Collecting Studio Ghibli: Dioramas, Cels, Collaborations and Shop Goods
The studio's name is a wind. Hayao Miyazaki took it from the Italian ghibli, the nickname of an Italian Saharan scouting aircraft, itself named after a hot desert wind, because he loved aircraft and wanted the studio to blow a new wind through the anime industry. Forty years on, the wind has left a trail of objects, and many of them pass through our rooms in Tokyo.
Our thesis: a Ghibli object is worth keeping when it can say where it came from. A frame from the museum, a numbered diorama, a collaboration with a named maker and a shop toy are all Ghibli, but they are different kinds of thing, and the collector's first job is to know which kind is in hand.
At a glance
| Founded | 15 June 1985, by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki |
|---|---|
| Home | Koganei, Tokyo |
| Mascot | Totoro, from My Neighbor Totoro, 1988 |
| Ghibli Museum | Mitaka, opened 1 October 2001 |
| Ghibli Park | Nagakute, Aichi, opened 1 November 2022 |
| Character shops | Donguri Kyowakoku, first shop in Kamakura in 1993 |
The studio in brief
Studio Ghibli was founded on 15 June 1985 by the directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and the producer Toshio Suzuki, after the success of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in 1984 and with the support of Suzuki's publisher, Tokuma Shoten. Its films include Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008) and The Boy and the Heron (2023), and the studio has won two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. Its mascot is Totoro, the forest spirit of My Neighbor Totoro (1988). In October 2023 the studio became a subsidiary of Nippon Television Holdings.
Five kinds of Ghibli object
Museum pieces
The Ghibli Museum opened in Inokashira Park, Mitaka, on 1 October 2001, with a Catbus, a rooftop garden and a theatre for short films made only for it. In our handling, objects made for or sold through the museum carry its name on the frame, the box or the certificate. A framed Kiki's Delivery Service cel from the Ghibli Museum Art Collection is an example; we read the label before the image.
Cels and cel-style art
Hand-painted animation cels were the working material of the studio's early films; our Lexicon entry on the anime cel explains what a cel is and how commemorative and exhibition pieces differ from production ones. A Whisper of the Heart exhibition frame, made for an exhibition on the director Yoshifumi Kondō, is cel-style art, and we describe it that way.
Dioramas and figures
Numbered and boxed dioramas are the most common Ghibli pieces on our shelf. A Spirited Away bathhouse diorama numbered 145 of 10,000, a sealed Princess Mononoke Forest Spirit diorama and a Porco Rosso seaplane diorama show the range. In our handling, the number, the box and the inserts carry much of the value of a diorama, so we photograph all three.
Maker collaborations
Named makers have worked with the films, and the maker's own conventions apply. A Seiko Presage Porco Rosso chronograph, 246 of 600 is read as a Seiko, with its reference and numbering; a Loewe Howl's Moving Castle tote as a Loewe; a Porter Totoro tote as a Porter, which our guide to Porter explains.
Shop goods
The studio's characters reach most homes through character shops. Donguri Kyowakoku opened its first shop, devoted to Totoro, in Kamakura in 1993, run by a company founded in 1992 that became Benelic in 1997; in 1998 it was allowed to add the word Ghibli to its shop name. In our handling, shop goods are the easiest Ghibli objects to find and the hardest to date, so the box, the tag and the maker's name do most of the work.
How we read one
- Who made it. Studio, museum, shop company or outside maker. The answer is usually on the box, the base or the certificate.
- Edition. A number such as 145 of 10,000 or 246 of 600 is part of the object; we quote it exactly.
- Completeness. Box, inserts, certificate and, for dioramas, any lighting parts. Our Lexicon entry on deadstock explains how we use the word for sealed pieces.
- Condition. Resin chips, faded print and yellowed clear parts are the usual faults; we report repairs plainly.
- The film. We name the film and the scene where we can, because it is what most collectors search for first.
Where to see the films' world in Japan
The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka and Ghibli Park in Nagakute, Aichi, opened on 1 November 2022 within the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park, are the two places built around the films. In our reading, many museum and park pieces reach collectors only because visitors brought them home and kept them, which is why boxes matter so much in this field.
What we checked and left out
Studio, museum, park and shop dates come from the sources below. We do not give values and do not attribute any piece to a named artist's hand unless its paperwork does.
Further reading
- Anime production cels: a guide to cels across studios.
- Genga, in the Lexicon: the key drawings behind a scene.
- The Studio Ghibli shelf.
Looking for a particular film, diorama or museum piece? Tell us what you are looking for, and we will look for it in Japan.
Sources
- Studio Ghibli, encyclopaedia entry, for the name, founding, Tokuma Shoten, Nausicaä, the films, Totoro, the awards and the 2023 change of ownership. wikipedia.org
- Ghibli Museum, encyclopaedia entry, for Mitaka, Inokashira Park, the opening date and its features. wikipedia.org
- Ghibli Park, encyclopaedia entry, for Nagakute, the opening date and the Expo 2005 park. wikipedia.org
- Benelic Co., Ltd., company profile (Japanese; our translation), for the 1992 founding of Handbell and the 1997 change of name to Benelic, and Studio Ghibli among its licensors. benelic.com
- Muuseo, Ghibli ga Ippai Donguri Kyowakoku Campaigns, for the first Donguri Kyowakoku shop in Kamakura in 1993 and the use of the Ghibli name from 1998. muuseo.com
Last reviewed 15 November 2026. The Japonista Curation and Concierge Team, Tokyo, Japan.