Best PS3 Themes

Dethklok
The members of Dethklok. From left to right: William Murderface, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Nathan Explosion, Pickles, and Toki Wartooth.
Background information
Also known as	Metalocalypse: Dethklok
Origin	USA, Norway, Sweden
Genres	Melodic death metal[1][2] death metal[3]
Years active	2006–2016 2019–present
Labels	Crystal Mountain
Members	See members

Dethklok is a fictional melodic death metal band featured in the Adult Swim animated television series Metalocalypse, known for its satirical or parodic lyrical themes.

The first official Dethklok album was released on September 25, 2007, entitled The Dethalbum. The album debuted at number 21 on Billboard magazine's Top 200 list.^[4] The band released Dethalbum II on September 29, 2009, and toured with Mastodon, High on Fire, and Converge.^[5] The band's third album, Dethalbum III, was released on October 16, 2012.^[6] The soundtrack to the special episode Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem was released on October 29, 2013.^[7]

A real band was set up in order to perform the band's music in live shows. Both bands were created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. The music heard on Metalocalypse is performed by Brendon Small, with others needed for live concerts and albums. On August 25, 2017, Brendon Small released his second solo album, Brendon Small's Galaktikon II, which is considered to serve as "a new Dethklok album", due to Adult Swim holding the rights to the band name.^[8][9] However, after a five-year absence, the band returned to perform at Adult Swim Festival 2019.^[10] Their fourth album, and first in over a decade, Dethalbum IV, was released in August 2023, along with a soundtrack album to the film Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar. The band embarked on a national tour from August to October 2023, with co-headliners Babymetal and supported by Jason Richardson.^[11]

Fictional background[edit]

In the Metalocalypse series, Dethklok is depicted as the world's most popular and successful death metal band. The members of Dethklok reside in a colossal, fortress-like castle elevated high above ground called Mordhaus, which serves as their residence and recording studio. Beyond their extremely wealthy financial status, they also oversee a massive personal organization of devoted workers known as Klokateers, who act as their personal servants, as well as their roadies, security personnel, and private military squadron. The band's fan base includes billions of metal fanatics, who frequently endanger themselves watching the band perform live, as their costly shows are commonly held in dangerous locations and include numerous hazards such as excessive pyrotechnics, aircraft, lasers, and giant bladed pendulums, with many shows concluding in multiple attendee deaths.^[12][13] With their widespread commercial success and lucrative sponsorship contracts, Dethklok is ranked as the world's seventh largest economy by the end of the second season.^[14]

Despite their otherworldly success, the members of Dethklok are often portrayed as incompetent at almost everything unrelated to their profession. The band struggles to perform everyday tasks, including grocery shopping, preparing food, and maintaining proper social relationships. Throughout the series, they are often assisted by their manager and lawyer, Charles Foster Offdensen, who frequently attempts to prevent the band from making poor decisions. The band's actions and uncanny misfortune have caught the attention of an Illuminati-style council known as The Tribunal. The Tribunal is portrayed as Dethklok's antagonist throughout the series and secretly monitors their actions in almost every episode. They describe Dethklok as the "world's greatest cultural force." The leader of The Tribunal (Mr. Salacia), however, frequently instructs the other members to allow Dethklok to do as they will.

Band members[edit]

Fictional band members[edit]

Nathan Explosion[edit]

• Voiced by: Brendon Small

Nathan Explosion is the frontman, lead vocalist and "lyrical visionary" of Dethklok. Portrayed as a tall and stocky guy with long black hair, black nails, and green eyes, Nathan speaks with a death growl even when not singing; admitting during the comet episode that he knows his lyrics are largely incomprehensible. He did not speak a word until he was five years old and in high school excelled only in frog dissection and football. According to his dating profile, Nathan describes his ethnicity as "White/Native American". He was raised in New Port Richey, Florida. He is the lead songwriting force in Dethklok, and uses violent imagery or plot elements when writing and composing song material. Nathan is slightly more sensible than the rest of the band, and a great deal more emotionally stable, though he is still incompetent at most things in life such as the use of a grocery store or reading a cooking recipe. Despite this, he does seem to have some knowledge in specific areas, such as negotiating a contract, extensive knowledge of rock culture, and a proficiency in French. He attempts to get his GED in "Go Forth And Die", and only fails in part due to the band's influence, and in "Fatherklok" tells Murderface not to interfere with Skwisgaar's father issues. Nathan sometimes acts in a parental manner towards Toki, and in the first episode insisted that the band never drink before a show (notwithstanding the fact they had all been drinking all day).

