{"id":65973,"date":"2026-04-30T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=65973"},"modified":"2026-04-30T14:00:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:00:40","slug":"studio-ghibli-masterpieces-risk-slipping-into-obscurity-among-younger-audiences-in-japan-due-to-tv-exclusivity-domestic-journalist-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/studio-ghibli-masterpieces-risk-slipping-into-obscurity-among-younger-audiences-in-japan-due-to-tv-exclusivity-domestic-journalist-suggests\/","title":{"rendered":"Studio Ghibli\u00a0masterpieces\u00a0risk\u00a0slipping into obscurity among\u00a0younger audiences\u00a0in Japan\u00a0due to TV exclusivity, domestic journalist suggests\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese author and&nbsp;journalist Soichiro&nbsp;Matsutani&nbsp;recently brought attention&nbsp;to the issue of&nbsp;the&nbsp;intentionally&nbsp;created&nbsp;\u201cscarcity\u201d of Studio Ghibli films in Japan.&nbsp;While&nbsp;most Ghibli works are available on&nbsp;popular&nbsp;streaming platforms like Netflix and HBO Max&nbsp;to international audiences, they cannot be viewed on any streaming service within Japan. Instead, viewers typically wait for films to&nbsp;be broadcast&nbsp;by Nippon TV (the parent company of Studio Ghibli as of 2023),&nbsp;or&nbsp;rent or&nbsp;purchase&nbsp;physical media&nbsp;like Blu-Rays.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover,&nbsp;as&nbsp;Matsutani&nbsp;writes for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.co.jp\/expert\/articles\/cd010a1ede4bec504e4b4c04a6509d206400f434\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yahoo Japan\u2019s&nbsp;expert column<\/a>,&nbsp;it can be years before a film gets its turn&nbsp;to be broadcast&nbsp;on&nbsp;television&nbsp;In May&nbsp;2026, Nippon TV\u2019s&nbsp;\u201cFriday Roadshow\u201d&nbsp;(which has historically broadcast Ghibli films since the 1980s)&nbsp;will air&nbsp;Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service&nbsp;for the first time in 4 years, while&nbsp;Whisper of the Heart will be making a comeback after over 7 years.&nbsp;Matsutani&nbsp;suggests that with such long gaps,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;questionable how much Studio Ghibli classics are&nbsp;actually reaching&nbsp;younger audiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This especially affects&nbsp;non-Miyazaki titles, such as films directed by Isao Takahata or Hiromasa&nbsp;Yonebayashi, which get even fewer airing slots. While&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;natural for Nippon TV to favor titles that secure stable ratings and&nbsp;the&nbsp;highest ad revenue,&nbsp;Matsutani&nbsp;points out that this has&nbsp;significantly diminished opportunities to watch many Ghibli films, which puts them at risk of fading from viewers\u2019&nbsp;memory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1518\" height=\"762\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1518px) 100vw, 1518px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260430-65973-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65976\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260430-65973-001.jpg 1518w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260430-65973-001-380x191.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260430-65973-001-768x386.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This seemingly&nbsp;outdated&nbsp;reliance on&nbsp;television&nbsp;appears to be intentional, as Nippon TV actually owns the streaming platform Hulu domestically&nbsp;too,&nbsp;yet still hasn\u2019t made&nbsp;Ghibli films available there.&nbsp;Matsutani&nbsp;speculates&nbsp;that by keeping the films hard to access, the company\u2019s aim is&nbsp;to&nbsp;raise their value through scarcity&nbsp;and secure reliable advertising revenue from 4&nbsp;to&nbsp;8 annual broadcasts,&nbsp;defending the position of television.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as streaming platforms&nbsp;increasingly grow into&nbsp;a dominant viewing format for entertainment, kids growing up without a TV at home, accustomed to watching content&nbsp;\u201con demand,\u201d&nbsp;<s>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/s>have virtually no opportunities to encounter Studio Ghibli films, which could lead to a&nbsp;\u201cgap&nbsp;generation\u201d that has only&nbsp;heard of their fame but never interacted with them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sony-has-developed-an-ai-tool-that-protects-creators-copyrights-by-prohibiting-ghibli-style-outputs-and-providing-compensation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sony\u00a0has developed an AI tool that protects creators\u2019 copyrights\u00a0by\u00a0prohibiting \u201cGhibli-style\u201d outputs and\u00a0providing compensation\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-whose-project-was-called-an-insult-to-life-itself-by-ghiblis-hayao-miyazaki-to-launch-god-simulator-game-on-february-12\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Developer whose project was called \u201can insult to life itself\u201d by Ghibli\u2019s Hayao Miyazaki to launch \u201cgod simulator\u201d\u00a0game <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese journalist speculates Nippon TV is intentionally limiting viewing opportunities for Studio Ghibli films to defend television.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":65975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-65973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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