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Grave of the Fireflies was literally the second movie they ever made, tied with Totoro (Nausicaa was made before the founding of Ghibli). They came out as a double feature because Ghibli was not yet a surefire brand. They risked everything to make an anti Imperial Japan movie.
"But The Wind Rises wasn't apologetic enough!"
Look, just because over 2,000 people forgot that Grave of the Fireflies existed (or perhaps weren't aware that there's more than one director at Ghibli) doesn't mean you get to move goal posts.
Look, just because over 2,000 people forgot that Grave of the Fireflies existed (or perhaps weren't aware that there's more than one director at Ghibli) doesn't mean you get to move goal posts.
But lets get into The Wind Rises. Maybe it wasn't apologetic enough for some, but Miyazaki was actually called an anti-Japanese traitor in his own country because of that film. https://kotaku.com/hayao-miyazaki-called-anti-japanese-a-traitor-and-865643505
On top of that Ghibli officially stated in their own monthly free magazine, Neppu, that Japan should pay for its war crimes, including reparations for Korean comfort women. There's absolutely no ambiguity over where they stand on Japanese Imperialism.
I've never seen an American (much less a major American studio) apologize for America's continued abuses of Korean comfort women. In fact this part of history is so buried that I have to use the "WayBack Machine" to find a reputable news source for it.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140716052218/https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/11/us-southkorea-usa-military-idUSKBN0FG0VV20140711
https://web.archive.org/web/20140716052218/https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/11/us-southkorea-usa-military-idUSKBN0FG0VV20140711
"Why are you being so defensive?? You're just a Ghibli Stan!"
Ghibli has gone out of their way to be consistently anti-war. Most studios have not. Saying they still haven't done enough is erasure of what they have done and deflection of what most other major studios haven't.
Ghibli has gone out of their way to be consistently anti-war. Most studios have not. Saying they still haven't done enough is erasure of what they have done and deflection of what most other major studios haven't.
Hayao Miyazaki refused to accept his Oscar for Spirited Away because he was against the Iraq War. He is willing to lose popular support (ie actual money) over his anti war stances. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2003/03/25/national/miyazaki-mum-on-oscar-citing-war/
Hayao Miyazaki outright said that Japan should return land to China. This is an incredibly controversial stance. Many in Japan, and nations allied with Japan are very much against this. This was printed in the monthly Ghibli Magazine. This is on the official Ghibli record.
On a related note, holy cow, Ghibli's official free monthly Magazine "Neppu" (熱風) looks amazing! Look at these covers!!
Btw google "ジブリの小冊子" if you want to find out more about the official Ghibli magazine. "Neppu" (熱風) literally means hot air, so googling that will get you lots of images of blow dryers lol.
My god. I'm so glad I started this thread. I didn't know about Neppu until today. Ghibli really has been out here for years publishing a free monthly anti-imperialist pamphlet for years lol.*
*Yes I'm joking a bit. But only a little. Yes Neppu is about a broad range of topics. But also it's been consistently anti-war and anti Imperialism for years, reflecting the values of Ghibli's founders.
These aren't isolated cases, they have A LOT of explicitly anti war covers!
I really wanna know what's in the Evangelion issue!
