THE LIBRARY

Studio Ghibli's floating island comes from Swift, and the Welsh miners Miyazaki stood with in 1985.

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.

Topcraft released it on March 11, 1984, more than a year before the studio existed. Its success founded Ghibli in 1985.

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.

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.

Joe Hisaishi, Miyazaki's composer since 1984, who scored Laputa twice: once for Japan, and again from scratch for America.

The studio founded in 1985 by Miyazaki, Takahata and Suzuki, and how a small animation company became Japan's most trusted film brand.

The two directors who founded Ghibli and disagreed productively for fifty years: their partnership, their differences, and their films.

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.

Two films, one ticket, April 1988: the strangest pairing in animation history and why Ghibli needed both films to exist at once.

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.

The Art Of volumes, the Roman Album line, and the storyboard books: what each Japanese Ghibli book series actually contains.

The Japanese disc story: LaserDisc prestige, the DVD library line, and the Blu-ray collections that set the world standard for the catalogue.

Disney's long stewardship, the GKIDS era, and the earlier oddities: how the English language disc catalogue was built, twice.

Poster art against silhouette design against Western key art: the same films wearing three different faces across markets and eras.

The small, deliberately unrepeatable museum Miyazaki designed in Inokashira Park: what is inside, how tickets work, and what it collects.

The park inside a park in Aichi: five areas, no rides, and a warehouse of sets. How it differs from every other studio theme park.

Teleca, advance tickets, pamphlets and posters: the paper layer of Ghibli collecting, documented by design and release, without the price talk.

Miramax, a famous no cuts condition, Neil Gaiman's English script, and the release that proved Ghibli could open in the West.

The Berlin prize, the Academy Award, and the John Lasseter championed American release that reset what the West expected from Japanese animation.

A retirement, a reopening, a co-production, a fire that touched the industry, and a secretive production that ran for seven years.

Publishers, catalogue numbers, silhouette versus poster art, and the inserts that complete a copy. An identification guide for Japanese Ghibli books and discs.

A starter shelf built on anchors rather than rarities: one film in a Japanese edition, one Art Of book, the double bill pair, and a piece of museum paper.

The films that exist in exactly one cinema in the world: their subjects, their directors, and why they have never been released on disc.

No Totoro 2, no Mononoke 2: the studio's sequel free catalogue, the few companions and continuations that do exist, and the business logic underneath.