In 1967, Shinchosha published a short story named Grave of the Fireflies as a novel written by Akiyuki Nosaka. 21 years later, Grave of the Fireflies was turned into a film by director Isao Takahata, animated by Studio Ghibli and co-distributed by Bandai Visual under their Emotion label and Toho. In turn, Shinchosha produced that film as Shinchosha 1988. The film was released in Japanese theaters on April 16, 1988. It was then licensed and released in North America as a subtitled VHS by Central Park Media on June 2, 1993, and later a 2-disc DVD by the same company in the same region, with the 1st disc featuring an English dub produced by Skypilot Entertainment and the original Japanese with English subtitles. The 2nd disc contained a retrospective on the author of the original book, an interview with the director, and an interview with critic Roger Ebert, who had expressed his admiration for the film on several occasions and ranked the film as one of the greatest of all time. Following the April 27, 2009, bankruptcy and liquidation of Central Park Media, ADV Films acquired the North American rights and re-released it on DVD on July 7, 2009, followed by former CPM titles such as MD Geist, Now and Then, Here and There and The World of Narue. Following the September 1, 2009, shutdown and rebranding of ADV Films, their successor, Sentai Filmworks, rescued the film and re-released it as a remastered DVD on March 6, 2012, and plan on releasing the film on digital outlets. A Blu-ray edition was released on November 20, 2012, featuring an all-new English dub produced by Seraphim Digital. StudioCanal released a Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on July 1, 2013, followed by a Kiki's Delivery Service release on that same format. with Madman Entertainment releasing the film in Australia and New Zealand. Grave of the Fireflies is the first Studio Ghibli film that Disney never had distribution rights to in North America, since the film was not produced by parent company Tokuma Shoten but by Shinchosha, the publisher of the original short story.
''Shincho 45'' suspension
In 2016, after an editorial change, the monthly magazine Shincho 45 increased its publication of polemical articles from authors who usually wrote for publications offering a right-wing perspective. In 2018 Shinchosha suspended publication of Shincho 45 after several articles critical of LGBT members of society appeared in the magazine, including an article by Mio Sugita in the August 2018 issue calling LGBT couples "unproductive." Shinchosha president Takanobu Sato particularly criticized a series of essays in the October 2018 issue that defended Sugita's article, calling the series "expressions full of prejudice that lacked appropriate recognition and deviated from common sense."
