Quote:
Originally Posted by Bri
According to Ghibli's own website business in 2010 was booming and they welcomed 32 new staff from their Toyota training center this September ( http://www.ghibli.jp/15diary/) . Curious where the news of shedding staff comes from?
They have their own training programs for creative staff. Ghibli has several directors on their employment list, but it seems they have not been able to be as successful as Miyazaki and Takahata. Also the company branched out in other areas like music production, merchandising, commercials, instruction videos and event management to reduce risk.
Ghibli produces animation for family audiences/all ages. Whether or not fans of late night TV anime appreciate their movies is of little importance. |
I distinctively recall a news item from Anime News Network of Ghibli cutting down the creative team to almost merely 5 members. Of course that was merely the idea factory, it didn't say whether the actual grunts of the production team got cut and by how much.
It actually makes me wonder more if Miyazaki's fame is a double edged sword: it brings a lot of "star" appeal for the studio, but likewise puts a lot of pressure and hype for the rest of the team to perform. If his son's work on Earthsea and it's lukewarm acceptance was any indication, the rest of the potential candidates for leading the next generation of the studio haven't been performing to expectations. It could simply be because the expectations for them are much too high. Again, likely the effect of Miyazaki's and Takahata's status.
As for the target demographics... well I would assume that in this day and age in the 21st century, the purchasing power in anime might have really shifted more to the Otaku demographics as opposed to the family ones. Although to me, it's probably not simply a matter of economics as perception of the medium in general. I cannot claim to speak for the midnight crowd since I don't (mostly) belong to that category. I spoke of relevance because, as opposed to my youth back in the 80s and 90s at least, the shifts in what the viewing public wants has gone more towards the genres and methods that Ghibli does not go for. Perhaps it's more correct to say that their target demographic has become a smaller piece of the pie as compared to the past.