

• 
  1991-2001 variant
• 
  2001-present variant
• 
  English version
• 
  French version
• 
  Alternate French variant
• 
  German version
• 
  Ghibli Fest variant

Edit Section

ImagesVideos

• 
  Pom Poko (1994): On original theatrical prints and the HD remaster of the film, the Totoro image is white instead of black.
• 
  Ghiblies: Ep. 2 (2002, short film): The logo appears normal, albeit slightly off-center. Then it rotates to reveal a character from the short using a laptop. He removes "ジブリ作品" using his laptop, then reenters it as "ギブリ作品", making it "スタジオギブリ作品" (Sutajio Giburi, which is spelled closer to the original Italian pronunciation of the word "Ghibli"). A shortened version of this variant appears at the end of the original Japanese theatrical trailer for The Cat Returns.
• 
• 
  Space Station No. 9 (2005): On the music video Space Station No. 9, the Totoro image is much smaller and the text is placed next to it. After a while, the image of Totoro is lifted up, revealing an angry dragon with his arms crossed. Certain characters fly away to reveal "スタジオカジノ作品" and "STUDIO KAJINO" in English below it.
• 
  Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo (2012, Short Film): The logo is positioned to the right, the background is bright red, appears in scope, and has a film effect.
• 
  The Red Turtle (2016): Similar to the Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo variant, but the logo appears standard aside from the dark red background, which is a reference to the film's titular character.
• 
  Earwig and the Witch (2020): On the original NHK G airing of the film, no text appears on the logo, leaving just the Totoro image.
• 
  The Boy and the Heron (2023): A copyright notice appears below the logo on the right. This is because there is no "presents" screen at the beginning (Studio Ghibli entirely funded the production of the film).
• 
  On GKIDS prints of The Boy and the Heron, the copyright notice instead says "©2023 Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli".

Ghiblies: Ep 2

Space Station No 9

The Red Turtle

Visuals: On a dark blue background, there is an outline drawing of the character Totoro from the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, with Little Totoro sitting on his head. The Japanese characters "スタジオジブリ作品" are seen on the bottom right, and underneath that is "STUDIO GHIBLI" in Futura, with a line above it.

Variants:

• In most cases, the logo would fade out, leaving just the background, with the opening credits would fade in shortly after. In some cases, the entire logo fades to black.
• On older North American Disney releases of Kiki's Delivery Service, the logo is slightly centered to fit a fullscreen ratio.
• On the 1994 Fox Video release of My Neighbor Totoro, after the logo fades to just the background, it immediately fades to black and goes straight to the "This film has been modified" screen.
• On a couple English-language promos for Princess Mononoke (1997), the Japanese characters are removed and the text reads "A STUDIO GHIBLI PRODUCTION" in a bold ITC Avant Garde Gothic font instead.
• Starting with Spirited Away in 2001, this logo was updated to a light blue background, from the previous dark blue. The text also appears to be bolder.
  • HD masters of Ghibli movies use this version instead of the previous one.
• A German version exists, which removes the Japanese characters and the text reads "EINE STUDIO GHIBLI PRODUKTION".
• French theatrical prints of Ghibli films have "Un Film des Studio Ghibli" written in white below the logo.
  • On the French theatrical trailer for The Cat Returns, the text "présente" appears below the logo.
• On trailers for Ghibli Fest starting from 2022, a variant akin to the one seen on Space Station No. 9 is used, although Totoro's image is colored white, similar to the Pom Poko variant, and is much closer to the text.
• A Lucasfilm exhibition at Tokyo in 2025 had the logo feature Darth Vader and Grogu in place of Totoro, as seen here.

Technique: Still hand-drawn graphic, likely a filmed printed card before the 2001 variant switched to a digital graphic.

Audio: None, or the opening theme of the movie.

Audio Variants:

• On the German dubbings of Howl's Moving Castle and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the logo uses the last half of the VIP Media Group music (likely due to a reverse plaster). This is used on the Region 2 DVDs of the aforementioned titles.
• On the Disney dub of Castle in the Sky/Laputa: Castle in the Sky (completed in 1999, but was not given a public release until 2003 on DVD), the opening theme can be heard, but it is silent if either the "Japanese" or "French" track is selected. This is mostly due to Disney demanding Joe Hisaishi (the film's composer) to rescore and extend the film's musical score to appeal more to American audiences (aside from use of celebrity voices and additional dialogue).

Availability

Contemporary ReleasesRe-releases

Edit Table

Media Title	Date of Release	Additional Notes
Only Yesterday	July 20, 1991	Debut appearance; the logo directly cuts the opening credits of the film after it fades to blue
Porco Rosso	July 18, 1992
Ocean Waves	May 5, 1993	Made-for-TV film
Pom Poko	July 16, 1994
Whisper of the Heart	July 15, 1995
Princess Mononoke	July 12, 1997
My Neighbors the Yamadas	July 17, 1999
Spirited Away	July 20, 2001
The Cat Returns	July 20, 2002
Howl's Moving Castle	November 20, 2004
Tales from Earthsea	July 29, 2006
Ponyo	July 19, 2008
Arrietty/The Secret World of Arrietty OSCA	July 17, 2010
From Up on Poppy Hill	July 16, 2011
The Wind Rises	July 20, 2013
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya	November 23, 2013
When Marnie Was There	July 19, 2014
The Red Turtle	September 17, 2016	Custom variant
Earwig and the Witch	August 27, 2021
The Boy and the Heron	July 14, 2023

Edit Table

Media Title	Date of Release	Additional Notes
My Neighbor Totoro	1993?	US Fox Video release?
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind	August 1, 1996?	Ghibli ga Ippai LaserDisc release?
Castle in the Sky/Laputa: Castle in the Sky OSCA	August 1, 1996?	Ghibli ga Ippai LaserDisc release?
Grave of the Fireflies	August 1, 1996?	Ghibli ga Ippai LaserDisc release?
Kiki's Delivery Service	August 1, 1996?	Ghibli ga Ippai LaserDisc release?