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The entire Studio Ghibli collection is available to watch on Max

Studio Ghibli is a goldmine of family-friendly anime films that are both timeless and perfectly safe for young children to enjoy. With exciting and fantastical productions like My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and The Secret World of Arrietty—all films with magic-rich plots focused on children—the options for a family movie night are near limitless.

Children's films seem to be Studio Ghibli's most common brand—it's their reputation. However, the anime realm's most renowned studio is also responsible for creating some of the best classics geared toward adult audiences, some of which contain an overwhelming amount of content that would be inappropriate for eyes too young and innocent.

Related'It All Began With This': Studio Ghibli Reveals Rare 50-Year-Old Artwork in New My Neighbor Totoro Release

Studio Ghibli unveils the image that sparked the idea for My Neighbor Totoro,...

Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Ssff & Asia) 2023, one of the largest international short film festivals in Asia and accredited by the US Academy Awards® announced on April 27 on the festival’s official website the nominated films and special screening films.

Beginning with the opening ceremony on June 6 (Tuesday), this year’s film festival will be held at multiple venues in Tokyo until the award ceremony on June 26 (Monday). The online venue will open on April 27 (Thursday), where you can enjoy selected short films from all over the country until July 10 (Monday).

◆ Announcement of about 200 nominations selected from 5,215 works gathered from 120 countries and regions around the world

In the Japan section of the official competition leading to the Academy Awards® nomination, short films featuring actors turned directors Kengo Kora, Tao Tsuchiya, Taishi Nakagawa, Mansai Nomura, Hiroshi Tamaki and Eita Nagayama are among the nominees.

◆ Japan premieres and special screenings

Chris Rock...

“Shin Ultraman” wouldn’t be the first time filmmakers Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi reimagined a popular tokusatsu character. A few years prior, they gave audiences “Shin Godzilla,” an alternate title for the feature being “Godzilla Resurgence.” It is a film that is not only an entertaining monster flick but a suspenseful political thriller with clever commentary. Also reinstated are the themes of the original “Godzilla” directed by Ishiro Honda on the horrors of nuclear warfare. In conjunction with that is satire inspired by the Japanese government’s poor handling of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

Japan is thrust into panic and chaos when a giant creature appears and starts causing destruction. The beast is referred to as Godzilla, and it is constantly evolving. The government works to prevent further catastrophe while overcoming bureaucratic red tape. The story is simple but engaging, balancing humor...

New, Rare and Thoughtful Japanese Films

Current offerings available through December 31

From Tomoyasu Murata animation shorts and the Ryusuke Hamaguchi retrospective, to newly released documentaries breaking the boundaries of Japanese art, baseball and labor, don’t miss the wide-ranging selection of picks available on Japan Society’s streaming platform. Our current virtual cinema lineup ends on December 31! Prices range from $2 – $10 general public / members save 20%.

Enter Virtual Cinema →

Artist Talk with Nobutaka Aozaki

Thursday, December 17, 6 Pm Est

Through a daily practice of gathering discarded items from the sidewalk, documenting ground-floor retail businesses, creating still life portraits based on found shopping lists, and sketching anonymous commuters on the subway, artist Nobutaka Aozaki’s work becomes a diaristic account of city life. In this public discussion, the artist explores themes of his multidimensional artistic output, and shares behind-the-scenes documentation of his process. This program will be streamed online as part of From Here to There.

MaryAnn’s quick take… Toho’s reboot of its most famous kaiju is, amidst intense monster action, a bitter satire on bureaucracy and a cautionary tale about humanity’s collective folly. I’m “biast” (pro): love a good monster movie

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

This is unprecedented!” a government functionary announces as a hideous giant sea monster is crawling through Tokyo and wreaking unspeakable damage. But is it? Well, yes: with Shin Godzilla — aka Shin Gojira, aka Godzilla Resurgence — legendary Japanese studio Toho fully reboots its most famous monster. In the world of this movie, Tokyo has never before seen a kaiju attack. (Nor, it would seem, has anywhere else on the planet.) In the world of kaiju movies, we’ve never seen anything quite like this: there are no subplots, no romance, no distraction of any kind from the disaster at hand.

