Celebrating the legacy of animator Makiko Futaki, and the prolific Studio Ghibli

On 10 June the UK and Ireland will see the wide release of Studio Ghibli’s final feature film produced before their indefinite hiatus, just weeks following the death of animation legend Makiko Futaki, aged 57.

As key animator, Makiko Futaki was responsible for producing the principal images of the scenes and sequences of many of Studio Ghibli’s most beloved films, designing and illustrating the original and essential images of the film around which subsequent frames are built. As such, Futaki’s contributions have been responsible for some of the most stunning sequences in Studio Ghibli’s oeuvre; watching these is very much a window into the mind of Makiko Futaki, who envisioned and give birth to the characters in action and the fantastical worlds surrounding them.

Her imagination was far ranging, from the stories of plucky inquisitive schoolgirls in postwar and post-boom Japan From Up On Poppy Hill and Whisper of the Heart, to retrofitted warplanes in the interbellum Adriatic flown by an anthropomorphic pig in Porco Rosso, the beguiling kami spirits of My Neighbour Totoro, prehistoric fish and tsunamis and creatures of the sea in Ponyo, the mythical sprits and monsters in the wartorn forests of Princess Mononoke and the enigmatic clients of the exuberant, otherworldly bathhouse of Spirited Away.

Her body of work is prolific, and plaudits considerable. Following early success as an in-between animator on Hayao Miyazaki’s Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro and Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and key animation duties on Toho’s seminal 1988 animated adaptation of the Akira with director Katsuhiro Otomo, Futaki went on to animating the majority of Studio Ghibli’s projects, including all the feature films of long term friend and collaborator Hayao Miyazaki after 1986.

Her final animation credit, for Studio Ghibli’s When Marnie Was There alongside director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, adapts Joan G. Robinson’s novel of the same name following a distant young girl living in a seaside town outside Sapporo who befriends a mysterious girl named Marnie, who may or may not be real.

One final chance for Futaki to demonstrate her flair for merging the real and imagined worlds cohesively translated in animation, the film marks the end of an exquisite era of animation from the Japanese studio. Studio Ghibli entered an indefinite hiatus as a mark of respect not long after the release of Miyazaki’s own retirement following the release of 2013’s multi award winning, The Wind Rises, upon which Futaki served once more as key animator. Delineating wartime Japan in a celebration of creativity and cautionary tale of war, she animated the film through beguiling dreamscapes and heartbreaking realism.

Now under the helm of co-founder Isao Takahata, most famous for The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013) and the acclaimed Grave of the Fireflies (1988), the studio will go through a shift, should it re-emerge from hiatus following the release of its last two productions. The loss of such a grand talent and vision will leave a mark on their work, and will be felt by the animation industry for years to come.

When Marnie Was There will see wider release following its fixture on the festival circuit next Friday, 10 June, in selected cinemas across UK and Ireland, alongside StudioCanal’s major retrospective Studio Ghibli Forever in cities across the UK.