The first movie poster for Studio Ghibli's 2011 feature film, Kokuriko-Zaka Kara, directed by Goro Miyazaki with scriptwriting help by father Hayao Miyazaki. The story is adapted from a Japan shoujo manga (girl's comic) about a teenage girl who lives in a fishing town. In other words, the perfect subject for a Ghibli movie. I really love this design, the cool blue tones, its calm, down-to-earth setting. The naturalist Ghibli films have always been my favorite, and it's my hope that this tradition continues.
It's fascinating to see an animation studio so devoted to making movies for teenage girls. The very idea is alien to Hollywood thinking, where boys are always the center of attention. Even Disney's Tangled was shifted during production from a girl-oriented fantasy into more of a boys' adventure. And even when girls take the lead, it's only within the framework of the fairy-tale archetype. I'm not entirely sure why this happens; perhaps the enormous costs of producing movies forces a certain conservation of style. But I think it's worth examining.
I would love to see Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks make shoujo movies as Studio Ghibli has done. The last time I checked, females are the majority of the population. Hollywood obsesses about 13-year-old boys. Shouldn't you get some attention as well?
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