Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata founded Studio Ghibli in June 1985, with backing from Toshio Suzuki and the publisher Tokuma Shoten. The studio grew out of the success of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in 1984, and its aim was to blow a whirlwind into a stagnating Japanese animation industry by putting full budget and time into every film. Miyazaki named it after a warm Saharan wind and an Italian WWII aircraft. Ghibli has mainly made Miyazaki's films, and it has a strict no-edits policy for overseas licensing after Nausicaä was heavily cut for US release.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.