#Toshio Suzuki

[elizadraws]

Bulgarian Music in Studio Ghibli films

”Myth has it that Orpheus was born in what is now Bulgaria. It seemed to be fact, not myth, that his daughters are still singing there”

These words were written by the New York Times in the remote 1963 — the year in which the largest Bulgarian folk ensemble crossed the Iron Curtain to conquer an entire continent with its cosmic art.

The 1975 release of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, a compilation album of modern arrangements of Bulgarian folk songs, further popularized Bulgarian music, and in 1977, a vinyl record featuring the folk song “Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin” (Eng: Come out rebel Delyo) began its journey aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts.

From this point on popularity from the West spread to the East, and Bulgarian folk music made it to the entertainment industry, including legendary Japanese anime films, like the cult cyberpunk “Ghost in the Shell” or the heartwarming Studio Ghibli features.

In this short article I write about two occasions of Bulgarian music playing in Studio Ghibli’s films.

The record that inspired the creation of “Only Yesterday”

“Only Yesterday” is a 1991 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata, based on the 1982 manga of the same title by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. Set in rural Japan, the film draws parallels with the peasant lifestyle present in Eastern Europe.

The original work is a compilation of short stories about 11-year-old Taeko’s daily life in 1966. Director Takahata had a hard time making it into a movie since the manga, told in the form of a memoir, has no plot to hold a feature. Together with producer Toshio Suzuki, they came up with the solution of bringing the narrator of the story, adult Taeko, into the movie. But there is a curious anecdote about how this idea came to mind.

Taeko picks safflower as the Bulgarian song “Malka moma dvori mete” plays in the background. © Studio Ghibli

In a 2021 interview with students from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, producer Suzuki recounts how a record of Bulgarian songs performed by the children choir “Bodra Smyana”, introduced to him by director Takahata, inspired the creation of the movie. Moved by the cosmic voices of the children, they decided to make “Only Yesterday” a musical. He also recalls what a tiring process it was to acquire the rights to the music, but if you’ve seen the movie, I am sure you will agree that it was worth it; the haunting, beautiful songs with the pastoral images of farmers picking flowers contribute to one of the greatest scenes created in cinema.

Producer Suzuki showing the record that inspired the creation of ”Only Yesterday”. Source: Studio Ghibli’s Twitter

In “Only Yesterday”, we can hear two songs from the album Bulgarian Polyphony I by Philip Koutev Ensemble. The upbeat “Dilmano Dilbero” [Eng. beautiful Dilmana] sets a happy mood as the protagonist gets changed and ready to go on the field. As the scene shifts and Taeko starts narrating a sad story about the girls in the past picking safflower with their bare hands, the song and mood shift as well.

While the first song has a fast rhythm, with lyrics about pepper planting that can also be interpreted figuratively, the second one, “Malka Moma Dvori Mete” [Eng., a little girl sweeps the yard], is a ballad about a young girl who is forced into marriage but has never known true love.

Both compositions sing about life-cycle events like marriage and the regular coming of the harvests, with lyrics perfectly fitting the setting and plot of the movie, which makes me wonder if the filmmakers chose them by chance or if they had someone translate the words.

Bulgarian Cosmic Voices Enchanting Howl

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, loosely based on the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones. Set in a fictional kingdom the movie draws inspiration from various places in Europe. One of them being Bulgaria.

The story focuses on a young girl, named Sophie, magically transformed into an old woman, and a self-confident but emotionally unstable young wizard, Howl, living in a magical moving castle.

A sketch of a Star Child. Source: The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle

If you’ve seen the movie, you surely remember the scene when Madame Suliman ambushes Howl and tries to strip him of his magic powers. Star Children encircle him and his companions; their shadows grow big, dark and intimidating. They start dancing and chanting unintelligible magic words and are almost successful in their devilish act.

This scene, together with the music played in the background, have been a favourite of many fans of the film. Some even recount it giving them nightmares when they were children.

Star Children encircle Howl in an attempt to strip him of his magic powers. © Studio Ghibli

It turns out, however, that these aren’t any incantations, but the lyrics of a folk song. In Bulgarian. And a love song! Contrary to popular belief, the lyrics have nothing to do with magic and are actually about a boy taking his sweetheart, Dona, to the market to buy her new clothes. The excerpt used in the movie is very short and a bit altered from the original, but the words used go like this: Trendafilcheto, kalafercheto, Done mamino, translated as “the rose, the costmary, my darling Dona”.

