Hayao Miyazaki (born January 5, 1941, in Tokyo City) is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist who co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as its honorary chairman.
Hayao Miyazaki (born January 5, 1941, in Tokyo City) is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist who co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as its honorary chairman. ◦ His father, Katsuji Miyazaki, was director of Miyazaki Airplane, his brother's company, which manufactured rudders for fighter planes during World War II; the business allowed the family to remain affluent during Miyazaki's early life. ◦ The Miyazaki family business built parts for Zero fighter planes. ◦ He completed studies in economics at Gakushuin University in 1963. ◦ He joined Toei Animation in 1963 as an inbetween artist; his salary was 19,500 yen while his apartment rent was 6,000 yen. ◦ Around this time he became a leader in a labor dispute and was chief secretary of Toei's labor union by 1964, its vice-chairman being Isao Takahata, with whom Miyazaki formed a lifelong collaboration and friendship. ◦ He wrote and illustrated the manga *Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind* (1982–1994) and directed the 1984 film adaptation. ◦ He was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 2012, received the Academy Honorary Award in 2014, and received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2024. ◦
Miyazaki's works are characterized by the recurrence of themes such as humanity's relationship with nature and technology, the importance of art and craftsmanship, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic in a violent world. ◦ He believes that "children's souls are the inheritors of historical memory from previous generations." ◦ He holds that "children understand intuitively that the world they have been born into is not a blessed world." ◦ He maintains that "we depict hatred, but it is to depict that there are more important things," and that "we depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation." ◦ He feels that "we are nearing the end of times" and that "we humans are losing faith in ourselves." ◦ He regards AI-generated animation as "an insult to life itself" and would never wish to incorporate it into his work. ◦
Miyazaki became a leader in a labor dispute at Toei Animation and was chief secretary of the company's labor union by 1964. ◦ He retired from feature films in 2013 but returned to make *The Boy and the Heron* (2023). ◦ He strongly refuses to incorporate AI-generated animation into his work. ◦
Miyazaki asserts that "if you don't spend time watching real people, you can't do this, because you've never seen it." ◦ He believes that "children's souls are the inheritors of historical memory from previous generations," and that "as they grow older and experience the everyday world that memory sinks lower and lower." ◦ He reflects that "if it is a dying craft we can't do anything about it. Civilisation moves on," asking, "Where are all the fresco painters now? Where are the landscape artists?" ◦ He warns that "most people depend on the internet and cellphones to survive, but what happens when they stop working?" ◦ His narratives often present morally ambiguous antagonists with redeeming qualities and explore humanity's relationship with nature and technology. ◦
Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. ◦ He co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 and wrote and directed *Laputa: Castle in the Sky* (1986), *My Neighbor Totoro* (1988), *Kiki's Delivery Service* (1989), *Porco Rosso* (1992), *Princess Mononoke* (1997), *Spirited Away* (2001), and *The Boy and the Heron* (2023). ◦ He wrote and illustrated the manga *Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind* (1982–1994) and directed its 1984 film adaptation. ◦ His studies in economics at Gakushuin University preceded his animation career. ◦ His filmography introduced recurring concerns with ecology and the human impact on the environment, a fascination with aircraft and flight, and an anti-military, pacifist streak. ◦ *Spirited Away* (2001) became Japan's highest-grossing film and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and *The Boy and the Heron* (2023) also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. ◦
He argues that careful observation of real people is essential to craft, stating that "if you don't spend time watching real people, you can't do this, because you've never seen it." ◦ He describes an AI horror-animation demo by recalling a friend with a severe disability, noting that "every morning... I see my friend who has a disability. It's so hard for him just to do a high five; his arm with stiff muscle can't reach out to my hand. Now, thinking of him, I can't watch this stuff and find it interesting." ◦ He frames the intent of *Princess Mononoke* with the paradox that "we depict hatred, but it is to depict that there are more important things. We depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation." ◦ He uses historical analogy to describe obsolescence, asking, "Where are all the fresco painters now? Where are the landscape artists?" ◦
Miyazaki's love of flying was instilled by a family business that built parts for Zero fighter planes during World War II. ◦ Yet his work carries an anti-military, pacifist streak and explores the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic in a violent world. ◦ He creates technologically sophisticated animated films while warning that most people "depend on the internet and cellphones to survive" and questioning what happens when they stop working. ◦ He retired from feature films in 2013 but subsequently returned to direct *The Boy and the Heron* (2023). ◦ He depicts a world that is "not a blessed world" and expresses feeling that "we are nearing the end of times," while also stating that if he could make a film that reaches down to the level of children's inherited historical memory he would "die happy." ◦
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