His co-founder Hayao Miyazaki is close to a household name in the U. S., but Takahata’s singular movies were harder to build a brand around.
Isao Takahata was a visionary, but he wasn’t a brand. The best films of his long career, which include 1988’s Grave of the Fireflies and 2013’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, are every bit the equal of his Studio Ghibli co-founder and friendly rival Hayao Miyazaki’s masterworks. But where Miyazaki circled around the same set of obsessions—flight, ecological catastrophe, childhood—Takahata’s films were each singular, so visually and thematically distinct they might have been created by a different person.
Takahata, who died of lung cancer yesterday of the age of 82, created at a leisurely pace, completing just five animated features during his more than 30 years at Studio Ghibli. In Ghibli’s offices, he was known as “Paku-san,” or “ Mr. Munch,” for his habit of ambling around the offices with a snack in hand. But taking his time allowed Takahata to start each film from scratch, and the fact that, unlike most animation directors, he rarely drew meant that they all had a distinct look. My Neighbors the Yamadas, inspired by a Japanese comic strip, had a spare, squiggly feel, while Princess Kaguya, drawn from folk tales, looked like watercolor paintings come to life.
Takahata’s most acclaimed film is also his hardest to watch.
