Yoshiyuki Momose, a master animator at Studio Ghibli, quietly established a separate entity before the turn of the millennium to solve a specific creative problem. While his colleagues focused on hand-drawn fantasy worlds, Momose needed a dedicated space to explore live-action filmmaking without diluting the studio's primary brand identity. This new subsidiary, named Studio Kajino, emerged from the shadows of the famous animation house to handle projects that required real actors and physical sets rather than painted backgrounds. Toshio Suzuki, the president of Studio Ghibli, personally oversaw the operations of this hidden division, ensuring that the transition from animation to live action remained under the same creative umbrella. The first official release from this new venture was the film Shiki-Jitsu, which arrived in the year 2000 to test the waters of a genre Ghibli had rarely touched before.
The Silent Debut
The film Shiki-Jitsu marked the first public appearance of Studio Kajino, yet it carried the weight of a studio that wanted to remain invisible to the general public. Released in 2000, the project served as a proof of concept for the live-action capabilities of the Ghibli team. Unlike the colorful, magical realism of Spirited Away, Shiki-Jitsu presented a grounded, almost documentary-style narrative that required a different set of skills from the animators who had become accustomed to drawing characters. The production team had to learn the mechanics of lighting, camera angles, and actor direction while maintaining the meticulous attention to detail that defined their animation work. This film was not merely a side project but a deliberate experiment to see if the soul of Studio Ghibli could survive in the medium of live action.The Uncredited Collaboration
In 2001, Studio Kajino engaged in a co-production that would remain largely hidden from the public eye for decades. The film Satorare, directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro, was a project where the studio's involvement was so subtle that it did not appear in the official credits. The only acknowledgment of their participation came years later through an extra feature on the R3 DVD release, which was titled Ghibli Studio. This hidden collaboration demonstrated the studio's willingness to support independent directors without seeking the spotlight. The lack of credit was not an oversight but a strategic choice to allow the film to stand on its own merits while still benefiting from the technical expertise of the Ghibli team. This period of quiet operation highlighted the studio's philosophy that the work should speak for itself, regardless of the name attached to it.The Music Video Experiments