In the episode "Fatherklok", it was revealed that Nathan enjoys an excellent relationship with his father. He does, however, find his parents embarrassing as they are normal parents and not "brutal" as seen in "Dethfam". A brief montage shows Nathan and his father fishing, racing go-karts, and playing Scrabble. He is the only member of the band who spends time with or likes his father, stating in the episode "Dethdad" he often drinks beer and goes hunting with his father regularly and would be very sad if his father died.

Small described Nathan as a "quarterback", in part to his contribution to his high school football team, and based his character's appearance and performance style on Cannibal Corpse vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher.^[15]

Skwisgaar Skwigelf[edit]

• Voiced by: Brendon Small

Skwisgaar Skwigelf is Dethklok's lead guitarist. He is described as "a handsome guy who thinks and knows he's the greatest thing in the world". Show creator Brendon Small compares Skwisgaar's attitude and technical playing style to Yngwie Malmsteen.^[15] He is tall and thin with long blond hair, a studded belt with a skull buckle, and blue eyes. He played a Gibson Explorer for the first three seasons, but switched to the Gibson "Thunderhorse" Explorer for the fourth. He often carries around his guitars even when not playing. He is often referred to as the fastest guitar player in the world. He is depicted as having extreme sexual prowess and a preference for plump or elderly women. Hailing from Sweden, Skwisgaar has a marked Swedish accent and often makes mistakes when conjugating verbs. He is responsible for the majority of the arrangement of Dethklok's songs, writing the guitar lines as well as Murderface's bass lines. Skwisgaar also typically discards and re-records the rhythm guitar (and the bass guitar parts) recorded by Toki Wartooth for Dethklok's albums and frequently belittles as well competes with him over his guitar playing skills. Nonetheless, when Toki originally auditioned for the band, it was Skwisgaar who requested that Toki be chosen, feeling that no other guitarist made Skwisgaar play as well as he did.

Toki Wartooth[edit]

• Voiced by: Tommy Blacha, Mike Keneally (singing voice in Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem)

Toki Wartooth is Dethklok's rhythm guitarist. He typically played a Gibson Flying V, but has switched to the Brendon Small "Snow Falcon" V for the fourth season. A native of "an abandoned town near Lillehammer", Norway, he was forced to constantly perform manual labor by his abusive cultist parents. He has a distinct accent and often inappropriately pluralizes words, but refers to Pickles as "Pickle". Visually, he has a distinct Fu Manchu moustache, long brown hair, and very pale blue eyes. He is also shown to be extremely physically fit, in stark contrast to the rest of his bandmates.

Toki is the only Dethklok member with no prior band experience, as well as the only one not with the band in its initial form, having been chosen to replace the violent and egomaniacal Magnus Hammersmith. Small explains Toki's relationship with Skwisgaar as "...Norwegian to Skwisgaar's Swedish, pompous attitude. And, again, a second-class citizen in the same band",^[15] and compared his guitar playing style to that of Iron Maiden.^[15]

In contrast to the deep cynicism, grim outlook, promiscuity, and alcohol abuse of the other band members, Toki's character is generally childlike, innocent, and good-natured, yet traumatized and can be quite violent when pushed too far. He has a boyish bedroom complete with action figures, stuffed animals, and wall posters, and a prominent hobby of his is building model planes. He is a type 2 diabetic and requires insulin shots.

A recurring plot point is the death of people Toki grows fond of, including a guitar teacher and his father; the Tribunal has described him as an "angel of death". Any living being that gets close to Toki (with the exception of Dr. Rockso, Charles and his bandmates) tends to die after a brief period of time.

