Portal:Studio Ghibli/Selected biography/7
Toshio Suzuki (鈴木 敏夫, Suzuki Toshio, born August 19, 1948) is a film producer of anime and a long-time colleague of Hayao Miyazaki, as well as the former president of Studio Ghibli. Suzuki is renowned as one of Japan's most successful producers after the enormous box office success (in Japan) of many Ghibli films.
His professional career started at Tokuma Shoten, joining the company shortly after graduation. He was assigned to the planning department of Asahi Geino entertainment magazine, where he was responsible for the manga coverage page. Here he had a long anticipated meeting with cartoonist Shigeru Sugiura. In 1973 he became the editor of the magazine's supplement Comic & Comic (コミック&コミック, Komiku to Komiku), for which he worked with and befriended film directors, such as Sadao Nakajima, Eiichi Kudo and Teruo Ishii, as well as animators and manga artists, like Osamu Tezuka, George Akiyama, Kazuo Kamimura, Hōsei Hasegawa and Shotaro Ishinomori.
During a hiatus from the comic supplement, he was reassigned to the performing arts feature section of Asahi Geino, for which he covered such varied topics as bōsōzoku (Japanese motorcycle gangs), and the bombing of the headquarters of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries by the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front. In 1975 Suzuki was assigned to the editorial department of the monthly Television Land (テレビランド, Terebi Rando), working on series such as Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace. In 1978 he became an editor for the, newly created, monthly magazine Animage, under its first editor-in-chief Hideo Ogata.
In his capacity as Animage editor he approached Isao Takahata and Miyazaki, who had worked on the animated feature film Hols: Prince of the Sun, for a feature article in the inaugural issue of the magazine but they declined. Suzuki and Miyazaki encountered each other again after the release of The Castle of Cagliostro when Suzuki again approached Miyazaki for an Animage article. This time the meetings result in an enduring collaborative relationship.