Breaking news: it appears that Studio Ghibli‘s current president and chairman Koji Hoshino will soon be retiring from the anime film company. Why is he apparently retiring so suddenly? Well, let’s find out, shall we?

Koji Hoshino: The Soon-To-Be Ex-President and Chairman

Koji Hoshino attends the opening of a Studio Ghibli exhibit in Hong Kong in 2019. [ph: Studio Ghibli]
At least he’s going out with a pair of smiles: one from him, and the other from Totoro.

Studio Ghibli’s official website has just announced that their president and chairman Koji Hoshino will be formally retiring from the company. According to a translation of the Japanese text of the announcement, Hoshino will officially leave the company at Studio Ghibli‘s conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in June 2023. It seems that after 15 years of service to the company, Hoshino has decided this year is when he has had enough. And right after his 67th birthday to boot. In fact, you can read a translation of Hoshino’s exact words below:

I, Koji Hoshino, will resign as a director of Studio Ghibli and leave Ghibli at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in June.

Prior to that, I will be retiring from my position as Studio Ghibli’s president and chairman at the end of March, but I will continue to serve as representative until the general meeting of shareholders.

Since taking office in February 2008, I have been striving to manage the studio for 15 years. With the completion of the work How Do You Live?, I decided that this was the only time to leave Ghibli. From now on, I hope that I will entrust management to my successor and lead the new Ghibli.

On a personal note, I, Hoshino will turn 67 this May. In the future, I intend to take on challenges in new fields by making use of my experience and personal connections.

Koji Hoshino’s Replacement: The Who

Toshio Suzuki photo.
Well, at least Hoshino’s replacement seems like a cheerful guy too. However…

So who will be replacing Koji Hoshino as president and chairman of Studio Ghibli, you might ask? Well, if you look down from Hoshino’s words, you can see President Toshio Suzuki at the top of the board composition from April. Yeah, Suzuki will be his replacement. This is really odd since Suzuki has apparently been embroiled in some sort of financial scandal.

According to Variety, Suzuki has allegedly been providing his girlfriend with company funds to fuel her business ventures. This matter became so scandalous that Variety reached out to Studio Ghibli to see if they will comment on the matter. Studio Ghibli’s only comment is that Koji Hoshino’s resignation had nothing to do with Suzuki’s alleged financial scandal. That’s it. Studio Ghibli wouldn’t even comment on if there was any truth to the Suzuki allegations. It seems this is something Studio Ghibli wants to keep private for now. Tune back into THS later to find out if Studio Ghibli changes its mind if we do.

Source: Variety