Toshio’s movie castle: A historical overview of Studio Ghibli’s collaboration and promotional strategies

While so-called ‘Ghibli films’ attract global academic and popular attention because of their technical and textual genius, the current fame of the studio and commercial success of its films is in large part the product of an intricate system of promotion and advertising developed in the 1980s. At the nexus of the studio’s commercial success is Toshio Suzuki, the key producer at the studio. This article argues that the success of the studio owes much, not only to the superb quality of the films it has created, but also to its relationship with other parties involved in filmmaking, such as publishing house Tokuma shoten, TV broadcasting company NTV and film distributors Tōhō and Tōei, relationships developed by Suzuki. The links with these companies forged in the 1980s enabled Ghibli to come into existence and continue to thrive by virtue of their financial and promotional support. Besides detailing how the links were forged and their significance for Ghibli, this article will also examine how promotional strategies played an important role in making Ghibli films and the name of Hayao Miyazaki (and to a lesser extent film director Isao Takahata) widely known in Japan in the 1980s. Therefore, this article will examine the connections between Suzuki’s creative work as Studio Ghibli’s main producer, while investigating how the links he forged with outside companies led to unprecedented levels of success for his nascent studio.