If you’ve ever marveled at the gorgeous background art work in Ghibli’s many anime films like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle, credit must go to Kazuo Oga, one of the most prolific background artists from the studio. This book is the 2nd volume from his massive portfolio and focuses mostly on the work in Princess Mononoke. ( about 1/2 the book’s content. )

I was very fortunate to see the original pieces of these astounding background art back in 2007, when Oga-san held his solo exhibition at the MOT in Tokyo. Its an experience I can never forget. I highly recommend the blu-ray/dvd from the exhibition.

(above) The book also delves into fairly technical explanations of how his work is created / creative approaches he uses, but these will be hard to understand unless you can read Japanese.

(above and below) The 2nd half of the book lists select pieces from other films he worked on including Pompoko, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and more.

Its no exaggeration at all to say that Kazuo Oga’s background art help define the unique look of many a Ghibli masterpiece – poring through these beautiful pieces make me want to watch them all over again. Highly recommended.

ps – Also check out Oga-san’s personal art book – Akita, Asobi No Fukei. 

“Kazuo Oga Animation Artworks” art book details :

– Dimensions – 10.6 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
– Softcover, 141 pages
– Full color, in Japanese language

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