Hayao Miyazaki is a master animator, but he’s also a master of guerrilla marketing. A new video from YouTube channel Movie Munchies shows how Miyazaki subtly snuck the name of his animation studio, Studio Ghibli, into his films, including on a bus billboard in Kiki’s Delivery Service and multiple times into Porco Rosso.
Miyazaki also planted little reminders — or Easter eggs — of his past work into his films, which until now, were only there for eagle-eyed fans and repeat viewers. Examples of Miyazaki playing homage to his past work include a Jiji the Cat pillow in a bedroom in Spirited Away, a Castle in the Sky character walking down the street in Howl’s Moving Castle and a Totoro book on the shelf in the library in Whispers of the Heart. He even managed to take a page out of Alfred Hitchcock’s and Stan Lee’s books and inject a little caricature of himself into the films.
