Sometimes I like to think of my job as that of a Medieval Scholar, writing down histories and tracking lineages for future generations in gigantic Bibles. I'm really in the "meme generating" business, and in that sense, it's my responsibility to tell the story of Hayao Miyazaki's and Isao Takahata's careers. And so, I've been writing and editing the Wikipedia pages for Horus, Prince of the Sun and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. I try not to step on anyone's toes, only adding or subtracting what is absolutely necessary. A little bit here, a little bit there. Eventually, we'll all have the complete histories recorded.
This is always an important topic for me, because so many Western Miyazaki fans are completely unaware that anything exists before Studio Ghibli. As more of the pre-Ghibli films and television series make their way to store shelves and fan translation forums, it becomes important to share this "lost" history. And it's especially important for a film like Cagliostro, which really does rely upon the original 1971 Lupin III TV series as a leaning stick; if anything, Cagliostro can be seen as a direct "sequel" to that series. And I've discussed the movie's somber, La Dolce Vita-esque tone, previously on Ghibli Blog and on the Discotek Lupin Series One DVD (cough, buy it).
So many people think Miyazaki's career began in 1979 or 1984. It's weird, kinda like meeting a diehard John Lennon fan...who has never heard of The Beatles. They love "Imagine" and "Plastic Ono Band" to death. But "Rubber Soul?" "Sgt. Pepper's?" Not a clue. Just blank stares. And so they're missing half the conversation.
It's our goal to help fix that. In 2015, this is a very easy problem to solve.
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