All controversy aside, if this moving story of a pre-war airplane engineer is the animator's last film, it will be our loss

The Wind Rises, the new film from 72-year-old Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki, takes its title from a line in a Paul Valery poem ("The wind is rising! We must try to live!") and is inspired by the life of aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi who designed Mitsubishi's A6M Zero fighter. It's probably the gentlest animated feature about an armaments designer you'll ever see.

"Poor countries want airplanes," Jiro (Hideaki Anno) is told, as they watch oxen haul the latest prototype out onto the field for testing. Lacking the power of western engines, Jiro and his fellow engineers must instead work with everything at his disposal – flush rivets, split flaps, retractable undercarriages, the lightest aluminium alloy – to reduce the drag on that aircraft and pluck it into the vast,...

Jirô (Hideaki Anno) is a Japanese boy who often dreams of flying machines, but he knows full well that his poor eyesight will never allow him to become a pilot. With Italian aviation pioneer Caproni (Mansai Nomura) guiding him through a series of lucid dreams, Jirô recognizes that his true destiny is to become an aviation engineer. (Jirô is said to be a fictionalized interpretation of Japanese aviation engineer Jirô Horikoshi with a bit of novelist Tatsuo Hori thrown in for good measure.) Jirô begins to read English-language aviation magazines with the aid of a dictionary, eventually studying aeronautical engineering at a university in Tokyo. On one fateful train trip to Tokyo, Jirô meets Nahoko (Miori Takimoto) for the first time. She saves his hat, he saves her nanny; there is an obvious connection between them, but they soon must go their separate ways. Years later, while Jirô is on a business trip for Mitsubishi,...

An A-list roster of voice talent has been assembled for the English-language version of Studio Ghibli's The Wind Rises, which opens in select North American theaters on Feb. 21, 2014, expanding wide on Feb. 28, 2014. The film marks director Hayao Miyazaki's final feature, as the legendary animation veteran announced his retirement in September 2013.

In The Wind Rises, Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted and unable to be a pilot, he becomes one of the world's most accomplished airplane designers, experiencing key historical events in an epic tale of love, perseverance and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world. The voice cast of the English-language version follows.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Don Jon, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) lends his voice to Jiro Horikoshi, who harbors strong ambitions to create his own beautiful airplane. A bubbling mix of wild excitement,...

Having recently wrapped an Oscar-qualifying run in New York and La, the first Us trailer has now debuted for Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises, which the legendary filmmaker has said will be his final film as a director.

The latest in a long line of hugely popular Studio Ghibli movies, The Wind Rises opened in Japan over the summer, and is set to open wide in the States early next year. The studio is maintaining its relationship with Disney, who are handling its distribution in North America under the Touchstone Pictures banner, and will no doubt be giving it a big push for the Oscars.

This new trailer, launched via Deadline, is the first domestic trailer for its stateside release, following the subtitled Japanese trailer that landed over the summer.

This decade-spanning epic from maestro Hayao Miyazaki is his most unique films to date, inspired by the true stories of Jiro Horikoshi,...

After the first international trailer was released in August, Touchstone Pictures announced that it will distribute director Hayao Miyazaki's final movie The Wind Rises in U.S. theaters on February 21, 2014. Today, the studio has unveiled the first domestic trailer for this animated feature, which follows a young man named Jiro, who dreams of becoming a pilot before learning that he is nearsighted. He turns his passion for the sky into a career as an aeronautical engineer for a Japanese company in 1927.

