Hayao Miyazaki

Residency: Tokorozawa City Saitama Prefecture Japan Graduated: Gakushuin University Department of Economics Introduction: Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator director script/screenwriter author mangaka and cofounder of Studio Ghibli. He is the second of four brothers and was born in the town of Akebonocho part of Tokyos Bunkyou Ward. He is best known for his international fame as a masterful storyteller and as a maker of astonishing animated feature films and he is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished filmmakers in the history of animation. Miyazakis works are characterized by the recurrence of themes such as humanitys relationship with nature and technology the wholesomeness of natural and traditional patterns of living the importance of art and craftsmanship and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic in a violent world. The protagonists of his films are often strong girls or young women and several of his films present morally ambiguous antagonists with redeeming qualities. Miyazakis works have been highly praised and awarded he was named a Person of Cultural Merit for outstanding cultural contributions in November 2012 and received the Academy Honorary Award for his impact on animation and cinema in November 2014 as well as having won two Oscars for Best Animated Feature the only instances in which a nonEnglishlanguage film has won the award. Miyazaki has frequently been cited as an inspiration for numerous animators directors and writers. Biography: Miyazaki expressed interest in manga and animation from an early age which led to him eventually joining Toei Animationhttps://anilist.co/studio/18/ToeiAnimation in 1963. During his early years at Toei Animation he worked as an inbetween artist and later collaborated with the director Isao Takahatahttps://anilist.co/staff/100579/IsaoTakahata. Some notable films Miyazaki contributed to at Toei include Doggie Marchhttps://anilist.co/anime/9228/WanWanChuushingura/ and Gullivers Travels Beyond the Moonhttps://anilist.co/anime/2833/GulliversTravelsBeyondtheMoon/. He provided key animation in other films at Toei such as the Puss in Boots and Animal Treasure Island before moving to animation studio APro in 1971 where he would codirect the movie Lupin the Third Part I alongside Isao Takahata. After moving to Zuiyou Eizou later dubbed Nippon Animationhttps://anilist.co/studio/22/NipponAnimation in 1973 Miyazaki worked as an animator on World Masterpiece Theater and directed the television series Future Boy Conanhttps://anilist.co/anime/302/FutureBoyConan/. He joined Telecom Animation Filmhttps://anilist.co/studio/94/TelecomAnimationFilm/Tokyo Movie Shinsa in 1979 to direct his first feature films The Castle of Cagliostrohttps://anilist.co/anime/1430/LupinThe3rdTheCastleofCagliostro/ in 1979 and Nausica of the Valley of the Windhttps://anilist.co/anime/572/NausicaoftheValleyoftheWind/ in 1984 as well as the television series Sherlock Houndhttps://anilist.co/anime/1972/SherlockHound/. Miyazaki cofounded Studio Ghiblihttps://anilist.co/studio/21/StudioGhibli in 1985. He would go on to direct numerous of films with Ghibli including Castle in the Skyhttps://anilist.co/anime/513/CastleintheSky/ 1986 My Neighbor Totorohttps://anilist.co/anime/523/MyNeighborTotoro/ 1988 Kikis Delivery Servicehttps://anilist.co/anime/512/KikisDeliveryService/ 1989 and Porco Rossohttps://anilist.co/anime/416/PorcoRosso/ 1992. The films they made were met with critical and commercial success in Japan. His film Princess Mononokehttps://anilist.co/anime/164/PrincessMononoke/ was the first animated film to ever win the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year and it briefly became the highestgrossing film in Japan following its release in 1997 and its distribution to the Western world greatly increased Studio Ghiblis popularity and influence outside of Japan. His 2001 film Spirited Awayhttps://anilist.co/anime/199/SpiritedAway/ became the highestgrossing film in Japanese history winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards and is frequently ranked among the greatest films of the 2000s. Miyazakis later films Howls Moving Castlehttps://anilist.co/anime/431/HowlsMovingCastle/ 2004 Ponyohttps://anilist.co/anime/2890/Ponyo/ 2008 and The Wind Riseshttps://anilist.co/anime/16662/TheWindRises/ 2013 also enjoyed critical and commercial success. Following the release of The Wind Rises Miyazaki announced his retirement from feature films though he returned again in 2016 to work on a new feature film The Boy and The Heronhttps://anilist.co/anime/109979/TheBoyandtheHeron/ 2023. The film received critical acclaim becoming the first nonEnglishlanguage film to win the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film and the second nonEnglishlanguage film after Spirited Away to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. According to Studio Ghibli vicepresident Junichi Nishiokahttps://anilist.co/staff/212700/JunichiNishioka and longtime colleague Toshio Suzukihttps://anilist.co/staff/101638/ToshioSuzuki Miyazaki is reportedly working on another feature film contrary to rumours that The Boy and the Heron would be his last.