Pickles[edit]

• Voiced by: Brendon Small

Pickles is Dethklok's drummer. He was raised in Tomahawk, Wisconsin and speaks with an Upper Midwestern accent. He refers to himself as "very Irish American" and has long red hair, styled into dreadlocks and a comb-over skullet, and green eyes. He is depicted as having an average build with a strong propensity for drugs and alcohol abuse stemming from feelings of resentment towards his family. He comes off as the most socially-capable member of the band, able to grasp most concepts outside the scope of death metal that the other four cannot. In later seasons, this capacity often puts him at odds with Nathan, though ironically they are the only two the others can talk to on certain levels. Charles Offdensen refers to Nathan and Pickles as the "most responsible" members in the group, much to their disdain. Pickles is a multi-talented performer, whom IGN Magazine described as "the band's deepest thinker".^[16] Pickles is the former front-man of a group called Snakes 'n' Barrels, providing the vocals and performing as the lead guitarist.

Brendon Small used the voice of Pickles on The Dethalbum to sing the chorus of the song "Hatredcopter", as well as the entirety of "Kill You", a song by Snakes N' Barrels "covered" by Dethklok, which serves as a bonus track. Describing the character, Small said, "I thought the drummer should be able to do a bunch of stuff, like Roger Taylor in Queen. Even though it's not based on his personality, it's what he can do in the band and what parts of the songs he does contribute to."^[15]

The original design of the character was changed to avoid his looking too much like Devin Townsend.^[17]

William Murderface[edit]

• Voiced by: Tommy Blacha

William Murderface is Dethklok's bassist, who plays a Gibson Thunderbird Studio 5-string. He has brown hair, green eyes, a heavy lateral lisp and a gap in his front teeth. He has tattoos on the top and bottom parts of his abdomen, the top reading "Pobody's Nerfect", and the bottom saying "This Mess Is A Place". When he was a baby, Murderface's deranged and mentally unstable father killed his wife — Murderface's mother — with a chainsaw before turning it upon himself in front of Murderface in a grisly murder-suicide (Murderface believes this happened because he was ugly). This left Murderface to be raised by his grandparents.

Murderface is "a self-hating bass player who's always trying to act like he's more important than he is", in part because his bass playing is usually mixed out completely.^[15] Although Murderface's musical contribution is apparently totally unnecessary to the group's sound, Dethklok realizes when they expel him from the band in "Dethsiduals" that he imposes a mentality of negativity and hatred upon the band that is crucial to their songwriting.

Brendon Small describes Murderface as "thin-skinned and incredibly sensitive and just wants to be accepted constantly but can't get that because he's such a dick and pushes people away".^[18] He is sensitive about his weight and appearance, which his bandmates often obliviously exacerbate. Additionally, he is generally disliked by the opposite sex to the point that even female Klokateers, who are absolutely devoted to Dethklok, reject his advances. Murderface's voice was originally achieved by Tommy Blacha putting paper towels inside his mouth when voicing the character, but he has since refined his technique to forgo the paper towels.^[19]

Magnus Hammersmith[edit]

• Voiced by: Marc Maron (speaking) and Brendon Small (singing)

Magnus Hammersmith was the first rhythm guitarist of Dethklok, but was kicked out of the band very early for his violent behavior. He returns to antagonize and threaten the band several times.

Real-life band members[edit]

Touring history[edit]

In late 2007, Adult Swim organized a promotional tour featuring Dethklok and ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.^[21] The tour comprised performances at twelve college campuses, with tickets available to students only (except for 50 tickets set aside for the UCLA show in the Los Angeles area). The band featured Brendon Small, guitarist Mike Keneally, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Gene Hoglan.^[22] Tour information was made available on Adult Swim's promotional site.^[23] In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, Brendon Small described the tour as being "like Gorillaz, with the animated characters" with Small's ensemble of musicians performing visibly.^[24]

In a February 2008 interview on California radio station Indie 103.1 with Full Metal Jackie, plans for a summer 2008 tour were announced. Brendon Small described the tour as being like "a Disney ride but with murder". Dethklok toured the US in June and early July with Chimaira and Soilent Green. In April 2008, 27 seven dates were announced.^[25]

