At Eastercon 70: Ytterbium, I moderated a panel called Beyond Studio Ghibli, where myself, Anime UK News reporter Sarah Ash, Japanese culture scholar Zoë Burgess-Foreman, Anime fan Mad Elf and author Jessica Meats presented a guide to wider Anime for fans of Studio Ghibli movies. Over an hour, we covered genres, directors to watch for, and even gave some recommendations based on specific Studio Ghibli movies.
If you’d like to know more about what we discussed, Zoë will be uploading a video of the panel (minus Q&A) to her youtube channel soon. Click here to subscribe
In the meantime, we also produced a list of Anime (and two JRPGs) that we think you should check out.
Jessica Meats
- Wolf Children (Fantasy film)
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Fantasy series)
Sarah Ash
- Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū (Rakugo culture series)
- Lu Over the Wall (Fantasy/Folklore film)
Mad Elf
- Zipang (Military SF series)
- Akanesasu Shōjo (Magical Girl series, game)
Zoë Burgess-Foreman
- Mawara Penguin Drum (Urban Fantasy series)
- Perfect Blue (Thriller, Psychological film)
And here are my recommendations for fans of JRPG series Ni No Kuni, for which Studio Ghibli provided animation sequences in two of the games (Dominion of the Dark Djinn and Wrath of the White Witch):
Me
- Final Fantasy X
- Kingdom Hearts (series)
While we’re talking Anime, at the recent ‘Thistle and Sakura’ event at the University of Glasgow, Dr Rob Maslen revealed news of a special event marking ten years of the Scotland Loves Anime festival this October. For more on this, plus his full talk on ‘Anime as Fantastic History’, click here.