The Wind Rises comes to theaters February 21st, 2014 and stars Hideaki Anno, Jun Kunimura, Mirai Shida, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Masahiko Nishimura, Keiko Takeshita, Mansai Nomura. The film is directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

Touchstone Pictures has released the first theatrical poster for The Wind Rises, director Hayao Miyazaki's final animated feature. The story follows Jiro, a young man who always dreamed of being a pilot before learning that he is nearsighted. He turns his passion for the sky into becoming an engineer for a major Japanese company in 1927. We reported in September that Touchstone is releasing the film in domestic theaters next February.

In The Wind Rises, Jiro-inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni-dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes. Nearsighted from a young age and thus unable to become a pilot, Jiro joins the aircraft division of a major Japanese engineering company in 1927. His genius is soon recognized, and he grows to become one of the world's most accomplished airplane designers. The film chronicles much of his life, and depicts key historical events that deeply affected the course of Jiro's life,...

The Walt Disney Studios and Studio Ghibli revealed North American release plans for The Wind Rises a Studio Ghibli film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Ponyo), at the North American premiere of the film today at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is slated for limited release in North American theaters on Feb. 21, 2014, and expanded release on Feb. 28, 2014, under the Touchstone Pictures banner. The Wind Rises will also open for Academy Award qualification engagements in New York and Los Angeles Nov. 8-14, 2013, showcasing the original film in Japanese with English subtitles.

In The Wind Rises, Jiro-inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni-dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes. Nearsighted from a young age and thus unable to become a pilot, Jiro joins the aircraft division of a major Japanese engineering company in 1927. His genius is soon recognized, and he grows to become...

Director Hayao Miyazaki has taken audiences to magical, alluring worlds throughout his filmography. He’s shown us witches, sorcerers, buses that are also cats, and so much more. His latest (and, if he’s truly retiring, final) film, The Wind Rises, leaves the fantastical behind to focus on the true story of the man who designed Japan’s Zero Fighter for World War II. The movie is almost completely unlike anything Miyazaki has ever done, and while his attempt to try something new is admirable, it’s also by far his weakest picture. Trapped inside a realistic world, Miyazaki’s story feels restrained and lifeless with only the dream sequences providing any spark to a story about a nice-guy workaholic who was also in love with a nice girl. Jiro Horikoshi (voiced by Hideaki Anno) has spent his entire life dreaming about building airplanes. He even experiences a dream with famous Italian aeronautic engineer Mr.

During a press conference at the Venice Film Festival yesterday, Studio Ghibli announced that acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki will "retire from the production of feature-length films." However, the announcement doesn't rule out the possibility of the filmmaker directing short films for the studio.

His final movie, The Wind Rises, has been playing in Japanese theaters since mid-July, but it doesn't have a U.S. release date set. The animated film is based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi, who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II. It is currently playing in competition at the Venice Film Festival, which runs through September 10.

Hayao Miyazaki formed Studio Ghibli in 1984 with fellow filmmaker Isao Takahata, where he directed critically-acclaimed classics such as Nausicca of the Valley Wind, Lapuata: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo and The Wind Rises.

The Toronto International Film Festival® has announced the addition of 3 Galas and 19 Special Presentations to the 2013 Festival programme, including a further 12 World Premieres. Representing countries from around the world, the Gala and Special Presentations programmes offer a lineup of diverse titles and genres.

Toronto audiences will be among the first to screen films by directors Fred Schepisi, Alberto Arvelo, Reha Erdem, Dexter Fletcher, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, Megan Griffiths, Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Kevin Macdonald, Arie Posin, Charlie Stratton, Nils Tavernier and John Turturro.

The 38th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5 to 15, 2013.

Galas Blood Ties

Guillaume Canet, France/USA North American Premiere

New York, 1974. 50-year-old Chris has just been released on good behavior after spending several years in prison. Waiting for him reluctantly outside the prison gates is his younger brother, Frank, a cop with a bright future. Chris and Frank have always been different, yet blood...

Director Hayao Miyazaki returns with his latest animated film The Wind Rises, making its world premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival. An international trailer has arrived for this sprawling film that unfolds over a decade, depicting the true story of Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the Japanese fighter planes in World War II. It isn't known when The Wind Rises will be released in the United States, so stay tuned.

The Wind Rises comes to theaters in 2013 and stars Hideaki Anno, Mirai Shida, Jun Kunimura, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Steve Alpert, Mansai Nomura, Masahiko Nishimura. The film is directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

Released in Japanese cinemas last month, Hayao Miyazaki’s anticipated The Wind Rises (a.k.a. Kaze Tachinu / 風立ちぬ) is about to get its international debut on the festival circuit in Venice and then Toronto.

Ahead of its appearance out at Tiff, the festival has launched an official subtitled version of the trailer for the latest from the acclaimed animation house, Studio Ghibli.

This decade-spanning epic from maestro Hayao Miyazaki is his most unique films to date, inspired by the true stories of Jiro Horikoshi, visionary designer of one the most beautiful airplanes in history — the famed Zero fighter — and the poet Tatsuo Hori, whose verses are brought to life by the vivid animation of Studio Ghibli.

Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura, Jun Kunimura, Shinobu Otake, and Mansai Nomura lead the voice cast, with the American-English dubbed cast yet to be announced.

Miyazaki is directing from his own script,...

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo), the Wind Rises features voices of Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Steven Alpert, Morio Kazama, Keiko Takeshita, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Mirai Shida, Mansai Nomura and Masahiko Nishimura. The film will screen as part of the Toronto International Film Festival. This decade-spanning epic from maestro Hayao Miyazaki is his most unique films to date, inspired by the true stories of Jiro Horikoshi, visionary designer of one the most beautiful airplanes in history — the famed Zero fighter — and the poet Tatsuo Hori, whose verses are brought to life by the vivid animation of Studio Ghibli.

Earlier today, the Toronto International Film Festival announced additions to their Galas and Special Presentations programs. Among the films with new images and synopses are: Words and Pictures (Directed by Fred Schepisi) Starring Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche. A Promise (Directed by Patrice Leconte) Starring Rebecca Hall, Alan Rickman, and Richard Madden. Child of God (Directed by James Franco) Starring James Franco, Scott Haze, Tim Blake Nelson, and Jim Parrack. The Wind Rises (Directed by Hayao Miyazaki) Featuring the voices of Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura, Jun Kunimura, Shinobu Otake, and Mansai Nomura. Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses. The 2013 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5 – 15th. Via Tiff. Words and Pictures A writer (Clive Owen) whose talent has dried up and an artist (Juliette Binoche) struggling to paint, clash at the school where they teach, sparking both an unlikely romance and...

Though a Us release date has yet to be decided upon, Japan needn’t wait too much longer for Hayao Miyazaki’s long-awaited return to the directing chair with The Wind Rises, as the Studio Ghibli film is due out there in under one month’s time (July 20th). History tells us it won’t come stateside until about a year from now, which makes this initial teaser for the film such a pleasant sight.

Short as it is, the images have a sort of poetry to them that you only get with a Miyzaki-directed film. It isn’t enough that he simply script a film, although it never hurts. Where Miyazaki does best is behind the reigns. Compare his last directorial effort, Ponyo, to its immediate successor in the Studio Ghibli canon, The Secret World of Arriety, whose script was contributed by the team of Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa,...

Studio Ghibli's upcoming animated movie explores the life of World War II Zero fighter plane designer Jirō Horikoshi, and is scheduled to open in Japan on July 20th, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo), the Wind Rises features voices of Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Steven Alpert, Morio Kazama, Keiko Takeshita, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Mirai Shida, Mansai Nomura and Masahiko Nishimura. At this time, no Us release or English voice cast have been announced.

As expected, promotion for The Floating Castle has essentially been reset and a new 32-second teaser trailer has been released, a year and a half after the original TV spot and teaser came out.