Dethklok performed at Heavy MTL on June 21, 2008. They then toured with Chimaira and Soilent Green during June and July 2008. During the June 5, 2008, show at The Fillmore in San Francisco, an electrical fire broke out during Soilent Green's set. Attendees were hesitant to leave the building thinking that it was part of the show (in their fictional universe, Dethklok is infamous for causing disasters that result in deaths), which created a dangerous situation, but they soon realized that the fire was real and evacuated and the concert was rescheduled.^[26][27]

Dethklok toured with co-headliner Mastodon, High on Fire, and Converge during October and November 2009. The band performed in San Bernardino on July 9, 2011, at the Mayhem Festival in place of Megadeth. Dethklok played a free show at San Diego Comic Con on July 13, 2012, on the USS Midway.^[28] Dethklok was scheduled to play in Toronto, Ontario at the Heavy T.O. festival on August 11, 2012,^[29] and also in Montreal, QC at Heavy MTL Festival on August 12, 2012;^[30] however, Dethklok's appearances at both festivals were cancelled. Dethklok was also scheduled to play the main stage for both days of Knotfest on August 17 and 18, 2012;^[31] however, Dethklok's appearance was cancelled. The band was scheduled to co-headline a tour in North America with Lamb of God (with special guest Gojira) in August 2012;^[32] this tour was cancelled due to bail hearings at the time for Randy Blythe in the Czech Republic.^[33]

Dethklok toured North America, in support of Dethalbum III, with Machine Head, All That Remains and the Black Dahlia Murder during November and December 2012.^[34] Bassist Pete Griffin filled in for several shows while Bryan Beller was touring with his band, the Aristocrats.^[20]

Dethklok performed at Festival Supreme on October 25, 2014, in Los Angeles, California.^[35] Dethklok then performed at Adult Swim Festival 2019.^[10] Dethklok, afterwards, went on to play the Adult Swim Festival 2022. ^[36] The band then went on to tour in North America, in support of Dethalbum IV, with Babymetal and Jason Richardson from August to October 2023.^[37]

In the spring of 2024, Dethklok headlined the "Mutilation on a Spring Night" tour, running from early April to early May in the United States. Support on the tour was provided by DragonForce and Nekrogoblikon.^[38]

Awards[edit]

Dethklok received the award for best international band during the 2009 Revolver Golden God Awards.^[39] A clip of the band's acceptance speech was played after they were announced as the recipients. They were presented the award by Chuck Billy, best known for his work as the vocalist for the thrash metal band Testament.^[40][41] In 2013, Dethalbum III won an Independent Music Award for Best Metal/Hardcore Album.^[42]

Discography[edit]

Studio albums[edit]

As Dethklok

As Brendon Small

EPs[edit]

• Adult Swim Presents: ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead on Tour with Dethklok (split CD) (2007)

Singles[edit]

• "Bloodrocuted" (2007)
• "Thunderhorse" (2007)
• "Bloodlines" (2009)
• "I Ejaculate Fire" (2012)
• "Blazing Star" (2013)
• "Aortic Desecration" (2023)

Guest appearances[edit]

• Zimmers Hole – When You Were Shouting at the Devil... We Were in League with Satan (guest vocals on "The Vowel Song" by Nathan Explosion) (2008)

Music videos[edit]

As lead band[edit]

As featured band[edit]

References[edit]

Studio Ghibli, Inc.

