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With the completion of my last exam of fall term, winter break has officially begun, and one of the things that I’ve decided to do over the break is revisit the entire Ghibli canon.  Particularly films that I haven’t rewatched in quite some time, such as Porco Rosso.  One of the motivations behind this was my lack of Ghibli reviews.  Although Ghibli films are without a doubt my favourite anime works, I’ve only written posts on a few of them, and hopefully by the end of the break my Ghibli-related content will have expanded substantially.

To start off the Ghibli marathon, I watched a documentary called “Lasseter-san, Arigatou!”.  According to the documentary itself, which is narrated in the writing of Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, (though a more fluent English speaker actually reads it aloud) the film is essentially a long home video which was put together as a gift to Lasseter after their enjoyable visit in 2002 to America to promote Spirited Away.  After discussing the idea with John Lasseter, they decided to release the private documentary to the public.  And it is indeed a lot more similar to a home video than to a professional documentary.  People unfamiliar with the people involved may find themselves lost at points, and the film doesn’t have the level of editing that a more intentional documentary may have.

None of this should matter, though, to people like me who are not only huge fans of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, but also fans of Pixar as well.  What is most obvious when watching this film is that John Lasseter has an immense adoration of Hayao Miyazaki.  Other members of Pixar, such as fellow director Brad Bird, clearly respect Miyazaki and look up to his achievements, but Lasseter just outright adores the man.  And it’s not just restricted to those bear hugs he gives him everytime they meet (which I’m sure took Miyazaki some getting used to).

After watching many hours of Miyazaki at work in his studio (in the Mononoke backstage video), it’s quite interesting to see him in more relaxed environments.  His reaction to the Pixar Studios building is one of the more interesting parts of the video.  Studio Ghibli’s offices in Japan are fairly quiet and business-like, with Miyazaki seated in the corner working diligently at his desk.  Pixar’s studios are the complete opposite, with colorful designs and imaginative decoration.  Of course, while Lasseter, for the most part, doesn’t exactly hide his emotions or enthusiasm, Miyazaki is the opposite, maintaining a fairly strict poker face throughout, making it hard to tell exactly what his reactions are.

On that note, the language barrier does get awkward sometimes.  Miyazaki and Lasseter are only able to communicate through the use of an interpreter (Suzuki seems to have a decent enough grasp of English) so their conversations aren’t exactly fluid.  While Lasseter doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, Miyazaki seems unsure sometimes of whether he should speak to Lasseter or to the interpreter.  Suzuki mentions at one point that Miyazaki often falls silent without an interpreter because he is unable to express himself, and this causes him to be very shy in these situations.

Overall, I’m very glad to have found the film, and I really enjoyed seeing Miyazaki in this “fish out of water” scenario.   Now, if you’re not a huge Ghibli, or rather Miyazaki, fan, then you’ll probably find this boring fairly quickly.  Nevertheless, here are a few clips to wet your appetite.