The Five Scariest Studio Ghibli Monsters

Founded in 1985, Studio Ghibli has managed to give us some of the most fantastic, scariest, and emotional animated movies ever made. Along the way with masters like Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, we’ve always been introduced to some truly heinous beasts and entities that have either passed through these worlds or met the heroes of these respective films. Among the myriad, these are five of, what I deem, the Scariest Studio Ghibli Monsters.

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Tickets On Sale Now For “MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO” 35th Anniversary Screenings

Tickets are on sale now for the celebratory 35th anniversary screenings of renowned director Hayao Miyazaki’s cherished feature My Neighbor Totoro, kicking off Studio Ghibli Fest 2023. GKIDS, celebrating its 15th anniversary as producer and distributor of multiple Academy Award®-nominated animated features, and Fathom Events, are proud to continue their collaboration for Studio Ghibli Fest 2023, and deliver a slate highlighting all ten of Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic animated films with Studio Ghibli, as well as the first-ever North American screenings of SPIRITED AWAY: Live On Stage.

The film will be shown in both original Japanese and English dubbed versions. In addition to the full feature, audiences will get to view exclusive selections from the documentary series 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki.

Tickets for My Neighbor Totoro and the rest of Ghibli Fest 2023 can be purchased online by visiting GhibliFest.com, FathomEvents.com, or at participating theater box offices (Theaters and participants are subject to change).

TV on DVD: Infinity Train: Book One (DVD)+Gift/Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter: The Complete Series [Blu-Ray]

I truly hope you’re doing well in the current social climate and are celebrating Friday the best way you can. This week, I’m reviewing two brilliant animated series that’s female oriented, but fit for every audience imaginable. They’re two very complex and amazing animated series you can sit down and watch with the whole family, that promote strong female heroes, complex ideas about youth and discovery, and confronts very real overtones about loss of innocence and growing up way too fast.

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Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) (1997): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray/CD/Book]

Twenty years ago, Studio Ghibli and the master Hayao Miyazaki opened my mind up to a new dimension of animation and storytelling that pretty much changed my life. It also inspired me to look toward telling bigger tales with richer characters, because Miyazaki is very much about rich characterization and brilliant metaphor. Much of his films revolve around the love of nature, the vastness of the open sky, and the effect humans can have on the environment and the world around us.

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Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (2018) [Blu-Ray]

“Never-Ending Man” is a meaningful documentary that explores the thoughts and ideas of Hayao Miyazaki that we can’t really find anywhere else. While some may go in to this expecting a more biographical and fluffy film about the man and his life, Kaku Arakawa seeks to give us more of a thoughtful and subtler peek in to the man, who is late in to his career and his life.

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Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (2018)

“That song “Let it Go” is popular now. It’s All About Being Yourself. But that’s terrible. Self-satisfied people are boring. We have to push hard and surpass ourselves.”

Hayao Miyazaki has reached a point in his life where there is so much change but he doesn’t know what to do with any of it. He’s reached an old age and has barely any strength any more to sit down and draw all day, but he has no idea what he’d be doing without a pencil or paper in his hand. At his old age he’s still a very curmudgeonly individual who demands perfection and treats his protégés with harsh criticism when they fail to deliver storyboards that meet his pitch perfect idea of what life is. Miyazaki has lived a full life, and in a way he’s ready to go.

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Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) (1997)

Returns to theaters across the nation for a 20th Anniversary celebration, complete with a new 4K restoration. Premiered in theaters Thursday, January 5 in Japanese with English subtitles and will screen Monday, January 9 with an English dub at 7 p.m. local time. Tickets are available now. The event will also feature a screening of the never-before-released music video directed by Hayao Miyazaki, On Your Mark!

Back when “Princess Mononoke” hit the states in 1999, I literally had no idea who Hayao Miyazaki was. My teacher in high school kept a poster of the movie up on her bulletin board and I thought the movie looked amazing. Years after the Oscar buzz, I discovered “Princess Mononoke” and the brilliance of Studio Ghibli. The great thing about Studio Ghibli is there is no wrong way to enter in to their universe.
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