Anime distributor AnimEigo and parent company MediaOCD have released the latest episode of The Anime Business on YouTube featuring an in-depth interview with Steve Alpert, who played a pivotal role in bringing director Hayao Miyazaki’s films to Western audiences as a former Senior Vice President at Tokuma Shoten and Director of Studio Ghibli’s Overseas Business Division.

The Anime Business Episode 20: Steve Alpert is available on the official AnimEigo YouTube Channel.

In a wide-ranging chat, Alpert recalls his career starting at Disney and later working closely with Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s General Manager, Toshio Suzuki, and how he nurtured close relationships with both men as his own career evolved. He offers many anecdotes and keen behind-the-scenes perspectives on films like Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Spirited Away, and how they were licensed and sometimes altered, for international distribution. He also recalls the impact of the massive success of Princess Mononoke and how it propelled Studio Ghibli to global notoriety, with often mixed feelings from its founders.

Throughout the interview, Alpert notes contrasts between Japanese and Western culture and business practices as well as stark differences between anime and Western cinema and the wider entertainment industry. His recollections of conversations between Miyazaki and Pixar founder John Lasseter are poignant. He also delivers some enlightening insights into Miyazaki’s complex and often misunderstood worldview and attitudes about his work and how the Studio Ghibli brand is marketed.

Steve Alpert collected his experiences in a memoir, Sharing the House with the Never-Ending Man: 15 Years at Studio Ghibli, published by Stone Bridge Press.

 The Anime Business is a first-of-its-kind series featuring a wide range of entrepreneurs and visionaries that helped to pioneer and shape the North American anime and manga industries. It is produced and hosted by industry veteran and MediaOCD founder and AnimEigo CEO Justin Sevakis. Episodes 1-17 of The Anime Business and bonus clips are also now available to stream on the AnimeEigo YouTube channel.  All episodes of The Anime Business are available in English. Japanese subtitles are also available via a special grant from the Kleckner Foundation.

Source: Press Release

Josh Piedra

Senior Editor, Anime & Manga

Josh has been an anime fan for over twenty years. In addition, he is a light novel author with 38 books published across 5 series! He is also the owner of Meteora Press, his personal dba serving as a publishing label. Anime and otaku culture isn't Josh's only area of expertise. He also has a Bachelor of Arts in Game Design and has created a handful of independent games along with a deep working knowledge of the gaming industry.