The World of Studio Ghibli | Exhibitions in Singapore | ArtScience Museum (2024)

A fantasy story about two children and the mysterious forest spirits that they encounter.

The film takes place in a Tokyo suburb in the 1950s. One sunny day in May, sisters Satsuki and Mei move into a ramshackle old house with their father so that their mother, who is at that time in hospital, can recuperate in the fresh, clean air. As they are moving in, the two girls are thrilled and excited to spot fuzzy black dust sprites called Dust Bunnies, and start to think that they may have moved into a haunted house. One day, when Satsuki is at school and her father is busy with work, Mei is playing outside by herself. As she playfully explores her surroundings, she meets Totoro, a strange creature who has resided in Japan since ancient times. Totoro eventually reveals itself to Satsuki as well, and so begins a series of whimsical and delightful encounters for the sisters.

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In Hayao Miyazaki’s fantasy gift to the girls of today, a strange land waits on the other side of a tunnel.

Ten-year-old Chihiro wanders into a strange town with her parents, who were tempted by the delicious smells from a food stall; but after eating the food set out there, they transform into pigs. A boy who calls himself Haku comes to the terrified Chihiro’s aid, and she ends up working at a bathhouse called the ’Yuya’, run by the witch Yubaba, where a myriad of gods and spirits come to relax and refresh themselves. Yubaba takes away Chihiro’s name, and she starts working under the name “Sen”. Desperate to rescue her parents who have been turned into pigs, Sen scrubs the great hall on her hands and knees, cleaning the bathrooms, as well as tending to the gods who visit the bathhouse. As she does so, the power to live that has lain dormant inside her gradually awakens in her.

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Kiki struggles to become a full-fledged witch in Studio Ghibli’s first major hit.

Kiki has just turned 13, the age at which apprentice witches must leave home and spend a year in an unfamiliar town. Under the light of a glorious full moon, Kiki sets off with her black cat Jiji in tow. By morning, she arrives in the bustling seaside town of Koriko. The owner of a bakery lets her stay in the spare room and Kiki helps out in the shop while starting a ‘delivery service’ using her one and only magical skill—the ability to fly on a broomstick. She has plenty of travails, dropping things and struggling to deliver a package, only to get a negative reaction from the recipients, but she matures through her experiences and interactions with the people she meets.

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The strange tale of the love between a handsome wizard and an elderly woman.

Howl, a wizard who lives in a massive moving castle is rumoured to eat the hearts of beautiful girls. He rescues an 18-year-old milliner, Sophie, when a soldier hits on her during a military parade through the town. Due to her interaction with Howl, Sophie is transformed into a 90-year-old woman by the Witch of the Waste, who is constantly stalking the wizard. Sophie leaves home and takes up residence in Howl’s castle as his housekeeper. As she spends her days living with the young boy Markl and fire demon Calcifer, she discovers that Howl is really a timid, kind youth, and she begins to fall in love with him. As the war intensifies, danger closes in.

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At long last, Studio Ghibli’s first official feature film is an original high-spirited airborne action-adventure story.

Long ago, the people of Laputa raised a large island into the sky using a giant Levitation Crystal that contains the power of Laputa, and ruled over the lands below with their superior scientific knowledge. Seven hundred years have passed since that time, and Laputa is now merely a legend. Pazu, an impoverished boy who works in a mine, dreams of completing his late father’s quest to find the lost island of Laputa. One night, a girl falls from the sky into Pazu’s arms—slowly, as she is protected by the Levitation Crystal in her pendant. She is Sheeta, heir to the throne of Laputa. Together they set off with Pazu, protecting Sheeta from government agents and air pirates who have their eyes on the Levitation Crystal and Laputa’s treasures.

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In this aquatic fantasy, a fish named Ponyo falls in love with a human and brings about a miracle.