The logo for Studio Ghibli
Headquarters in Koganei, Tokyo
Native name	株式会社スタジオジブリ
Romanized name	Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Jiburi
Company type	Subsidiary (Kabushiki-gaisha)
Industry	Motion pictures Video games TV commercials
Genre	Anime
Predecessor	Topcraft
Founded	June 15, 1985; 39 years ago (1985-06-15) in Tokyo, Japan
Founders	Hayao Miyazaki Toshio Suzuki Isao Takahata Yasuyoshi Tokuma
Headquarters	Kajino-chō, Koganei, Tokyo , Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Toshio Suzuki (chairman) Gorō Miyazaki (managing director) Kiyofumi Nakajima (director) Hayao Miyazaki (director)
Products	Animated feature films, animated short films, television films, commercials, live-action films
Net income	¥3.43 billion (2023)[1]
Total assets	¥31.179 billion (2023)[1]
Number of employees	190[2] (2023)
Parent	Tokuma Shoten (1985–2005) Nippon Television (2023–present, 42.3%)
Subsidiaries	Studio Kajino
Website	www.ghibli.jp

Studio Ghibli, Inc. (Japanese: 株式会社スタジオジブリ, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Jiburi)^[3] is a Japanese animation studio based in Koganei, Tokyo.^[4] It has a strong presence in the animation industry and has expanded its portfolio to include various media formats, such as short subjects, television commercials, and two television films. Their work has been well-received by audiences and recognized with numerous awards. Their mascot and most recognizable symbol, the character Totoro from the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, is a giant spirit inspired by raccoon dogs (tanuki) and cats (neko).^[5] Among the studio's highest-grossing films are Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Boy and the Heron (2023).^[6] Studio Ghibli was founded on June 15, 1985, by the directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki, after acquiring Topcraft's assets.

Five of the studio's films are among the ten highest-grossing anime feature films made in Japan. Spirited Away is second, grossing 31.68 billion yen in Japan and over US$380 million worldwide, and Princess Mononoke is fourth, grossing 20.18 billion yen. Three of their films have won the Animage Grand Prix award, four have won the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, and five have received Academy Award nominations. Spirited Away won the 2002 Golden Bear and the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.^[7] The Boy and the Heron won the 2024 Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film,^[8] BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film,^[9] and the 2024 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.^[10]

Name[edit]

The name "Ghibli" was chosen by Miyazaki from the Italian noun ghibli (also used in English), the nickname of Italy's Saharan scouting plane Caproni Ca.309, in turn derived from the Italianization of the Libyan Arabic name for a hot desert wind (قبلي qibliyy). The name was chosen by Miyazaki due to his passion for aircraft and also for the idea that the studio would "blow a new wind through the anime industry".^[11][12] Although the Italian word would be more accurately transliterated as "Giburi" (ギブリ), with a hard g sound, the studio's name is written in Japanese as Jiburi (ジブリ, [dʑiꜜbɯɾi] ^ⓘ).^[11]

History[edit]

Tokuma Shoten era[edit]

Hayao Miyazaki

Toshio Suzuki

Isao Takahata

Miyazaki, Suzuki, and Takahata founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, alongside Yasuyoshi Tokuma.

Founded on June 15, 1985, Studio Ghibli was headed by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki. Miyazaki and Takahata had already had long careers in Japanese film and television animation and had worked together on The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun in 1968 and the Panda! Go, Panda! films in 1972 and 1973. Suzuki had been an editor at Tokuma Shoten's Animage manga magazine.^[13]

The studio was founded after the success of the 1984 film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Suzuki was part of the film's production team, and founded Studio Ghibli with Miyazaki, who also invited Takahata to join them.^[14][15][16]

The studio has mainly produced films by Miyazaki, with the second most prolific director being Takahata (most notably with Grave of the Fireflies). Other directors who have worked with Studio Ghibli include Yoshifumi Kondō, Hiroyuki Morita, Gorō Miyazaki, and Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Composer Joe Hisaishi has provided the soundtracks for most of Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli films. In their book Anime Classics Zettai!, Brian Camp and Julie Davis made note of Michiyo Yasuda as "a mainstay of Studio Ghibli's extraordinary design and production team".^[17] At one time the studio was based in Kichijōji, Musashino, Tokyo.^[18]

In August 1996, The Walt Disney Company and Tokuma Shoten formed a partnership wherein Walt Disney Studios would be the sole international distributor for Tokuma Shoten's Studio Ghibli animated films.^[19] Under this agreement, Disney also agreed to finance 10% of the studio's production costs.^[20] Since then, all three of the aforementioned films by Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli that were previously dubbed by Streamline Pictures have been re-dubbed by Disney.^[21] On June 1, 1997, Tokuma Shoten Publishing consolidated its media operations by merging Studio Ghibli, Tokuma Shoten Intermedia software and Tokuma International under one location.^[22]

