THE LIBRARY
Collector guides, cover censuses, and edition answers, documented issue by issue. Every page answers one specific question, completely.
GHIBLI
25 shelves
What inspired Laputa: Castle in the Sky?
Studio Ghibli's floating island comes from Swift, and the Welsh miners Miyazaki stood with in 1985.
Where did the name Ghibli come from?
Miyazaki took it from the Italian word for a hot desert wind, by way of the Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli scouting plane, for a studio meant to blow a new wind through anime.
Why was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind not a Studio Ghibli film?
Topcraft released it on March 11, 1984, more than a year before the studio existed. Its success founded Ghibli in 1985.
Why does the My Neighbor Totoro poster show a girl who is not in the film?
The poster kept the original single girl from Miyazaki's concept art. Production split her into Satsuki and Mei, and the poster was never redrawn.
What are Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away called in Japanese?
Majo no Takkyubin, built on a delivery company's trademark, and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, the spiriting away of both of the heroine's names.
Who composed the music for Studio Ghibli's films?
Joe Hisaishi, Miyazaki's composer since 1984, who scored Laputa twice: once for Japan, and again from scratch for America.
What is Studio Ghibli?
The studio founded in 1985 by Miyazaki, Takahata and Suzuki, and how a small animation company became Japan's most trusted film brand.
Who are Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata?
The two directors who founded Ghibli and disagreed productively for fifty years: their partnership, their differences, and their films.
What was Studio Ghibli's first film?
Castle in the Sky, 1986: why Nausicaa does not count, what the first Ghibli production set out to prove, and its place on the shelf.
How did Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies open as a double bill?
Two films, one ticket, April 1988: the strangest pairing in animation history and why Ghibli needed both films to exist at once.
What are the Ghibli films in order?
The complete theatrical feature list from Castle in the Sky to The Boy and the Heron, with directors, so a shelf can be built in release order.
What Ghibli art books should collectors know?
The Art Of volumes, the Roman Album line, and the storyboard books: what each Japanese Ghibli book series actually contains.
How are Ghibli films released on disc in Japan?
The Japanese disc story: LaserDisc prestige, the DVD library line, and the Blu-ray collections that set the world standard for the catalogue.
What are the English Ghibli disc editions?
Disney's long stewardship, the GKIDS era, and the earlier oddities: how the English language disc catalogue was built, twice.
How do the Japanese and English Ghibli covers compare?
Poster art against silhouette design against Western key art: the same films wearing three different faces across markets and eras.
GHOST IN THE SHELL
17 shelves
The Ghost in the Shell Manga Gallery
Every Ghost in the Shell manga volume and landmark edition by Masamune Shirow, documented: the 1991 Kodansha tankobon, the Solid Box, 1.5, Man-Machine Interface,…
The History of the Ghost in the Shell Manga
How Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell ran in Young Magazine Kaizokuban from May 1989, became a single Kodansha tankobon in October 1991, and grew two sequels…
What is Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor?
Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor collects four Shirow stories from 1991 to 1996 (Fat Cat, Drive Slave, Mines of Mind, Lost Past) that were left out…
What is Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface?
Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface is Masamune Shirow’s full-color sequel, serialized in Weekly Young Magazine in 1997, boxed in the Solid Box of 2000,…
Are the English Ghost in the Shell Editions the Same as the Japanese?
The English editions of Ghost in the Shell differ from the Japanese originals in reading direction, sound effects, and two famous pages Shirow himself redrew. A…
How Can You Tell a First Printing of the Ghost in the Shell Manga?
Identify a first printing of the 1991 Ghost in the Shell tankobon from its colophon: October 5, 1991 first-printing line, ISBN 4-06-313248-X, KC Deluxe imprint,…
Why Does Ghost in the Shell Have So Many Footnotes?
Masamune Shirow packed the margins of Ghost in the Shell with author’s notes on weapons, politics, and technology. Why the manga’s famous marginalia is a design…
Who is Masamune Shirow?
Masamune Shirow (born Masanori Ota, November 23, 1961) created Black Magic, Appleseed, and Dominion before Ghost in the Shell. His career before and around the…
What Are the Intron Depot Art Books?
Intron Depot 1 (Seishinsha, July 1992) collects 226 of Masamune Shirow’s illustrations from 1981 to 1991, including his Ghost in the Shell color work. The Shirow…
How Was the 1995 Ghost in the Shell Film Made?
Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 Ghost in the Shell at Production I.G: Kazunori Ito’s script, Kenji Kawai’s choral score, and the Digitally Generated Animation process that…
What is Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence?
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004) is Mamoru Oshii’s sequel, co-produced by Production I.G and Studio Ghibli, following Batou in 2032. It was the first anime…
How Does Stand Alone Complex Split Its Episodes?
Stand Alone Complex labels every episode Stand Alone or Complex: self-contained cases versus chapters of the Laughing Man arc, marked by green and blue title…
Who is the Laughing Man in Ghost in the Shell?
The Laughing Man is the hacker at the center of Stand Alone Complex’s first season: a corporate-blackmail case from six years before the series, whose logo and…
What Are the Tachikoma in Ghost in the Shell?
The Tachikoma are Stand Alone Complex’s spider-like think tanks: AI vehicles with childlike voices that learn, individualize, and question their own existence,…
What is the 1997 Ghost in the Shell PlayStation Game?
The 1997 PlayStation Ghost in the Shell by Exact and Production I.G puts the player inside a Fuchikoma that climbs walls and ceilings, with an original story and…
