Chapter 158: Translating Meeting

The most publicized profile of Studio Ghibli and its constituents are mostly bits of tidbits from its excited fandom and officially released info that the animation studio deliberated to be released.

Alexander could only assume that the funding problem was what delayed Ghibli from being made earlier than when it was supposed to.

'Nausicaa of The Valley of the Wind' was clearly the best debut film that legendary Miyazaki and his cohorts could capitalize their success from.

It was too bad that competition may have made them settle for the next film.

'Laputa, Castle in the Sky' was great and all but it's not quite as amazing as 'Nausicaa'.

The film premiered in 103 theaters in Japan on August 2, 1986. The final box office record was a disappointing 1.16 billion yen, significantly less than the 1.48 billion yen achieved by 'Nausicaa' in 1984.

Alexander's newfound 'insider' news led him to surmise that Laputa's failure might have been rigged by the same group of people that troubled the Ghibli people about their fund sourcing.

Although Laputa did win out in the long run due to its Ghibli appeal, the disappointing Japanese run might have really been a blow to its pioneering creators.

The biggest suspect could only be the Toei Company, who was the one who released both 'Nausicaa' and 'Laputa' for theaters. They did mentor Miyazaki but that didn't mean that they'd just play nice when he became their potential major competition.

It was quite simple for distributors and theaters to destroyingly manipulate stuff about film visibility and box office prospects. The poor Studio Ghibli founders might have really been given a wake-up call by their senpais from that 'Laputa' fiasco.

If the tidbit of timelines in his enhanced mind is correct, Mr. Miyazaki might have already visited Wales and been inspired by its mines to finally conceptualize Laputa.

Alexander didn't know what Mr. Miyazaki had done by then but the formation of Studio Ghibli should be along 15th June of 1985.

It was a full 2 to 3 months or so from now and doesn't seem to bode well with Creed Animations.

"Grandpa, how long is Mr. Hayao Miyazaki going to be organizing and training our animation team?" The boy had to turn his curiosity to his grandfather.

"I'm not too sure as we haven't really talked about that yet." Old Sullivan had to consider the duration of temporary helping as well. "During this meeting, I might just have to coax the guy about giving Creed Animations the full shaping up until it becomes sufficient enough without him."

"Then, have we prepared for enough directorial and animation production talents that can take over once he is gone." Alexander asked.

"Of course, our hirees aren't that good with integrating and synchronizing a scattered hubbub of animation-catered people like the veteran Miyazawa but they should have enough competency to take over once he's done whipping people up to stability." Sullivan was quite confident in that point. Hiring Miyazawa was just to speed up the team integration process and get to know about the Japanese veteran's animation techniques.

It also helped that Miyazawa is quite expert enough in the comic book to animation endeavors... of course, it was manga to anime when considering where he is from.

After the team can emulate those teachings and have enough working dynamics to truly take things up to speed, the reserved talents that are in wait should be able to take things further from there.

Besides, Sullivan knew that there was also Alex on standby. Although he knew that this grandson of his only knew as much about animation processes as him, his hunch tells him that the boy could still do wonders in animation... just as how the boy did wonders in other fields.

-----

In any case, the meeting with their helper eventually did commence as Mr. Hayao Mizaki along with his guide slash interpreter finally arrived.

The animation legend still isn't the silver-haired guy of the late century though as he is still around his 40s but the familiar Japanese mangaka glasses were enough for Alexander to connect old Miyazaki to this one in front of him.

"Hello to you, Mr. Creed." Mr. Hayao greeted with a solemn bow and handshake of thanks. "Your help on our plans was quite timely. Thank you for that. I also give the thanks of Toshio-san and Isao-san to you."

"Haha! No troubles at all Mr. Miyazaki. The stake-free funding on your planned company is nothing compared to the help you'll be doing to our own."

Traditional Japanese greeting etiquette was shown and it was quite interesting to see British Sullivan handle the bows and shakes of Mr. Miyazaki.

"By the way, I never did get the name of your venture. Have you decided on it already?" Sullivan asked.

"We are still not sure but 'Ghibli' is what we are going for." Miyaki scratched the back of his head with that.

"May I ask what that means?" The old social Sullivan probed with ease.

"My otousan worked on the aviation industry and I did see Ghibli plastered on a certain plane." Miyazaki explained with melancholy.

"Ahh yes... the good times of old. People do long much to be on it again?" Sullivan acted out in melancholy as well.

The old Creed was quite good with socializing that he had already become reminiscing peers with Mr. Miyazaki in such a short time. At least, Alexander got some vestiges as to why the old man was quite persuasive with Innovative Rob and Curious Bob.

Does this also happen to be a lesson on greetings, etiquettes, and the benefits of effective socializing? Anyways, Alexander was quite receptive to everything that is happening.

The talks did go on with Mr. Miyazaki knowing some bits of English but Mr. Interpreter still had some bits of work for him to do.

For Alexander who has seen some fair bits of anime in his entire weirded-out lifetime, the entire conversation was Japanese semi-purity along with some Americanized dubs on the side.

Fortunately, the Japanese recruits who have already been acclimatized with English should be helpful enough when the helper works eventually start.

"Mr. Creed, what other plans do you have for your animation teams?" The translator said in translation verbatim. Mr. Miyazaki's English skills clearly still haven't arrived at the level of being able to say that.

"Oh... about that... I'm not too sure?" Sullivan was quite sheepish when it reached this point. He did a big legwork on making things happen but it was up for his grandson to take it from there.

He had some clues on what direction they were going for but it was best that a certain someone explain the rest of Creed company's mission and vision.

Mr. Miyazaki did get the translation back to him and he was quite troubled when he got it.

Does this mean that Mr. Creed wanted to make him do all the major planning? Does this mean that he has to supply this Creed Animation with animation ideas? Doesn't that just mean he'll be doing all the grunt work and creative conceptualizing while Mr. Creed takes a step back?

His impression of the friendly Mr. Creed turned into a laid-back old man who wanted to push everything to him.

Mr. Miyazaki's thoughts spiraled from the translation misunderstanding and he might have just convinced himself that the stake-free funding might have just been a trap all along.

Fortunately, he heard a cough coming from the quiet boy who was just listening in during the entire meeting.

The boy's eyes met with his and Miyazaki's scattered thoughts turned serious for whatever reason.