Over the years, there has been a close relationship between Studio Ghibli and the magazine Animage, which regularly runs exclusive articles on the studio and its members in a section titled "Ghibli Notes". Artwork from Ghibli's films and other works are frequently featured on the cover of the magazine. Saeko Himuro's novel Umi ga Kikoeru was serialised in the magazine and subsequently adapted into Ocean Waves, Studio Ghibli's first animated feature-length film created for television. It was directed by Tomomi Mochizuki.^[23]

In October 2001, the Ghibli Museum opened in Mitaka, Tokyo.^[24] It contains exhibits based on Studio Ghibli films and shows animations, including a number of short Studio Ghibli films not available elsewhere.

The studio is also known for its strict "no-edits" policy in licensing their films abroad due to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind being heavily edited for the film's release in the United States as Warriors of the Wind.

Independent era[edit]

Between 1999 and 2005, Studio Ghibli was a subsidiary brand of Tokuma Shoten; however, that partnership ended in April 2005, when Studio Ghibli was spun off from Tokuma Shoten and was re-established as an independent company with relocated headquarters.

On February 1, 2008, Toshio Suzuki stepped down from the position of Studio Ghibli president, which he had held since 2005, and Koji Hoshino (former president of Walt Disney Japan) took over. Suzuki said he wanted to improve films with his own hands as a producer, rather than demanding this from his employees. Suzuki decided to hand over the presidency to Hoshino because Hoshino has helped Studio Ghibli to sell its videos since 1996 and has also aided the release of the Princess Mononoke film in the United States.^[25] Suzuki still serves on the company's board of directors.

Takahata developed a project for release after Gorō Miyazaki's (director of Tales from Earthsea and Hayao's son) The Tale of the Princess Kaguya – an adaptation of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. The last film Hayao Miyazaki directed before retiring from feature films was The Wind Rises which is about the Mitsubishi A6M Zero and its creator.^[26]

On Sunday, September 1, 2013, Hayao Miyazaki held a press conference in Venice to confirm his retirement, saying: "I know I've said I would retire many times in the past. Many of you must think, 'Once again.' But this time I am quite serious."^[27]

In 2013, a documentary directed by Mami Sunada called The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (Japanese: 夢と狂気の王国, Hepburn: Yume to kyōki no ōkoku) was created delving into the lives of those working at Studio Ghibli and the productions of the animated films The Wind Rises and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, including storyboard sketching, inking, painting, and voice actor selection for the films.^[28]

On January 31, 2014, it was announced that Gorō Miyazaki will direct his first anime television series, Sanzoku no Musume Rōnya, an adaptation of Astrid Lindgren's Ronia the Robber's Daughter for NHK. The series is computer-animated, produced by Polygon Pictures, and co-produced by Studio Ghibli.^[29][30]

In March 2014, Toshio Suzuki retired as producer and assumed the new position of general manager. Yoshiaki Nishimura replaced Suzuki in the producer role.^[31]

On August 3, 2014, Toshio Suzuki announced that Studio Ghibli would take a "brief pause" to re-evaluate and restructure in the wake of Miyazaki's retirement. He stated some concerns about where the company would go in the future.^{[32][33][34][35]} This led to speculation that Studio Ghibli will never produce another feature film again. On November 7, 2014, Miyazaki stated, "That was not my intention, though. All I did was announce that I would be retiring and not making any more features."^[36] Lead producer Yoshiaki Nishimura among several other staffers from Ghibli, such as director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, left to found Studio Ponoc in April 2015, working on the film Mary and the Witch's Flower.

