Studio Ghibli has been Japan’s most internationally renowned animation studio for nearly 40 years. Home to the animated feature films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli has developed a brand of animation that is instantly recognisable for its hand-drawn attention to the natural world, empowered young female protagonists and soaring depictions of flight. Often read as a creator of popular hit films at home in Japan, but as artistically oriented animation abroad, Studio Ghibli’s films demonstrate the fluidity of Japanese animation’s meanings as its travels the world. Making 24 animated feature films to date, Studio Ghibli has enjoyed international acclaim as a pioneering studio for animation.

But, despite this acclaim, many aspects of Studio Ghibli remain to be revealed and examined. The studio has also pioneered new forms of computer-based animation, has adapted some of the world’s most prominent children’s literature, has created fantasy worlds out of pieces of real-world overseas locations and histories, has used outsourcing facilities across Asia, and has long-standing histories of translation and dubbing that remain under-explored.

Beyond its films, too, Studio Ghibli’s many activities are also worthy of further examination. Not least, the way Studio Ghibli has put its environmentalism into practice through conservation efforts. Or, the way Studio Ghibli has produced so much more than animated feature films, including partnerships that involve videogames, advertising, idents and more. Since the early 2000s, indeed, Studio Ghibli has ceased to be just an animation studio, and instead now operates as a mini-conglomerate, running first a museum and now a theme park, while also acting as a publisher and DVD distribution label.

It is these hidden worlds of Japanese animation that we hope to reveal in seeking new perspectives on Studio Ghibli. For this volume of Mechademia: Second Arc, new ways of analysing the studio’s films are very welcome, alongside investigations into the studio’s wider politics, its industrial activities, and cultural impact in Japan and around the world.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• New theoretical approaches to studying Hayao Miyazaki’s films
• Analyses of Japanese academic approaches to Studio Ghibli
• Sound and Studio Ghibli films
• Studio Ghibli’s animation aesthetics – e.g. background art, CG aesthetics, hand-drawn animation
• Studio Ghibli’s other directors (Isao Takahata, Yoshifumi Kondō, Gorō Miyazaki, Tomomi Mochizuki, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, etc.)
• Producers at Studio Ghibli (Toshio Suzuki, Yoshiaki Nishimura, Eiko Tanaka, etc.)
• Studio Ghibli CEOs/Leaders (Toshio Suzuki, Koji Hoshino, Yasuyoshi Tokuma, etc.)
• Studio Ghibli’s below the line workers (animators, inbetweeners, colorists, etc.)
• Studio Ghibli’s Art Museum and the Ghibli Park
• Advertising, partnerships, sponsors and Studio Ghibli
• Studio Ghibli’s environmental activism

Deadline for submissions: July 1, 2024. Submissions should be 5,000-7,000 words and follow the Mechademia Style Guide, which is based on the Chicago Manual of Style. Figures are limited to eight per essay; permissions for images or publication are the responsibility of authors and must be submitted upon acceptance. Submissions: 5,000-7,000 words including citations in Chicago Style, 17th ed. in Bibliographic Endnote form with no notes or CFs. Figures should be at least 300DPI and in either TIFF or JPG formats submitted in a separate file and not embedded in the text, with captions, submitted in a separate Word document.

Questions? Email Jacqueline and Rayna at Jacqueline.ristola@bristol.ac.uk and r.denison@bristol.ac.uk