Over the course of their existence, Studio Ghibli has primarily been defined by two instantly recognizable names – Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, the two masters who laid the cornerstone for the studio and worked laboriously to define it over a few decades. However, while we can appreciate and adore their work, it is sometimes…

For just about as long as films have been made, westerns have existed – there are some that argue this is the most important artistic important America has ever produced, with the impact of the genre on the history of filmmaking being impossible to overstate. Despite this, it’s still a genre that tends to be…

Sequels tend to be quite peculiar – Hollywood is driven by the idea that the only logical response to a major success is to follow it up with something that attempts to recapture the magic of the original, and while there are some examples of sequels being equal to those that came before it (as…

By this point in our cinematic culture, an existing property that has not been wrangled into becoming yet another entry into the growing canon of reboots, remakes and revivals can consider itself lucky, since it seems like just about every original piece of media has been subjected to the incessant need to reinterpret classic works….

As time has progressed, we have become slightly cynical of the dominance the two major animation studios have over the industry – The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Animation are the gold standard, but they have become increasingly lazy, producing works that aren’t nearly as ambitious or wholeheartedly brilliant as the ones made at their…

We all know that familiar feeling – the sun sets, and we make our way to bed. We struggle to fall asleep, wondering what is lurking in the shadows that surround us. The fear of the dark is one of the most common childhood experiences, and the anxiety that comes with the idea that something…

Every era has to come to an end, regardless of its cultural or historical impact, since this is the very nature of viewing the past as a series of extended moments, which can be compartmentalized in various ways based on the influence it had on the future. Starting sometime in the late 1980s, the Walt…

Culture is nothing more than an expanded family history consolidated into historical fact – and there is nothing quite as beautiful as sincere pride in where one comes from. However, life has not always been easy for those who were born into one culture over another, especially when referring to particular moments in the past….

Animation is perhaps the last frontier when it comes to studios asserting enough considerable control over the productions that they become a brand, usually indicating an unimpeachable sense of quality. Whether Pixar, Disney or Studio Ghibli, the idea that these massively successful companies would produce anything below-par is almost unimaginable. Yet, the one studio that…