I am planing a follow up article where I will post the translated lyrics together with a brief explanation on how they are related to the movies.

If you want to comment on or add something, I would love to hear!

Source

[disneytva]

In honor of Fish Hooks 14th anniversary have these Studio Ghibli x Fish Hooks crossover art by Joe Johnston ("Amphibia", Cartoon Network Studios "Steven Universe" franchise)

[thefugitivesaint]

Toshio Suzuki (1904-1975), ''The Two Suns'' by Kusuro Makimoto, 1948 Source

[bobgoesw00t]

It happened...the one movie I really, TRULY cared about when it came to this year's Oscars (two if you include Barbie winning Best Original Song), How Do You Live/The Boy and the Heron FUCKING WON BEST ANIMATED FEATURE!!!!!

Not only did it, against all odds, beat out the front runner, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse but it did so with VERY little fanfare from the audience. Of the nominees, it was Across The Spider-Verse that got the most applause from the room, so when Hayao Miyazaki won his SECOND Oscar (and possibly his last), the lack of cheers from the audience was music to my ears. They REALLY wanted Across The Spider-Verse to win, but all the haters and whiners can SUCK IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!

Not only is this the SECOND Oscar Miyazaki has gotten, but it's also the SECOND anime movie to win the award, the second 2D film to ever win it, and it's also the first PG-13 animated film to win. If this was indeed Miyazaki's final film, it's safe to say he went out WITH A FUCKING BANG and made his mark on America once again.

Congrats once again to How Do You Live/The Boy and the Heron for winning not only the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature but also the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. With the additions of being the first PG-13 animated film to win, the second anime movie, and the second 2D animated film being some sprinkles on top.

[konvoluted]

The Boy and the Heron booklet insert with Hayao Miyazaki’s 2016 Project Proposal

[balu8]

 Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Studio Ghibli

directed by Hayao Miyazaki

[ainosgarden]

the balls of Toshio Suzuki to not release a single trailer/teaser/pr image of How Do You Live? before its premiere with the exception of that one poster that’s been out since last year and tells you absolutely nothing about the film. especially in today’s disgusting culture of endless “teasers for the teaser trailers for the actual trailers for the actual movie that you now no longer need to see”?

EPIC.

How Do You Live? 君たちはどう生きるか (dir. by Hayao Miyazaki) is out in Japanese theaters on July 14, 2023

[mikyapixie]

20 years ago today Howl's Moving Castle premiered in Japan theaters!!!

This my mom & I’s favorite Studio Ghibli movie!!!💙🥰💙

[hurgablurg]

So,

this showed up in my ‘for you’ tab and i have to say, this is the least attractive piece of ai-generated content i may have well seen yet

this is untagged, obviously ai-generated “art” being passed off as hand-made art by some absolute tool @gr1mmweeper, who should honestly be ashamed of this. But given how low the quality is, the lack of care even in vetting results, it’s likely they don’t feel any shame at all.

You can tell it’s ai generated because the artstyle on each individual character is distractingly different, not unified or similar at all like it would be if an actual artist was behind this project, the backgrounds are straight fucked, the shadows are all wrong, off-brand scooby has two tongue left teeth, and that pathetic “mystery machine” that was thrown together with no care or consideration, merely fulfilling the objective of matching a colour palette.

you would think other people wouldn’t be so blind, but...

@marshmallsy​ @juniperhillpatient​ @hexitca​ @seeksattentionhatesattention​ @ursamajor17​ @yoohyeontual​ @hoennislands​ , among others

You have failed the challenge.

“you did not have to make fred so cute like that” BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T.

This is all bad enough, but to try to do this AI shit with Ghibli...?

"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself."

“I feel like we are nearing to the end of times. We humans are losing faith in ourselves.”

Leave Studio Ghibli and Topcraft outta this shit. Leave scooby doo out too. Leave algorithm generation out of everything, actually. Before you people get consumed and drag the rest of us down with you.

