GPT-4o × Ghibli Style: How GPT-4o Redefine AI Image Generation

In this blog, I will explore several curated examples to discuss the application of Ghibli-style prompts in GPT-4o image generation and analyze their underlying significance and impact.

1. The Lord of the Rings Meets Ghibli: When AI Becomes a Style Translator

One creator spent 9 hours and $250 using GPT-4o and other AI tools to reimagine The Lord of the Rings trailer in Ghibli style. He shared his process: first, he extracted 102 shots from the trailer, then used OpenAI's image generation tools to apply Ghibli-style prompts, followed by animation processing with Kling and Luma tools, and finally re-edited the footage to sync with the original trailer.

Gandalf’s wrinkles, softened and rounded in the Ghibli transformation, became almost endearing, but the lack of lip-syncing diminished the weight of his spellcasting. This highlights a limitation of current AI—it can capture the fluffy curls of a Hobbit’s hair but struggles to convey the “starlit sorrow” in Frodo’s eyes.

This "style repainting" function reminds me of a designer's workflow—quick previews and fine-tuning are essential steps in artistic creation. The integration of AI tools not only reduces production costs but also democratizes access to high-quality creative processes for everyday users.

Additionally, the comparison of $250 + 9 hours vs. months of traditional animation production underscores a hundredfold efficiency leap that is reshaping creative thresholds. Where we once debated "cinematic quality," we now argue over "AI-like aesthetics."

Personal thought experiment: Imagine Makoto Shinkai using these tools to adapt Game of Thrones. Would Westeros transform into a Tokyo from Weathering with You, with raindrops suspended mid-air? This democratization of technology may not signal the death of art but rather an explosion of aesthetic dimensions—or, conversely, a proliferation of “plastic” visual fast food.

2. From Workplace to Fairy Tale: The Ghibli-ization of The Office

When OpenAI transformed characters from The Office into Ghibli-style art, the attempt quickly went viral.

Why did it resonate so strongly?

• Classic Meets Contrast: As a beloved workplace comedy, The Office is renowned for its unique filming style and relatable humor. The addition of Ghibli’s aesthetic gave these familiar characters a new visual identity, creating a striking contrast.
• Visual and Emotional Appeal: The delicate visuals and warm textures of Ghibli style turned the workplace into a fairy tale, offering a blend of familiarity and novelty.
• Prompt Optimization Insights: This case also highlighted how many creators are exploring ways to refine prompts to better merge Ghibli style with diverse content.

3. The Four-Second Miracle: The Crowd Scene in The Wind Rises

In The Wind Rises, a film rich in poetic and industrial aesthetics, there is a mere four-second crowd scene at a train station—dozens of passengers carrying suitcases, horses pulling carts, and papers fluttering in the wind. Animator Eiji Yamamori spent a staggering 1 year and 3 months crafting this short sequence.

Why did it take so long? Beneath this figure lies a fourfold temporal code:

1. The Pursuit of Realism: As one commenter noted, the subtle tilt of a human's shoulders while walking or the arc of a horse's tail swaying is "counterintuitively realistic." The animator had to deconstruct and animate the unique walking rhythms of hundreds of individuals frame by frame. Another user added an even more nuanced perspective: as the viewer's gaze follows a man in a top hat weaving through the crowd, he must naturally sidestep a passing lady, while in the background, the turning of a carriage wheel must align perfectly with the shadows in the foreground.
2. Complex Dynamic Composition: The seemingly random fluttering of papers in the wind is, in fact, a product of meticulous calculation. Each paper's flight path must adhere to fluid dynamics while also aligning with the emotional rhythm of the scene. For instance, as the camera pans across protagonist Jiro Horikoshi, the papers suddenly accelerate, forming visual guide lines. This "artfully designed randomness" is the magic of traditional hand-drawn animation.
3. Patience as an Art Form: "Anything worth achieving takes time and effort," as one user aptly put it. This scene is not merely a technical feat but a testament to the animator's dedication to the craft.
4. Nonlinear Creation Process: The 1 year and 3 months were not spent in continuous work but were interspersed among other daily tasks. Yamamori might have been sketching a design when he suddenly noticed the shape of a coffee ring on his cup and used it as inspiration to adjust a paper's trajectory. This fragmented process of creation relies on the brain's ability to build a long-term "memory palace," weaving scattered inspirations into a cohesive whole. This story reminds me of Jorge Luis Borges' quote: "The moments we have lived are surrounded by darkness, both before and after." Animators condense a year and a half into four seconds, essentially defying the entropy of time to transform fleeting moments into something tangible and eternal.

In GPT-4o image generation, replicating such intricate details remains a challenge for the future. The fluttering papers, in particular, must adhere to physical laws, and the precision required to manage such details is awe-inspiring. Although modern audiences may not consciously notice these nuances, it is precisely these small efforts that breathe life and authenticity into Studio Ghibli's works.

