Seed Talks as the name suggests give you seeds of thoughts and let them grow. Although this talk about an animation studio in Japan which makes movies that we love watching is probably more of a personal interest topic. Many people have seen at least some of their marvellous movies: My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo and Kiki’s Delivery Service. Totoro has even reached the West end stage with a sell out show that keeps getting extended.
Helen McCarthy is an anime writer and researcher and obviously knows her topic. Indeed she has previously written a book about Ghibli’s co- founding director Hayao Miyazaki. For this talk she gives a very detailed history of Studio Ghibli and the main animators behind the wonderful films that we know and love, including many of their influences from various art forms. Toei Animation was where some of the key people started their careers and learned their craft before starting Studio Ghibli and McCarthy takes the audience through the interrelations between the key people, namely Isao Takahata, Toshio Suzuki and more recently Katsuya Kondō who was actually lined up to take over from Miyazaki so he could retire, before his own untimely death. Miyazaki is a workaholic, only ever stopping work for six months when Kondō passed away, even when ill himself with appendicitis, he worked right up until going under anaesthetic and restarted as soon as he woke up. True dedication to your role and art.
We’re shown some of the artwork that can be seen within the Ghibli animation, with influences coming from paintings, books and often quite Western ideas. Both cofounders were very interested in France and the work of Jean Giraud (Moebius, which can be seen reflected in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The poster for Panda Kopanda from 1972 shows a rotund panda with a little girl in red doing a handstand on his head and two creatures clinging to his chest, not unlike our beloved Totoro.
Unfortunately this talk was held in the downstairs lounge of the Lemon Tree with its many pillars in the way of the artworks on the screen which were being discussed. So many people were bopping backwards and forwards trying to see the pictures that were being referred to in the talk. This seems quite an unfortunate oversight when the main topic of the talk is the artwork. However it was a fascinating topic with a very knowledgeable speaker. It certainly gave everyone something to think about, this was evident from the level of questions which were asked at the end. One of which gave seed to the idea of a talk about the relationships between Ghibli and Disney as some staff have moved from one to the other, pulling influences through with them. Here is hoping that talk happens in the future as it would also be well worth a listen.
Reviewed on 21 July 2026 | Image: Contributed
