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There have been two big stories in the world of Studio Ghibli in the past few weeks. The biggest, and most important one, is that Princess Mononoke has enjoyed one of the most remarkable returns to US cinemas we can remember. The other, more annoying story about the beloved anime studio is that the people making terrible AI images based on Studio Ghibli films are so desperate for attention that they’re making fake cease-and-desist letters from Studio Ghibli for reasons that escape us entirely.

In a desperate attempt to make AI proponents into some kind of persecuted people, social media user teej posted a letter they claimed was from Studio Ghibli, ordering them to cease using the name “Gib” as their “photo sharing app that turns all photos into Studio Ghibli style images.” However, it took about 30 seconds for people in the comments to point out how obviously fake the letter was. The email address attached didn’t work and, most damning of all, the law firm that claims to be representing Studio Ghibli has never existed. The whole thing was fake, just like any sympathy we might have had for people who share AI images and call it art.

Personally, we think One Piece anime director Henry Thurlow summed it up pretty nicely when he said, “If you don’t have the time to dedicate to becoming an amazing chef, you don’t deserve a Michelin star.” And if you aren’t willing to put the time and effort needed to create art that actually impinges on Studio Ghibli’s copyright, you don’t deserve the time and effort it would take for them to send you a letter telling you to stop. This whole episode has felt like a sad attempt to get senpai to notice them, except instead of holding up a sign at a convention they're burning the rainforest.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
• The Summer Anime season return of Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, & Dan Da Dan are forcing me to break my vow of watching less anime
• From Tomo-Chan to Oshi No Ko: How some of your favorite manga creators got their start in hentai
• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic