Review:
This book covers every Studio Ghibli film from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind to Earwig and the Witch (with some mentions of The Boy and the Heron, which was still in production when this book was being written).
Every one of those movies, except Earwig and the Witch, gets approximately four full pages devoted to it, including information such as the year of release, a description, credits, plot summary, work on which the film was based (when applicable), main characters, a character relationship diagram, noteworthy scenes and trivia, posters and newspaper advertisements from the film's release (including international posters), and a few behind-the-scenes details.
Earwig and the Witch gets a whole 8-page section of its own at the beginning of the book, including an interview with director Goro Miyazaki. That's followed by a history and timeline of Studio Ghibli. The book wraps up with theatrical pamphlet or planning document text for each of the movies.
Quite a bit of the information covered in this book could easily be learned by simply watching the movies - I sometimes wished that the character relationship diagrams and similar info had been left out in favor of more "behind-the-scenes" stuff. Still, I enjoyed the reminders of movies I haven't watched in years (plus more than a few that I realized I've never seen), and the few behind-the-scenes tidbits and interviews were nice. I also enjoyed learning more about the history of Studio Ghibli - it'd be nice to read something similar devoted to other prominent Japanese animation studios.
There are various special sections throughout the book that highlight themes that come up in a lot of Studio Ghibli movies, such as flight, speed, nature and scenery, food, etc. Again, nothing surprising or unusual, but it was still nice seeing the connections drawn between various movies I've enjoyed watching in the past.
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