This raises a question: In an era dominated by efficiency and cost-cutting in animation production, is anyone still willing to dedicate so much time to perfecting a four-second sequence? Perhaps this is the enduring charm of traditional hand-drawn animation.

4. The AI Craze: Lucky Break or Deliberate Design?

A commenter remarked, “OpenAI is lucky that Ghibli style became their model’s first viral application instead of some poorly executed deepfake content.” Sam Altman responded, “We did put a lot of thought into selecting the initial examples to showcase the new technology.”

Indeed, I agree with Altman’s point. Combining Ghibli style with The Office not only demonstrated GPT-4o’s capabilities but also provided users with an easily understandable application scenario. The deliberate contrast highlights the importance of creativity and design in AI tool usage, which cannot be replaced by mere random generation.

5. The Boundaries of Technology—Criticism from Artists

Hayao Miyazaki, the legendary director of Studio Ghibli, known for classics like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, has been openly critical of AI animation. In the NHK documentary Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, he called AI-generated animation “an insult to life itself.”

After viewing a brief demo of a grotesque zombie-like creature, Miyazaki paused and said it reminded him of a disabled friend who could barely clap. “Thinking of him, I cannot find this entertaining. Those who create such things have no understanding of pain. I feel disgusted. If you want to make something creepy, go ahead. But I don’t want this technology anywhere near my work. I strongly feel this is an insult to life itself.”

When the animator explained that their goal was to create a machine that could “draw like a human,” Miyazaki’s reaction grew even more somber: “I feel we are nearing the end of an era. Humanity is losing confidence in itself…”

6. The Möbius Loop of the Scanner: The Eternal Dilemma of Originality

In another thought-provoking video, an artist creates a piece of art, only for someone else to scan and replicate it, generating their own “art.” Subsequently, the original artist abandons their paintbrush, picks up the scanner, and becomes the new replicator—forming a perpetual loop.

When a user insists that "AI is not a brush but a ghostwriter," they are questioning the ownership of creativity. Traditional painters often find their decisions influenced by the physical properties of their materials (e.g., the accidental blooming of watercolor that gave rise to Monet's Water Lilies), while AI-generated randomness feels more like opening a mystery box—text being eerily replicated across different canvases.

While “borrowing” has always existed in art, the true danger lies in the loss of originality. If everyone becomes a “click-to-generate” operator, will art’s uniqueness vanish?

Some argue that AI-generated art lacks true creation because it removes the artist's direct control over the image. Others counter that crafting precise prompts (e.g., "Adapts this photo in the Ghibli Style") is an art form in itself.

The left-hand painter succumbing to the allure of the AI scanner symbolizes the most unsettling aspect of this debate. It reminds me of how, when photography was first invented, the Ingres school of painters collectively resisted it—only for Degas to later use a camera to assist his ballet series.

Because the content of this video is very simple, I suspect it might have been created by AI as well. Observing the comment section, I noticed someone raised a similar question, and the author responded: "No, sorry. Only 3D and good old keyframes."

Every technological revolution sacrifices certain sacred rituals. When bronze replaced stone tools, surely some old craftsmen lamented, “The sparks from striking flint are gifts from the gods!” Yet what AI scanners can never replicate is the moment an artist, unable to mix the perfect Prussian blue, throws down their brush in frustration, with a tear of paint clinging to their eyelashes in the dead of night.

Mastering a paintbrush may take ten years of dedicated practice, but mastering prompt engineering might only take three months. It’s akin to a calligrapher painstakingly perfecting their strokes while someone next door uses a laser engraver to instantly produce the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion. The question is: as technological shortcuts proliferate, will the value recognition system of “deliberate practice” collapse?

7. New Possibilities: The Fusion of Ghibli Style and AI in Creative Innovation

Amid the surge of AI-generated art, more creators are integrating various styles into everyday design. Recently, a website called lovable.dev adopted a Ghibli-inspired aesthetic, quickly garnering widespread attention.

One commenter offered an insightful suggestion:

“When using Ghibli style, people should include a link to Studio Ghibli to raise awareness of its origins. While this style doesn’t directly benefit Ghibli financially, it could at least increase their recognition and pay homage to the source.”

This suggestion not only respects copyright and originality but also opens up new possibilities for blending innovation and tradition in the AI era.

8. Finding Light in the Folds of Algorithms

These examples act as prisms, refracting the relationship between AI and art into different spectrums. Whether it’s a Ghibli animator embedding their life’s work into the trajectory of fluttering papers, The Lord of the Rings trailer reborn as a two-dimensional epic, or a scanner turning creation into an infinite Möbius loop—we may need to rethink Joseph Beuys’ assertion: “Everyone is an artist.” (Including AI.)

But let us not forget that beyond the rationality of tools lies the raw, clumsy, and often painful depths of human creativity. It is in these depths that art finds its most seductive allure.

So, the next time you experiment with a Ghibli-style prompt, take a moment to reflect on what you wish to express through the image. Perhaps that is where the true value of AI art lies.