Studio Ghibli To Close Up Shop (?)

[Tengukami]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=121379

Just moments ago, Toshio Suzuki, Studio Ghibli producer, announced on the TV show of the MBS Jounetsu Tairiku chain effectively as announced as sources close to the studio, Studio Ghibli will close and production studio anime, leaving himself only as a company that will manage its trademarks. As stated in the program?s producer, "the production department of anime will be dismantled," which coincides with the data that we gave in our previous post on this [that the] decision had been taken [last] spring after the poor reception at the box office of Kaguya-hime no Monogatari.

Well this sucks on all kinds of levels. Fortunately they're leaving a treasure trove of incredible animation history behind, but man. Why's it gotta be them?

[Leon゠Helsing]

Welp, 'twas good while it lasted.

[Tengukami]

For those interested, there's these screenshots from the interview with Suzuki Toshio. He says the following (translation obtained elsewhere, not guaranteed accurate):

1.言葉は ちょっときついんですけれど
This is a harsh way of putting it, but...
製作部分解体しようかと
[We're thinking of] closing down the production dept.
2.スタジオジブリの全容に大きな変更が加える
And making/causing a big change to the whole makeup of Studio Ghibli.
3.リストラクチャ－ていうのか
Something like a "restructuring".
4.やっぱり宮崎監督の引退というのはすごく大きかったんですよ。
No doubt the retirement of director Miyazaki had a very huge impact.
5.その後のジブリをどうするか
What to do / where to go with Ghibli after that...
6.そういうことでいうとそのまま延々作り続けることは
So on that point, to continue to endlessly produce films...
7.決して不可能ではなかったんですけど
Would not have been impossible, but...
8.一旦ここらへんで小休止してこれからのことを考えてみる。
For now [we plan to] pause here and think about what happens / what to do next.

[Edible]

My understanding is that there has been a bit of a schism at their studios of late, causing much of their animating talent to depart for greener pastures.

Nevertheless, I don't think this is the last we'll see of Studio Ghibli.

[Menorah Jams, Pham]

Controversial opinion: everyone who's screaming about Ghibli closing up shop "oh noes anime is ruined" needs to get the fuck out of their cultural context and start sampling the shows that come out each season.  If you don't like moe, then fucking LEARN - that's what's coming out of Japan, at least the vast majority.  There's going to be moe elements.  It's nothing short of cultural imperialism to give so much credence to Ghibli, or Cowboy Bebop/etc. because of the fact that they're so globally received.  That's well and good, great for them, etc., but I'm so goddamn done with the mainstream anime blogosphere being all about the constant fellation of Miyazaki and Ghibli.  They make great anime, they make great movies, but to lament the death of the medium is to more or less mark yourself as someone unwilling to step out of the comfort zone. 

Deal with the moe or stop watching anime.

[Tengukami]

Nevertheless, I don't think this is the last we'll see of Studio Ghibli.

Yeah even if all this is true, my brain just will not accept a world without Ghibli.

Some other sources I've seen have stuck on the word "pause", as opposed to "stop", "quit" or "shut down". I don't know Japanese, so I don't know the connotations of the exact word used in this case.

They make great anime, they make great movies, but to lament the death of the medium is to more or less mark yourself as someone unwilling to step out of the comfort zone.

Or maybe - and just hear me out here - maybe people can like more than one thing at a time, and do enjoy watching other forms of animation while being nonetheless sad at the possibility of Ghibli shuttering its doors. Just throwin' that out there.

[iPetalchaser]

Ah, so it happens. Somehow i had more or less expected this to happen at the same time when 'Kaze Tachinu' was announced by Miyazaki Hayao to be his 'final work'.

That does not mean that Takahata Isao is not still in action, though considering his decade long inactivity before 'Kaguya-hime no Monogatari', its questionable as to when, or with this piece of news, how, he will direct his next movie...

[Bardiche]

I'm hoping this here:

8.一旦ここらへんで小休止してこれからのことを考えてみる。
For now [we plan to] pause here and think about what happens / what to do next.

means they're not throwing in the towel, but just restructuring the company.

[Menorah Jams, Pham]

Or maybe - and just hear me out here - maybe people can like more than one thing at a time, and do enjoy watching other forms of animation while being nonetheless sad at the possibility of Ghibli shuttering its doors. Just throwin' that out there.

