Studio Ghibli Fans Celebrate 30th Anniversary of ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ and ‘Grave of the Fireflies’

History was made 30 years ago today, and the animation community isn’t keen on letting anyone forget as much. April 16, 1988 marked a normal day for many around the world, but Japan was preparing to witness the birth of a new era of anime.

After founding Studio Ghibli, directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were preparing to unveils the company’s first films back-to-back as a double bill. As fans know today, My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies went on to change how animation was perceived on a global scale. Now, a scant 30 years later, these classics are considered to be immovable pieces of history which cannot be overlooked.

If you head to social media, you will see chatter about these two features dominating the web. Sites like Twitter and Tumblr have ben inundated with tributes to the wildly different films, and you can read a small sample of them in the slides below.

My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies helped kick off the fantastical reputation of Studio Ghibli, so it is easy to get why they are subjected to such celebrations. Without these films, there is no way of knowing how the medium would have evolved, but Miyazaki and Takahata were around to show the world what anime could do. Though different in tone and theme, these films were a back-to-back dose of animation goodness. They may not encapsulate all that Studio Ghibli stands for these days, but they hold the nuggets of inspiration which prompted the company to move forward with its now-legendary storytelling.

These days, Studio Ghibli is known around the world as one of Japan’s premiere brands. Miyazaki stands as an Academy Award winner while Takahata vision for Grave of the Fireflies led Roger Ebert to consider it one of the best war films of all-time. Clout is easy to come by when you look over Studio Ghibli’s catalog, but these two features are the ones responsible for setting up such a trajectory. And, if you were lucky enough to witness this one-two punch of animation in theaters, then the anime fates surely blessed you all those years ago.

Can you believe this debut films from Studio Ghibil are now 30 years old? Which films from the heralded anime studio are your favorites? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!

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