The 2016 animated fantasy film The Red Turtle, directed and co-written by Dutch-British animator Michaël Dudok de Wit in his feature film debut, was a co-production between Studio Ghibli and Wild Bunch.^[37]

In February 2017, Toshio Suzuki announced that Hayao Miyazaki had come out of retirement to direct a new feature film with Studio Ghibli.^[38]

On November 28, 2017, Koji Hoshino stepped down as president; he was replaced by Kiyofumi Nakajima (former Ghibli Museum director). Hoshino was then appointed as Chairman of Studio Ghibli.^[39][40]

In May 2020, Toshio Suzuki confirmed that a new film from Gorō Miyazaki is in development at Studio Ghibli. On June 3, 2020, Studio Ghibli announced that the film would be an adaptation of the novel Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones. The film was announced as the first full 3D CG animated Ghibli film and slated for a television premiere on NHK in late 2020.^[41] The company had a net income of ¥1.253 billion, and a total asset worth ¥24.521 billion by August 2021.^[42]

On November 1, 2022, the Studio Ghibli themed amusement park Ghibli Park opened.^[43]

On April 4, 2023, Koji Hoshino announced that he had stepped down as chairman, and would serve as a representative director before planning to exit Studio Ghibli completely during the company's annual general shareholder's meeting in June, one month prior to the release of director Hayao Miyazaki's final movie The Boy and the Heron on July 14. He also announced that Toshio Suzuki would be replacing Kiyofumi Nakajima as president of Studio Ghibli, assuming the role for the first time since 2008, while Nakajima would continue to serve as a director.^[44] This change of management came about amidst reports that Suzuki had allegedly been mismanaging company funds by directing them towards his girlfriend's failed business ventures. This reportedly created tension between Suzuki and Hoshino, with the latter reportedly citing it as a long-term internal problem at the company since the couple met in 2013 and was the reason for his planned departure from the company, although a spokesperson for Studio Ghibli in a statement to Variety denied that Hoshino's departure had anything to do with these reports.^[45][46][47] The source of the allegations came from the tabloid paper, Shūkan Josei and was not corroborated by the mainstream media in Japan.^[48]

Nippon Television era[edit]

In October 2023, the studio became a subsidiary of Nippon Television Holdings, Inc.. Studio Ghibli's leadership transitioned to Hiroyuki Fukuda, a senior executive at NTV. Toshio Suzuki became Chairman and Hayao Miyazaki became Honorary Chairman. Nippon TV acquired a 42.3% stake in Studio Ghibli. The decision was driven by the advanced ages of Miyazaki and Suzuki, aged 82 and 75, respectively. The studio had considered Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki, as a successor but opted for external leadership due to concerns and Goro's reluctance. NTV started to handle management, allowing Studio Ghibli to focus on creative endeavors.^[49][50] The takeover took effect on October 6.^[51]

In 2024, the studio received an honorary Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the first film production company to receive the award.^[52][53]

Distribution rights[edit]

Theatrical and home media rights[edit]

Japan[edit]

In Japan, the company's films (along with The Castle of Cagliostro and all other Lupin the Third titles for movie theaters as well as Mary and the Witch's Flower) are distributed by Toho theatrically, except for Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service (which were distributed by Toei Company along with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, with Toei producing The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun), and My Neighbors the Yamadas, which was distributed by Shochiku.

For home media, a majority of Studio Ghibli releases are distributed by Walt Disney Studios Japan. This also includes Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, The Castle of Cagliostro and Mary and the Witch's Flower.^[54] Pony Canyon occasionally releases Ghibli documentaries on home media, and also distributes rental versions of Ghibli's movies under a deal with Disney. Pony Canyon also fully distributed the standalone version of Earwig and the Witch on home media.

Before the Disney deal, Tokuma Shoten released Ghibli movies themselves through their "Animage Video" imprint, as well as all Laserdisc releases of the movies, as the Disney deal did not include that format.