Tell that to the people who shit on anime that has any kind of moe element without giving it a chance.  If someone gives a series a shot and doesn't like it, they've earned the right to say they don't like the series after giving it a fair chance.  I'm just sick and tired of "ANIME IS DEAD NOW" because of no more Ghibli.   The smug condescension of ANN types and those who follow ANN mindlessly (which is a large plurality if not the majority out there depending on who's asking) decrying that nothing good will come out anymore is just the continuation of American fandom's cultural imperialism and the idea that anime peaked when Spirited Away got an Oscar. 

[Tengukami]

I've been hearing this complaint from moe fans for years, and yet moe continues going strong. I'm not worried about the future of anime, least of all from reductivists who claim Ghibli is the beginning and end of anime. If these people comprise the plurality if not the majority of all anime fans - and I think that data might be hard to qualify to be honest - they're not having much discernible impact on the anime industry.

People will always shit on things they don't like, or be dismissive of a series or genre without giving it a chance. This is the case for every form of art in the world. Don't let it get to you.

[Menorah Jams, Pham]

I've been hearing this complaint from moe fans for years, and yet moe continues going strong. I'm not worried about the future of anime, least of all from reductivists who claim Ghibli is the beginning and end of anime. If these people comprise the plurality if not the majority of all anime fans - and I think that data might be hard to qualify to be honest - they're not having much discernible impact on the anime industry.

People will always shit on things they don't like, or be dismissive of a series or genre without giving it a chance. This is the case for every form of art in the world. Don't let it get to you.

It's not so much Ghibli closure = economic dominance of moe.  Without data it's hard to make this argument, but I'd say the economic dominance of moe is the reason why Ghibli couldn't compete in the same arena anymore.  Granted, standalone theatrical anime =/= serial production of shows for TV + possible theatrical spinoffs, but what has gotten me is that the shitting-upon of any season's bulk amount of anime by the mainstreamers - ANN and sites who get ad money from Crunchyroll et. al. who happily simulcast whatever they can get ad dollars for and Japanese licensor approval for, including moe as easily as Space Dandy and other programs that consider American audiences - is so hypocritically dismissive, so cavalier about many titles because oh noes siscon elements, oh noes loli, iz terrible and kill it with fire.  Some are universally agreeably meh at best - Fairy Dance, anyone? - but others are freakin' enjoyable if you get off your high horse for a second and either view things through the lens of modern Japan and the sociological/psychological mass animus of its viewers, current affairs, etc. it all comes into context and provides a lens. 

Maybe I'm overreacting with the kneejerking of a liberal arts major who did a lot of papers and stuff like this on modern Japan but it's just a loss, a sad loss of a generation, who are so hung up on anime being a byproduct of the sci-fi era of the 80s/90s and can't separate a genre from a medium effectively.  When Ghibli films became Big Things it became an elevation of the genre.  This rallied people around anime and got them more into it, and gave it a basis within cinema as a cultural institution.  That's where it just plain stopped and the "ew, this foreign culture does weird things, I only like Cowboy Bebop" came into play. 

I'll back out after this.  Just saying my piece. 

[Janitor Morgan]

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/japans-studio-ghibli-envisages-short-break-not-imminent-closure-1201274707/

Suzuki talked about the need for ?big changes in all aspects of our operations.? One possibility he mentioned was a hiatus in the production department and taking what he described as a ?short break? to assess the studio?s future.

He added that it ?would be possible for us to keep making films indefinitely.?

Such short breaks are common in the Japanese animation business, in which companies hire animators on a per-project basis and dissolve the production teams, save for a few key staff, when the project is completed.

Figure this might add a little insight, though I don't know how reputable Variety is. If true, then we'll almost certainly see Studio Ghibli again; it's possible their focus might change a bit, though.

[BT]

Pretty sure the cynical, snobby anime blogging community is really tiny compared to the rest of the western anime community. Most teenagers give no fucks. If you're critical about it, there's a lot to hate about most anime shows nowadays. It's really whatever, though.

[Conqueror]

stuff

Stop reading snide, cynical anime blogs? Your average fan enjoys good anime regardless of whether they're Ghibli or not. Personally I'm sad to see Ghibli in trouble; they made some of my favorite works.

Anime will never die anyway, in the same vein cartoons stay alive in the US. We'll always have pokemon and dragonball. :V

[Bardiche]

Isn't there that anime being directed by a Ghibli guy airing in October or November that's kinda moe?