Published by Studio Ghibli itself, this book offers a superb overview of all the feature films produced by the studio. Very comprehensive, it includes the titles, the teams who worked on the productions, the synopses, as well as additional information such as the characters, their roles, certain production challenges, and—what I found most interesting—completely new production anecdotes.
This book doesn’t revolutionize our understanding of the Ghibli world, but it does put into perspective all the work of Miyazaki, Takahata, and the other filmmakers associated with the studio. Moreover, it includes a few pages on the studio’s own history—not just about the films, but also about the park, the studio’s future, and the issues that guide their thinking.
A very good book that I’ll gladly return to from time to time to refresh my memory.