Introduction: The Industrial World of Studio Ghibli

Abstract

This opening chapter explores the methods and theories underpinning the wider project of Studio Ghibli: An Industrial History. It begins by charting the way Hayao Miyazaki has come to reside at the heart of most analyses of Studio Ghibli. It then goes on to ask what we might learn about Miyazaki and the studio he founded if we take a step back and place them within a wider industrial landscape. Charting the history of Japanese animation from the work of Tōei Dōga and on into the current era of anime, this introductory chapter seeks to place Studio Ghibli within a Japanese animation context that includes the rise of cel animation and competing modes of animation. The chapter concludes by offering an overview of the way Studio Ghibli will be studied in the remainder of this book, using a mixture of history, cultural studies and production studies as its approach. In doing so, the Introduction explores the possibilities for analysing anime through the lens of industrial history.