[mcdazek]

[kuribo4indahouse]

[shiguresouma]

El Niño y la Garza (película, 2023): acerca de la manera en que escoges vivir

Me tomo un momento de mis nuevas obligaciones paternales para darme el gusto de ver por primera vez el estreno de una película de Studio Ghibli en una pantalla de cine y sin saber más que lo indispensable de ella. Sin haberla visto antes en las funciones de Club SUGOI, por ejemplo. Y encima con un buen par de amigos también fans del anime y conocedores de la carrera de Miyazaki. Y la experiencia…

[prfm-multiverse]

It has been 25 years since Yasutaka Nakata and Toshiko Nakada formed CAPSULE in 1997 in their hometown of Kanazawa.

During that time, CAPSULE has gradually changed its musical style, proposing the latest sounds for each era, and has become a unit that is supported not only in Japan but also abroad. At the same time, Nakata has become an important figure not only in the club scene, but also in J-POP as a whole, as a sound producer, making hits with various artists' songs.

In December 2022, CAPSULE released its first original album in seven years, "Metropulse," with a synthwave approach reminiscent of the electronic music of the 1980s and 1990s, providing CAPSULE's own answer to the city pop boom that is gaining momentum around the world. It is a return to the roots, and at the same time, an album that has evolved even further.

To commemorate CAPSULE's 25th anniversary, we conducted a survey among 18 groups of celebrities closely associated with the band, asking them to choose their favorite song from the many that CAPSULE has released so far, and to share their personal stories about the song.

https://natalie.mu/music/pp/capsule04

[stuff-diary]

The Boy and the Heron

Movies watched in 2023

The Boy and the Heron (2023, Japan)

Director & Writer: Hayao Miyazaki

Mini-review:

What a wonderful film. I knew Hayao Miyazaki would not disappoint me, but I didn't think I'd love The Boy and the Heron this much. I'm really glad I stayed away from all the promotional material, as Ghibli originally intended, cause that allowed me to be taken by surprise by this story, this world and these characters. It's definitely Miyazaki's weirdest and most esoteric film, and one of his most ambitious too. But that Ghibli magic we all love so much is as present as ever, and the movie is just so original. I really can't think of any other films like this one, and it kept me enthralled during its entire run. Its fascinating rumination on life, death and grief takes center stage through some of the smoothest and most delightful animation I have ever seen. Not to mention the character and creature designs, which are among Miyazaki's most fun work. To sum up, this is a must-watch for any Ghibli fans, and I recommend going in as blind as possible.

[saffronapplemanga]

Let's Talk AI Art

I've seen the famous, "I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself" quote from Hayao Miyazaki. However, I've never seen the full context for that quote. After I saw this video, I just... wow.

I don't know what possessed me but I wrote a whole post about it.

I haven't been super vocal about this topic since I didn't really have much to add to what everyone was already saying. Also, I was marinating on my opinion after learning more and hearing both sides.

This is going to sound cheesy but it's true, so here goes nothing. Art is inherently human. It’s one of the earliest forms of human expression and communication.

I think about this cave painting every day. I mean, look at the line weights, proportions, and composition. The way just a few lines can convey an image and life experiences of the artist.

I don't know Miyazaki that well and some people have the impression that he's a grumpy, nihilistic old man. Whether you love or hate him, that’s not what I’m here to talk about today. Just what’s in this video. His comments could be interpreted as very harsh. Personally, looking at this video, I think he's just critically thinking here. Whether he's right or not aside for a moment, it’s clear he's given it decent thought (which seems to be much more than the presenters themselves but more on that later). I took it as he just feels so passionately about art and he was watching something that was painful. Something that is the antithesis of art.

"We humans are losing faith in ourselves." Why are we trying to automate the things that make us human and life worth living? Watching the presentation gave me the ick and felt so soulless, and not because they suggested it could be used in a zombie game.

The presenter says, "We don't mean to do anything by showing to the world." And there’s the problem.

This is a short clip with snippets of the meeting, but from what’s shown, the whole time they were presenting I kept thinking, “Okay but where are you going with this?” Then Suzuki says, "So, what is your goal?" and I was like, that's what I'm saying! They seem to struggle to respond and say, "We would like to build a machine that can draw pictures like humans." Okay... but why? There are plenty of humans out there that already draw. Then what?

It’s more accessible than ever, it just requires effort like most things, contrary to popular belief.

