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The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
かぐや姫の物語
2013 · Film · 137 min
Directed by Isao Takahata
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.
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4 comments on Hacker News
There are notable Studio Ghibli films that were not made by Miyazaki such as Grave of the Fireflies, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and When Marnie was There.
All of those were in my opinion excellent films and similar in style to ones made by Miyazaki, and I think fans of Miyazaki's work will also enjoy them.
I've seen every Ghibli film except the Earthsea film, and I'd say the best are Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Princess Kaguya, and Totoro.
That said, I've liked pretty much every film they've made except Kiki's Delivery Service (I found it a bit dull) and Howl's Moving Castle (it just didn't work for me). They're pretty much all worth watching at least once.
Don't forget Isao Takahata another founder of Studio Ghibli and director of Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Yet have to see The Tale of the Princess Kaguya which is discussed in the article but the drama Grave of the Fireflies is a masterpiece to me. The only truly beautiful film in my memory which I bitterly regret having watch. To me the best movie to give you the feels of World War II, even more than acclaimed titles like "The Pianist" or "Life is Beautiful". A must see.
IMHO Isao Takahata is the primary reason why an end to Studio Ghibli doesn't make sense despite Miyazaki bitter vision of the Studios. For those who know Miyazaki's temperament it's not a big deal. My interpretation is that he would have wanted the Studios to be as true, ambitious and fantastic as a Ghibli movie. Well by visiting/knowing the Studios, I bet most of us would be quite taken aback by the lovely people and the atmosphere reigning there.
To elaborate on the economic troubles I think part of the problem is possibly the lack of a successor to Miyazaki. His son's work is often considered quite poor [2] and there's no clear successor to Miyazaki who often announces his retirement, then comes back for one last film.
In addition to this, they've have a series of big budget flops. While The Tale of the Princess Kaguya has received critical acclaim for it's artistic quality, it cost 50MUSD to make (compared to 6MUSD for Kiki's delivery service), while bring in 25MUSD at the box office. And while it's received critical acclaim, informally I've been told it's not well liked in Japan (looks good, but content is poor).
So, I was curious to hear more about their financial troubles, and how much they have been effected by these large budget flops and what the future might be (there's a rumor that Nico Nico Douga might buy them, or that they might shut down completely). It's unfortunate that this wasn't covered in the article.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Rises#Controversy
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gor%C5%8D_Miyazaki