Five-year-old Sosuke lives in a house on a cliff in a small seaside town. One day, he encounters a red ‘fish girl’, whom he names Ponyo and dotes on tenderly. Ponyo, who was raised in the sea by her father Fujimoto, had decided she wanted to see the outside world and rode to the surface on a jellyfish. Sosuke and Ponyo fall in love, but Fujimoto takes Ponyo back to the sea. In her desire to see Sosuke again, she uses ‘The Water of Life’, a dangerous, powerful liquid Fujimoto created by refining sea water, to transform her into a human child. Reunited with Sosuke, they both rejoice. But some of ‘The Water of Life’ leaks out into the ocean, causing a massive storm and sending the town sinking into the sea...

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A story of modern tanuki struggling to survive the destruction of their natural habitat.

A group of tanuki who have lived a long life of ease amidst the lush nature of the Tama Hills, find themselves threatened when humans start clearing the land for a large-scale residential development. If the situation goes on, the tanuki will face a shortage of food, and ultimately, maybe even lose their home altogether. Gathering for a meeting, all the local tanuki decide to revive the shapeshifting skills of their forebearers in order to challenge the humans and stop the development. The young tanuki dedicate themselves to learning the art of shapeshifting from their elders, transforming into huge trees to block construction vehicles and threatening humans with spectral phenomena. However, the humans have the advantage over the good-natured tanuki, and development continues to encroach into the hills. In desperation, the tanuki invite a trio of legendary elders from Shikoku—an island famous for its temples—and plan their last stand in the form of Operation Specter.

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A delightful action film that puts Hayao Miyazaki’s love of airplanes on full display.

The film is set in the Adriatic Sea of the 1920s, during the tumultuous aftermath of World War I and the rise of fascism. Destitute aviators have turned to air piracy and are running amok, but there is one man they fear; the bounty hunter they call Porco Rosso, who flies the bright-red prototype fighter seaplane Savoia S.21. Desperate to fight back, the air pirates hire an American pilot named Mr. Curtis as their bodyguard, and the two rivals begin their fateful duel over Madam Gina, the woman of the pilots’ dreams, and Fio, the 17-year-old girl who fixes the battered Savoia S.21 after Curtis shoots it down.

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Director Hayao Miyazaki’s breathtaking science fiction masterpiece, which led to the birth of Studio Ghibli.

A thousand years after the Seven Days of Fire—an apocalyptic war that destroyed civilisation—a poisonous forest called the Sea of Decay was spread across the Earth. This fungal forest is home to giant insects and humankind lives in fear of them. The Valley of the Wind is a small country on the edge of the Sea of Decay, ruled by King Jihl. His daughter Nausicaä lives in peace among the people of the valley but becomes embroiled in the battle between the city of Pejite and the Kingdom of Tolmekia, when a mysterious and powerful Giant Warrior is unearthed from its resting place below Pejite. Amid this conflict, Nausicaä uncovers the truth; that the insects are protecting the Sea of Decay, which is purifying the earth of the pollution wrought by humankind. She stands alone against those who want to use the Giant Warrior to burn away the Sea of Decay and its insect guardians once and for all.

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  Installation view at Central World Bangkok, 2023.

A profound, majestic historical fantasy depicting the clash between gods and humans, nature and civilisation.

A ‘demon god’ covered in black snake-like tentacles, attacks an Emishi village—home to an ethnic group of people in ancient Japan—hidden in the far northern reaches of the country. Ashitaka is forced to slay it to save his village, but it curses him before it dies. The village oracle advises him to go west, whence the ‘demon god’ came, and Ashitaka sets off in search of a way to lift the curse. After a journey of a several days, he arrives in a western land covered by the sprawling woods of the Deer God. The great beasts who live there just as they have since ancient times, are locked in a battle with the humans, who seek to clear the forest in pursuit of wealth and comfort. There, Ashitaka meets San, the titular “Princess Mononoke”, a girl raised by wolves who hate the humans who defile the forest.

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  Installation view at Central World Bangkok, 2023.

A semi-autobiographical fantasy from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother, ventures into a world shared by both the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. Mahito’s guide is part-heron, part-man, and cunningly juggles lies and the truth. The boy makes new friends, reunites with his mother, and meets the world’s creator, the Granduncle. “I’m so glad you were here.” A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

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