Joe Hisaishi and Studio Ghibli (Yu Jin Yi)

Personally, I love the animated films created by Studio Ghibli of Japan. The
fascinating but somewhat bizarre characters, surreal story lines, and the lack of clear-cut
distinction between vice and virtue all contribute to the special nature of films by Ghibli.
Tonarino Totoro, Spirited Away are few of many wonderful works by Studio Ghibli
(directed by Hayao Miyajaki)—and I fell in love with the animated films that I’ve even
written an essay describing the unique traits of those films.
Of course, the visual elements of an animated film do not complete the whole
picture—auditory elements such as the voices of characters (by the voice actors) or
effective sound effects are also crucial in finalizing a film. One of the auditory elements
that I want to focus on in this article is the back ground music—especially the music by
Joe Hisaishi.
Joe Hisaishi and Studio Ghibli have been engaging in an intensive relationship.
One of the very first films by Studio Ghibli, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, had the
back ground music that Hisaishi composed as its back ground music. Or the most recent
films by Studio Ghibli, The Borrowers, also had its theme song Arriety’s Song
composed by him. And the two animated films are not the only films to use Hisaishi’s
music.
Even in Korea Hisaishi’s music is loved. A Korean movie Welcome to
Dongmakgol asked Hisaishi to write the back ground music for it. It was a movie about
a small Korean village called Dongmakgol during the Korean War—the overall
atmosphere within the movie was very dreamy and poignant at the same time, and the
soundtrack composed by Hisaishi effectively captured the theme of the movie.
Most of the animated films by Studio Ghibli do not have a clear distinction
between the good and evil. Also the main characters are usually adolescent girls faced
with mental stress and burdens. Moreover there are many elements that are unreal (like
the god of forest Totoro, the witch in Howl’s Moving Castle, or the river god Haku in
Spirited Away), which make the films’ stories all the more complicated. The OSTs
composed by Hisaishi captures the emotions of the film successfully and resolves the
complicated story into comprehensible one. The songs add the flavor to the original film
and perfect it.
Joe Hisaishi is one of my favorite composers in the 21st century. He knows how
and when to use what kind of musical chords to express even the most subtle scenes of
the movie. It cannot be an act of coincidence that Joe Hisaishi started working together
with Studio Ghibli, both of whom so good at describing the surreal world.