For those who haven’t been following the saga, Nobō no Shiro is a historical epic that was originally presented as a Kido Prize-winning film treatment way back in 2003, then adapted to a successful novel and manga adaptation after that. It took forever to develop as an actual movie simply due to the daunting size and scope of the project. It finally got off the ground when blockbuster-friendly directors Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi were attached in 2010.

Unfortunately, a big part of the movie involves the depiction of a large-scale water attack, which is the main reason it was shelved after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Anyway, “The Floating Castle” is now on schedule for a November 2, 2012 release.

The upcoming film adaptation of Ryo Wada’s debut 2007 novel, “Nobō no Shiro” (English title: The Floating Castle), was originally supposed to be released in Japan on September 17, 2011, but was delayed after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Today a new date was announced: November 2, 2012.

Additionally, it’s been revealed that the rock band Elephant Kashimashi will be providing the film’s theme, a brand new song made in time for the 30th anniversary of their forming.

“The Floating Castle” will mark the first starring film role for Mansai Nomura since 2003’s Onmyoji 2. He’ll be portraying historical figure Narita Nagachika, the beloved keeper of Oshi Castle who led 500 guards to defend against 20,000 invading troops sent by the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi in an attempt to unify Japan under one rule.

The plot is actually the main reason the it was pushed back. It was felt that releasing a film...

The Asmik Ace channel on Yahoo! Eiga has been updated with a new 30-second teaser for the upcoming adaptation of Ryo Wada’s debut 2007 novel, Nobou no Shiro.

The film is a historical drama co-directed by Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi. Set in the late Sengoku (Warring States) period, it tells the story of a popular military leader named Narita Nagachika (Mansai Nomura) who’s nicknamed “Nobou-sama” by the people—an abbreviation of the unflattering moniker he earned early in life for being clumsy and unskilled at everything he tried, “Deku no Bou” (good-for-nothing, blockhead).

Narita’s army of 500 men manages to defend Oshi Castle against 40-to-1 odds the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends his massive army there in an attempt to unify Japan under one rule.

The story was first presented as a film treatment and won the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s 29th annual Kido Prize...

Chicago – Of all the cinematic variations on Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran” is one of the few that, dare I say, improves on the Bard’s original blueprint.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Kurosawa’s vision of Lear is not merely that of an aging warlord undone by his own foolishness, but a ruthless warrior haunted by the countless lives he destroyed during his reign. His fate is anything but undeserved, and seems inspired by classic tragedies more Greek than Shakespearian.

“Ran” may be a devastating experience, but it also proves to be an uplifting one for anyone moved by watching a master filmmaker in peak form. It was an extraordinary triumph for the seventy-five-year-old Kurosawa, battling near-blindness in order to see his decade-old dream project through to its completion.

After a series of professional and personal setbacks, the filmmaker was widely considered to be washed-up, and “Ran” did not receive...

Pioneer Entertainment

"Onmyoji" (The Yin-Yang Master) takes a viewer deep into the Japanese mythological past -- much too deep for a casual moviegoer. Unless one is Japanese or seriously devoted to its culture, history and lore, a viewer will get immediately lost in this tale of supernatural phenomena. The film reportedly grossed $23.6 million in Japan two years ago, but for the U.S. market, "Onmyoji" would define the term "specialized market."

The film, directed by Yojiro Takita and based on a series of novels set in the Heian period, takes us back a millennium to a Japan where humans lived alongside demons and ghosts. Practitioners of the occult and astrology known as Onmyoji interpret and, if necessary, combat these unnatural phenomena. In this tale, one such master named Abe no Seimei (Mansai Nomura) befriends court nobleman Hiromasa (Hideaki Ito) to counter the sinister ambitions of an evil Onmyoji named Doson (Hiroyuki Sanada).

The acting is overripe with emotions and wholly lacking in subtlety. Special effects and makeup are cheesy by today's standards. Takita's compositions in the film's limited locales achieve a painterly look. The film bills itself as a "martial arts epic," but there is little actual fighting and budgetary constraints prevent it from realizing any cinematic distinction that might qualify as epic.