Studio Ghibli Question Time : The French Connection

A page from Arzach and the Space Jockey clearly shows its influence on Miyazaki. The desert landscape, blue sky and mode of transport are all clearly related to his work on Nausicä of the Valley of the Wind.

Among the many fascinating questions at my Seed Talks in the West Country was one about the influence of comic art on Studio Ghibli. I’d talked about Takahata’s lifelong passion for French culture and about the many and varied Western influences on Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind, but there’s a limit to how […]

JAMS Vol 6 issue 1 Open-access anime journal free to read

A screen showing the opening slide of the post-symposium talk on AI and Studio Ghibli. On the left of the screen is Dr. Rayna Denison, on the right Dr. Zoe Crombie. Photo from JAMS Vol. 6 no. 1.

I’m delighted that the proceedings of the Lancaster symposium on transnational anime are now published as an issue of the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS), free to read here. There really is something for everyone here, from papers on the nitty-gritty of motion in anime and music in anime to the rise of […]

Transgenerationality – the ageing up (and ageing out) of Japan’s animation industry

A poster for the symposium on transnational anime held at Lancaster University on 4 July 2025. White text on a blue background, illustrated by the covers of 'Anime: A History" by Jonathan Clements and "Studio Ghibli: an Industrial History" by Ranya Denison. Includes a barcode for more information.

At the beginning of July I was privileged to speak at a symposium on Transnational Perspectives in Anime. It was held on the Lancaster University campus, co-hosted by Dr. Zoe Crombie and Japan Foundation London; I took part from my desktop. It was a truly fascinating day, sparking new ideas and new insights about the […]

Studio Ghibli Question Time: why does Sophie dress like Yubaba?

A head and shoulders portrait of Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle in her 90-year-old cursed form. She wears a very old-fashioned blue dress with a high collar and a straw hat with a narrow brim and plum coloured hatband adorned with small pink bobbles.

I get some absolutely fantastic questions from audiences for my Seed Talks on Studio Ghibli. They often raise points I hadn’t thought about before, or give me completely new angles on topics I’ve been over many times. Having let so many of these brilliant insights vanish down Memory Lane I thought I’d try and recall […]