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Isao Takahata

Isao Takahata

Isao Takahata (October 29, 1935 - April 5, 2018), co-founder of Studio Ghibli, was one of the most famous directors of Japanese animated films. Unlike most anime directors, he did not draw and never worked as an animator before becoming a director.

For the first two decades of his career from the 1960s to the 1980s, Takahata worked primarily as director for anime television. In 1985 he and his long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki formed Studio Ghibli with Toshio Suzuki and Yasuyoshi Tokuma. From that point, his career transitioned into producing, directing, and writing films for Studio Ghibli. He is known for his five feature length anime films released under Ghibli, Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1991), Pom Poko (1994), My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013).

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Movies Made By Isao Takahata (38)

The Red Turtle (2016)

The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds. ...

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The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013)

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate. ...

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Anne of Green Gables: Road to Green Gables (2010)

In this movie that summarizes the first six episodes of Anne of Green Gables, we follow the story of Anne, an orphan full of imagination. When she arrives at her new home, she learns that sometimes you have to be a sensible person, while her unique charact ...

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Toy Story 3 (2010)

Woody, Buzz, and the rest of Andy's toys haven't been played with in years. With Andy about to go to college, the gang find themselves accidentally left at a nefarious day care center. The toys must band together to escape and return home to Andy. ...

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Winter Days (2003)

An animated film based on one of the renku (collaborative linked poems) in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō. The creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material – the ...

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My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)

The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, ...

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Marco: Carry a Dream (1999)

Marco, a young Italian boy, is searching for his mother across Latin America after her letters mysteriously stop arriving. On his travels Marco encounters people who care for him and help him along his way; however, he must also face the evils of the adult ...

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Pom Poko (1994)

The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancien ...

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Heidi: Girl of the Alps: Mt. Alm (1993)

Compilation film of the first half of the series Heidi: Girl of the Alps. ...

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Heidi: Girl of the Alps: Heidi and Clara (1993)

Compilation film of the second half of the series Heidi: Girl of the Alps. ...

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Only Yesterday (1991)

In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self. ...

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Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service. ...

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Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relat ...

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Au (1988)

The story of Au Aurka is set in the hinterland of Tokyo in the eighties. The protagonists are two girls who have a dream that then becomes reality. ...

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The Story of Yanagawa's Canals (1987)

A partially-animated documentary about the preservation and restoration of the canal system in Yanagawa, Fukuoka ...

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Castle in the Sky (1986)

A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle. ...

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Warriors of the Wind (1984)

After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley ...

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Gauche the Cellist (1982)

Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small town orchestra and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven ...

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Chie the Brat (1981)

Chie Takemoto is a dependable girl who struggles to help her troublesome father run a small tavern in Osaka. Unbeknown to her dad, she occasionally visits her mother who left him not too long ago. She plans on trying to reunite them, but not until her fath ...

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3000 Leagues in Search of Mother: The Movie (1980)

A young Italian boy named Marco is devastated when his mother must leave home to work in Argentina to pay off the family debt. She sends the family letters, but soon the messages stop coming, which worries Marco and sets him off on an epic quest to find he ...

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Spooky Kitaro: The All Seeing Eye (1980)

Yasui is the president of a large company. After the war, he wandered into the world of evil spirits, where he obtained a hidden treasure "Geomancer's Eye". With the magical power of this treasure Yasui received enormous wealth. But the great miracles have ...

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Future Boy Conan (1979)

In this 1979 condensed-for-film recut of Hayao Miyazaki's 1978 anime series, a young boy named Conan goes on a grand adventure. Conan lives in a world that is mostly oceans; the major land masses having been destroyed by the weapons of the great disaster o ...

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Taro the Dragon Boy (1979)

Patterned after Japanese art and silk screens, Taro, The Dragon Boy is an animated feature about Japanese mythology and cultures, focusing on Taro, a young boy who has to make a voyage to a distant lake to save his mother, who has been turned into a dragon ...

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The Story of Heidi (1979)

Heidi is five years old when her aunt Dete, who has raised Heidi since her parents' deaths four years earlier, takes the orphaned Heidi to live with her formidable grandfather in the Swiss Alps. The American feature-length adaptation of Heidi (1974), the J ...

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Heidi in the City (1977)

Heidi leaves her beloved Alm and moves to Frankfurt, where she finds a new good friend in Clara. Aunt Dete wants Heidi to leave her grandfather on the mountain pasture and go with her to Frankfurt, where she is supposed to live with the Sesemann family and ...

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Heidi in the Mountains (1974)

Heidi (1974) Japanese anime series by Zuiyo Eizo (now Nippon Animation) based on the Swiss novel Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning by Johanna Spyri (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata A feature-length film Heidi in the Mountains, aka The Story o ...

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Fantasia (1973)

A 1973 musical film released by Toho-Towa, directed by Masanori Hata, Shôhei lImamura, Kei Kumai, Jun'ya Satô, Isao Takahata, Takeshi Kitano & Akira Kurosawa. A series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpre ...

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Panda! Go Panda!: Rainy Day Circus (1973)

Mimiko, Papa Panda, and Panny make friends with a baby tiger from the circus — just in time for a flash flood to throw the whole town into chaos. ...

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Yuki's Sun (1972)

TV pilot based on an original manga by Tetsuya Chiba, about a 10-year old girl named Yuki. An orphan who's being adopted by a family. ...

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Panda! Go Panda! (1972)

Cheerful Mimiko's small family grows when she adopts a talking baby panda and his full-grown papa. Despite Mimiko's best efforts, the appearance of Panny and Papa Bear disrupts the quiet pace of life in town, prompting zookeepers to reclaim the escaped bea ...