International[edit]

After purchasing the global distribution rights from World Film Corporation,^[55] Manson International and Showmen, Inc. produced a 95-minute English dub of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, titled Warriors of the Wind,^[56] which was released theatrically in the United States by New World Pictures on June 14, 1985, followed by a VHS release in December 1985.^[57][58] The voice actors and actresses were not credited, and the film was heavily edited to give it a faster pace.^[59] The film received a PG rating just like Disney's later English dub.^[60] By removing several of the longer dialogue scenes, some of the environmentalist themes were simplified as was the main subplot of the Ohmu, altered to remove Nausicaä's childhood connection to them.^[61] Most of the characters' names were changed, including the titular character who became Princess Zandra. The North American poster and VHS cover featured a cadre of male characters who are not in the film, riding the resurrected God Warrior—including a still-living Warrior shown briefly in a flashback. Overall, approximately 22 minutes was cut for North American release.^[60] Warriors of the Wind also prompted Miyazaki to allow translator Toren Smith of Studio Proteus to create an official, faithful translation of the Nausicaä manga for Viz Media.^[62]

In the late 1980s, an English dub of Castle in the Sky was produced for international Japan Airlines flights at the request of Tokuma Shoten. The Castle dub was briefly screened in the United States by Streamline Pictures. Carl Macek, the head of Streamline, was disappointed with this dub, deeming it "adequate, but clumsy".^[63] Following this, Tokuma allowed Streamline to dub their future acquisitions My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. In April 1993, Troma Films, under their 50th St. Films banner, distributed the Totoro dub as a theatrical release, and the dub was later released onto VHS and eventually onto DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. In the early 1990s, an English dub of Porco Rosso was produced by an unknown company, again for international Japan Airlines flights. The original dubs can be seen on the 1996 Ghibli ga Ippai Laserdisc set, and on the initial copies for the Japanese DVD releases of Totoro, Laputa and Porco.

In 1996, Walt Disney Studios acquired worldwide distribution rights to the Studio Ghibli library, with Disney redubbing all previously dubbed films.^[19][64] In addition, Walt Disney Studios Japan agreed to contribute 10% of the funding for all future releases, starting with My Neighbors the Yamadas, in exchange for right of first refusal regarding international distribution.^[20] Disney continues with this practice to this day, even extending it to the works of Studio Ponoc and to co-productions like The Red Turtle in Japan. It reportedly took four years for Disney and Studio Ghibli to reach a distribution deal. Originally, the Ghibli films were meant to headline a line of videos called Animation Celebration, highlighting critically acclaimed animated films from around the world. These plans never materialized in full, but the Animation Celebration logo can be seen on Disney's original VHS release of Kiki's Delivery Service. During Disney's tenure, the studio produced the English dubs and released 15 of Ghibli's films, plus Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, through the Walt Disney Pictures, Buena Vista Home Video, Miramax and Touchstone Pictures banners.^[65]

Disney and Ghibli have also selectively chosen not to promote and record an English-dubbed version for films and works deemed less internationally marketable, including some of Takahata's more developmental and obscure pieces.^[66] Although the Studio has a "No cuts" policy in terms of international versions and dubs, this does not apply to promotional posters, etc., for which the film makers collaborate with Disney to produce cultural appropriate international versions. The Studio has not shied away from slight rebranding on the international stage in order to convey slightly tweaked promotional imagery for different cultural norms. One example of these slight tweaks to international promotional materials can be seen between the Japanese and English versions of the movie poster for Spirited Away (2001). For American and other English-speaking audiences, the name of the film was changed from the Japanese version, which directly translates roughly to, "The Disappearance of Chihiro and Sen", to Spirited Away to suggest more mystical, otherworldly themes, since the direct Japanese translation could be taken to mean that Chihiro/Sen disappeared due to some more dangerous reason. On the American movie poster, more pictures of spirits from the film were added to the background to further pique the viewer's interest with more supernatural themes, creating an association between the pictures spirits and what most American people would think of as "ghosts". For the Japanese poster, there are fewer spirits as the Japanese Shinto religion normalizes the existence of spirits, so less emphasis is needed to convey the importance of non-human spirits. Also, Disney enlarged the "Studio Ghibli" and "Hayao Miyazaki" labels on the poster, helping to bring greater awareness to the studio through the success of Spirited Away.^[67]

In 2011, GKIDS acquired the North American theatrical distribution rights of the aforementioned Ghibli films, with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment retaining the home video rights.^[68] Afterwar