What Is Ghibli-style Viral Trend, And Why It’s Trending? Details 

Published March 29, 2025 by Mary Brown
U.S. News
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People all over the internet today are posting Ghibli-style portraits of themselves using the new image-generating feature of OpenAI’s GPT-4. The feature, called “Images in ChatGPT,” allows users to convert their pictures into unique anime-style portraits. If you are someone who’s also wondering what a Ghibli-style viral trend is and why it is trending, this article is for you. It brings you everything you need to know about the trend and how to follow it. The following article also includes the creator of Ghibli’s take on AI-generated animation. 

Ghibli-style Viral Trend: What Is It?

Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, which then became Japan’s most well-known animation studio. It is famously known in the anime world for its hand-drawn animation, as well as detailed backgrounds, and emotionally engaging storytelling. The word ‘Ghibli’ means a hot desert wind in Libyan Arabic. It was also the name of the Italian aircraft Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli, which was the inspiration for Miyazaki. A Ghibli-style portrait is an image that is created in the unique Ghibli Studio style. It features pastel and muted color palettes, intricate details, and a magical atmosphere. 

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Ghibli-style Viral Trend: Why Is It Trending?

Anime no doubt has a huge fan following across the world, with over 72% of people watching anime regularly in the US itself. Ghibli-style art its popularity in the world of anime has largely contributed to the widespread interest in Ghibli portraits. OpenAI has launched a new feature that allows users to upload an image and ask the model to convert it into Ghibli-style versions. The ease of using this feature and the ability to convert personal pictures into Ghibli-style portraits have gained significant attention from social media. Hence, fueling the ongoing trend.

How To Join The Ghibli-style Viral Trend?

One can easily join the ongoing Ghibli-style viral trend using the new image-generating feature of OpenAI. You can use various prompts that will help the model convert your pictures into their Ghibli versions. One of the prompts you can use is to directly command the AI to convert the picture into Studio Ghibli-inspired characters and focus on details and whimsy. You can use other questions like “How would I look like as a Ghibli character?” or “How would Ghibli sketch my features?” as well. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Jumps On The Trend

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also jumped on the Ghibli-style viral trend and changed his profile picture on X to a Ghibli-style portrait of himself. He commented about the trend, saying, “Be me grinding for a decade trying to help make a superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever. Mostly, no one cares for the first 7.5 years.” He then added that “for 2.5 years, everyone has hated you for everything, waking up one day to hundreds of messages: ‘Look, I made you into a Twink Ghibli style, haha.” 

Hayao Miyazaki’s Take On AI-generated Animation 

AI-generated animation has received a pretty negative reaction from the founder of Ghlibi Studio. Hayao Miyazaki disapproved of the AI-generated animation in the past. During a 2016 demo of AI animation Hayao Miyazaki stated that he’s utterly disgusted. He further added that if you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it. However, he also said that he’ll never incorporate this technology into his work at all. Hayao even said that this is a strong insult to life itself. It is pretty clear that AI generating his hand-drawn art style and making it viral would be the last thing Hayao Miyazaki would have wanted.

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Mary Brown