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Panda! Go Panda! (1972)

Cheerful Mimiko has a wonderfully strange family—a Panda for her Papa; and his son Panny, calls her Mom! When Panny follows Mimiko to school, he must pretend to be a teddy bear so Mimiko won't get into trouble. Despite his efforts to behave, Panny causes ...

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Horus: Prince of the Sun (1968)

Young Horus lives in a mythical Scandinavia of the Iron Age. Recovering the stolen Sword of the Sun from a rock giant, he learns he must travel to the lands of his ancestors, encountering the beautiful but enigmatic Hilda as his journey leads to a series o ...

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Spooky Kitaro (1968)

Kitarō, a ghost, spends his afterlife helping humans in need of his skills. He thwarts the plans of evil spirits who live to torment humanity. A retelling of episodes 5-6 from the 1968 TV anime. ...

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The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon (1963)

In this influential cult-classic animated film based on Japanese folklore, Susano is the youngest son of Izanagi and Izanami, the heavenly couple who created the Earth. Still a young boy, Susano is devastated by the passing away of his mother. Determined t ...

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Story of Iron (1962)

One day, Kandume's can boy, who happily lived with his friends in the kitchen, becomes an empty can and is discarded. Eventually, he has a dream about the history of iron and humanity. He sees how iron that melted and flowed out during a forest fire, was d ...

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The Orphan Brother (1961)

After their father quarrels with local military men, Anju and Zushio are forced to flee, but they are captured and sold into slavery. When their mother dies, they are sold to Sansho the Bailiff, a cruel man who subjects them to hideous torments. While Anju ...

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Movies Starring Isao Takahata (23)

Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature (2025)

A documentary that focuses on Hayao Miyazaki's deep connection to nature and the environmental themes expressed through his films. ...

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Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron (2024)

A documentary that chronicles the making of The Boy and the Heron, filmed with exclusive access to Studio Ghibli across an astonishing seven years. ...

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2399 Days with Hayao Miyazaki & Studio Ghibli (2023)

A documentary produced by NHK following the production of "The Boy & The Heron" over 7 years. ...

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Hyohyo: Dear Mr. Yasuo Otsuka (2015)

Documentary about Yasuo Otsuka, famous Japanese animator and mentor of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Featuring interviews with Japanese animation legends such as Masaaki Osumi, Youichi Kotabe, Sadao Tsukioka and Isao Takahata. ...

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Isao Takahata and His Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2014)

For his first film in fourteen years, animation director Isao Takahata embarked on a visually sumptuous adaptation of The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter. A dream project for the director that would hopefully establish the recently formed Ghibli Studio 7, create ...

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Ghibli Landscapes - Visit 'Japan' as Depicted by Isao Takahata (2014)

Aki Asakura, an actress who played the voice of Princess Kaguya, travels around Japan to visit the scenery that appeared in Takahata's work. The documentary also includes an interview with Director Takahata. This documentary is composed from the fragments ...

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The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013)

Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki. ...

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Ghibli Landscapes - A Journey to Encounter Directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki's Starting Point (2011)

In this documentary we travel to the Swiss Alps and to the Canadian Prince Edward Island looking at the origins of the two classic TV series - Heidi, the Girl of the Alps and Anne of Green Gables. We will also learn how the Japanese scenery found its way i ...

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Japanese Cinema: New Territories (2011)

This documentary by Hubert Niogret looks at the revival of Japanese cinema during the 1990s. ...

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Ghibli's Bookshelf (2010)

This August 2010 NHK documentary explores the influence of selected children's literature on Miyazaki and Takahata's body of work and on Studio Ghibli as a whole. Also included is a conversation between Miyazaki and Japanese author and TV personality Sawak ...

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A Ghibli Artisan - Kazuo Oga Exhibition - The One Who Drew Totoro's Forest (2007)

From July 21 through September 10th, 2007, the Museum for Contemporary Art Tokyo held an exhibition honouring Kazuo Oga, the art director and background artist for many famed works from Japan's Studio Ghibli. Over 600 works from the artist were on display, ...

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Hayao Miyazaki and the Ghibli Museum (2005)

A documentary about the Ghibli Museum. It features Goro Miyazaki speaking with Isao Takahata about the "charm" of the museum and its various influences. Goro tours the viewer around the museum, explaining the intricate details that his father, Hayao Miyaza ...

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Ghibli and The Miyazaki Mystery (2005)

Studio Ghibli is Japan's most successful animation studio, with helmers Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro") and Isao Takahata ("Grave of The Fireflies," "The Tale of Princess Kaguya") creating a bonanza for producer/prexy Toshio Suzuki. ...

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Yasuo Ōtsuka's Joy in Motion (2004)

Yasuo Ōtsuka was the mentor of Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, the man who taught them to feel the joy of animation. As the supervising animator of their films and through the creation of superb scenes such as Lupin leaping from turret to turret in Lupi ...

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The Cat Returns - Making of (2002)

A promotional film by Studio Ghibli about the work on the film "The Cat Returns" (directed by Hiroyuki Morita) ...

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Super TV: Frontline Information 15 Months of Exclusive Coverage! The Secret Behind "My Neighbors the Yamadas" (2000)

Nippon Television "Super TV Information Frontline Exclusive Coverage of 15 Months! ...

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The World, The Journey Of My Heart - Traveler: Animation Film Director Isao Takahata (1999)

A documentary film following Isao Takahata to Canada to meet Frédéric Back. ...

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How Ghibli Was Born (1998)

A contemporary look at the creation and evolution of Studio Ghibli, from 'The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun' (1968) to 'Princess Mononoke' (1997). ...

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The Making of Only Yesterday (1991)

A making of documentary on the Studio Ghibli film Only Yesterday ...

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The Story of Yanagawa's Canals (1987)

A partially-animated documentary about the preservation and restoration of the canal system in Yanagawa, Fukuoka ...

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