Studio Ghibli is one of the globe’s favourite film studios, bringing us classics like My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away & Princess Mononoke. Hayao Miyazaki, the director of these films, and the theme of ecology are often seen as synonymous with the name of the studio. However, in this talk, you will learn that is not everything. We will take you through the history and artistic direction of the company to investigate what makes the studio unique within the history of Japanese animation and why they are so successful.

Our expert will tell you about talents at the studio, not just filmmakers but also a mastermind behind the studio’s commercial and critical success, breadth of artistic and aesthetic range of the works it produces, and why/how the studio and its works are different from other “anime”

Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7.30pm – come down early to grab a good seat!

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Shiro Yoshioka is a lecturer in Japanese Studies at Newcastle University. His main research interests include Japanese popular culture, especially anime, fan culture, popular history, memory and nostalgia. Recently he is interested in how fans experience anime, manga and video games beyond the texts in various ways such as events, theme parks and ‘pilgrimage’ to the locales. He has published articles and book chapters on Ghibli and Miyazaki in English and Japanese, and is currently working on a monograph on Miyazaki, which overviews his life and career focusing on how he came to be seen as an auteur and public intellectual.