It needs to be “should” before “could”

People need to sit down and have an honest conversation with themselves about why. As someone who's honestly tired of having to constantly explain why I do what I do and why I care about the things I care about, I'm not saying you have to explain yourself to justify anything. But at least within yourself, you should know or at least be looking for that answer. You don't owe anyone an explanation but yourself (the presenters kind of have to because... they're presenting their work and need to talk about it, but you know what I mean). Of course, doing something just because you want to is valid. Not everything needs to be profound and deep, but you have a responsibility to consider the consequences of your actions. Let's take a moment to consider if something should be explored and make efforts to prepare precautions in an effort to prevent adverse effects.

Not everything needs to or should be automated. There’s a world of difference between using technology to produce more of a product for the sake of increasing profit versus using it to make safer working conditions. Mundane jobs or those that could be automated, shouldn’t be. This is exacerbated under capitalism where the only goal is to exponentially increase profit and there's a lack of a safety net for the most vulnerable.

"It's like that one episode of Spongebob," I say every chance I get.

The presenters here seem like they're trying to optimize animation and decrease the need for people instead of adding another tool to the toolbox for artists. The only "pro" I can think of for this is to make more money, faster. They see art as a commodity instead of a vital part of the human experience. Consume, consume, but no savoring. What's the point of automating everything? Then what? What are we left with when all of our agency is taken from us?

I’m sure OP didn’t mean it like, “It’s okay if blue collar jobs get automated,” and I want to interact in good faith. Like I mentioned, tech should be used to make safer working conditions. What’s the goal with these “innovations” guys? Be honest with yourselves.

The “human touch”

This isn't a case of a crotchety old man who fears change and innovation. While Studio Ghibli is known for its hand-drawn animation, they have utilized things like CGI. I don't think he's anti-technology. He may have been hesitant to use it at first, but being hesitant about the unknown and unfamiliar is a normal human reaction. We all do it. Refusing to listen and learn about the unfamiliar to eventually reach an educated opinion is where things can become a problem (but that opinion can still be in opposition after being educated on it). The CGI they utilized is a tool. So what makes that so different from what the presenters showed them? It lacks "the human touch." It's trying to remove human input from the equation as much as possible. It's not the technology, but the intent behind it.

In this clip we can see that Miyazaki isn't adverse to technology. It looks like they're using some CGI that has settings to calculate various factors. He suggests tweaks and is open to using it.

In Howl's Moving Castle, a 3D model is used as a tool to help them realize their vision. It's used to create a reference and then tweaked to add more weight to the castle's movements.

I think art inherently has something to say. Yes, even the cave-painting bear. That's the human touch, the human experience, and what provides meaning. What are the presenters in the video trying to say? I'm not sure they know either. Their AI model isn't inherently evil, but the intended implementation is out of touch.

While I'm sure there's something to be said about the potential threat to artists' livelihoods, that's not what I think pained Miyazaki and Suzuki the most. It was the lack of soul and meaning.

When Miyazaki started talking about his disabled friend, it hit me somewhere deep down. I couldn't figure out why, or rather I couldn't coherently explain it. The dehumanization? Words often fail us. I'm sure someone out there put the feeling into words more eloquently than I could.

This is something I don't really talk about publicly much, but the reason I have this maddening urge to create is because I have something to say. And I draw heavily on my life experiences, some of which are unique to me, the stories and ideas of others, and things that I love and want to share.

Sometimes bluntness is kind, and being nice is not

Do I think Miyazaki went too far or was too harsh? Honestly, no. I don't know if I could have been as calm and well-spoken, not even by a fraction. My frustration would consume me in the moment. There's nothing wrong with challenging someone in a civil manner. In fact, it should be done more often. Civilly of course! This isn’t a pass to be an aggressive ass. Hearing the thoughts of all types of people is vital to becoming a well-rounded person. You don't have to agree with them. But listening to someone and considering a different perspective is a healthy thing to do. I'm a big believer in being kind, but being "nice" to avoid hurting someone's feelings when they need to hear something is in fact, not kind. This was a perspective they needed to hear. I’m going to make the assumption they aren’t super involved in the art world, so they need the perspective of someone who is a part of that world.

Side note, I think a lot of this can be applied to the issues of the AI art that Frankensteins existing art and images. Obviously, art theft is an issue, but other than that it has a lot of the same issues as the ones I’ve already discussed.

In summary, art and science can and should coexist. But like most things, there needs to be a balance.