What started as a seemingly harmless social media trend has lately spiraled into a massive controversy as the influx of AI-generated Ghibli-style portraits continues to be rightly criticized by artists, animators, and anime directors. The recent use of AI to replicate Hayao Miyazaki’s sweat-forged art has understandably upset many in the anime industry who recognize the hard work that goes into the craft and the latest to join this ongoing Ghibli AI debate is none other than One Piece’s beloved director Megumi Ishitani, who has recently taken to X to share her thoughts on the situation.
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In a recent onslaught of posts on X, Megumi Ishitani, who is best known for directing One Piece Fan Letter and some of the series’ best episodes, weighed in on the Ghibli AI controversy, expressing strong distaste for the trend. One particular post by Ishitani that all but sums up her opinion on the matter reads, “You’ve tarnished Ghibli. I’ll never forgive you,” with a subsequent post adding, “I want legal action to be taken. I can’t stand seeing Ghibli treated so cheaply.” However, adding to the irony of the situation, another post by Ishitani reveals that users have been sending her AI-generated Ghibli-style images of herself in response, with Ishitani’s reply to the same reading, “I think it’s really horrible.”
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Megumi Ishitani Speaks Out on the Ghibli AI Trend
As seen with One Piece Fan Letter, even a short special can take several months to put together, no one knows how much hard work goes into creating an anime better than animators and directors, just like Megumi Ishitani. That said, even without this insight into the industry, Ishitani’s response to the Ghibli AI trend is truly heartbreaking and is one that many fans of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki’s work can resonate with.
In yet another post on her X handle, Ishitani even questions whether there are Japanese people also following the Ghibli AI trend, saying, “Are there any Japanese people using Ghibli AI? I’m in despair… This is an act that could tarnish the value of the Ghibli brand.”
Following this post, Ishitani calls for Studio Ghibli to take legal action, claiming she cannot bear to see the studio’s work being treated in such a cheap manner before going on to question how this infringement was even allowed in another post which reads, “There’s no way Ghibli would officially give permission, right? This was without permission! Why is this allowed?”
Anime and Manga Are Fighting a Losing Battle Against AI
Sadly, despite Ishitani’s concerns, there is very little to protect anime and manga artists and their work from being stolen and infringed by AI. X’s new policies already caused a stir only a few months prior when it was revealed that any content posted to X could be used by third parties to train AI models.
While many creators like Hirohiko Araki have condemned the use of AI, some like Eiichiro Oda do maintain a more ambivalent attitude, as seen with One Piece’s latest reading app, One Piece Base, which implemented an AI-powered portrait generator. However, this was still done only with Oda’s permission, which is the main caveat of the argument at hand. As Ishitani claims, the Ghibli AI trend undermines the value of Miyazaki’s art while also tarnishing the Ghibli brand as a whole, and hopefully, the trend stops here and now.
Source: @ishigyunyu on X
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