Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki: biography
Hayao Miyazaki is a famous Japanese animator, director, screenwriter, producer and just an object of worship of modern fans of classical animation. Critics do not get tired of applauding the talent of the creator, journalists note the deepest humanism of Hayao’s works, and the audience willingly goes to the cinema for every new animated film.
Iconic director and animator Hayao Miyazaki
Admirers have considered Miyazaki good storyteller, and his petite figure (Hayao’s height is 5 feet 38 inches), benevolent smile and soft nature also contributed to this image. However, the director himself has repeatedly admitted that he looks at the world with a fair share of pessimism.
Childhood and youth
Hayao’s childhood was a difficult period for Japan: the boy was born in 1941, amid the Second World War. The changes that shook the world left an indelible imprint on Hayao’s fate and personality, making him an opponent of fascism and a convinced pacifist.
Hayao Miyazaki with his mother
From early childhood, held in the city of Akebono-Cho, the artist admired aircraft, which later appeared in the vast majority of his works. The boy’s father, Katsuji Miyazaki, during the war years, worked at the factory Miyazaki Airplane that produced parts for aircraft model 6M Zero.
Hayao Miyazaki (on the left) with his family
Frequent moving did not prevent the young man from getting an excellent education. In 1958, Hayao graduated from Toyotama High School and thought about entering the prestigious University of Tokyo.
Movies
Hayao decided on his career path early on. Animation interested him once and for all. As a high school student, the young man saw the animated film Legend of the White Snake. The impression from the cartoon was so strong that Miyazaki decided to devote himself to animation.
Hayao Miyazaki in his youth
The student tried a hand at creating his own manga (a Japanese comic book) but quickly ran into difficulties. First, Hayao did not know how to draw people; at one time, he came up only with sketches of planes. Secondly, comparing the drawings with the frames of the anime that inspired him, the aspiring artist realized that he copied the style of the animator in detail. The audience never saw his first work: Miyazaki burned down his own creation in horror.
In 1963, the young man was enrolled at the Gakushūin University, where he studied Politics and Economics – subjects far from the world of animation. But even during his student years, Hayao managed to gain valuable experience: throughout the years of study, he was a member of the University book club. The main object of attention of book lovers was children’s literature; the members carefully studied works of European authors.
Feature film by Hayao Miyazaki, The Secret World of Arrietty
After graduation, 22-year-old Hayao joined Toei Animation, one of the largest animation studios in Japan. Yesterday’s graduate began with the basics and quickly climbed the career ladder. In 1963, Hayao worked as a phase artist – he drew intermediate stages of the movement of the anime characters of Wan Wan Chuushingura. Two years later, in 1965, the head of the Studio noticed the young artist’s talent. The masters highly appreciated his contribution to the creation of the black-and-white cartoon Gulliver’s Travels Beyond the Moon and even allowed to change the ending of the picture.
Cartoon of Hayao Miyazaki, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Work in Toie brought the aspiring artist experience and useful connections. In the Studio Miyazaki perfected the technique under the guidance of renowned Japanese animator, Yasuji Mori, and met Isao Takahata, his future colleague, and close friend.
Despite his apparent career success, Hayao was dissatisfied with the horrible working conditions. Along with other animators and Takahata, he founded a trade union defending the interests of workers of animation studios. The riot was followed by inevitable punishment: the management of Toei took down the cartoon The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun. Hayao himself drew the storyboards, and Isao Takahata directed the animated film. The turning point came in 1971. The friends decided to change the Studio.
Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata
In the same year, Miyazaki, together with his partners, founded an independent project A-Pro, but the start of their work had to be postponed. Studio TMS Entertainment became the intermediate point for them. There, Miyazaki and Takahata worked together to continue the series Lupin the Third. In TMS, the partners worked for two years.
The next stop was a long collaboration with Nippon Animation, where Miyazaki made his debut as a director in 1978. His first job was the anime series Future Boy Conan, based on the novel The Incredible Tide.
Cartoon of Hayao Miyazaki, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
A year later, the animators changed the Studio again and returned to TMS. Already recognized animator, Miyazaki continued to direct. Finally, Hayao created his first own feature animated film, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro. The success of the film was deafening, Lupin the Third is still on the list of the best anime ever created in Japan.
Cartoon of Hayao Miyazaki, Kiki’s Delivery Service
In an interview with cult animator, he often said that he gave up manga because of dissatisfaction with the results. Fortunately for fans of the creator, the audience had a very different opinion.
In 1982, the magazine Animage began to publish manga authored by Hayao. The central character of the illustrations was a Princess living in a post-apocalyptic world and fighting for the purity of nature. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind quickly gained popularity, and the head of the publishing house Tokuma Shoten proposed the film adaptation. Miyazaki agreed, the development of the painting began immediately.
Anime by Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away
By tradition, Hayao brought Takahata to the project: Isao took over the production of the picture. Due to the tight schedule of the creator of the full-length cartoon, it appeared on the big screen in 1984. Critics reacted favorably to the film.
The success of the first tape inspired the 43-year-old director. Along with Isao Takahata and the editor of Animage, Miyazaki created the famous Studio Ghibli which gave the world the brightest masterpieces of Japanese animation. Studio Ghibli officially appeared in 1985, and a year later presented to the audience the debut project – a full-length film Castle in the Sky.
The movie trailer of Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky (1986)In 1988, came out the legendary My Neighbor Totoro. The film takes the audience to the provincial Japan of the mid-20th century, where two sisters are experiencing adventures and meet with a strange but cute spirit of the forest – Totoro. Charming spirits were loved in Japan and abroad, the characters of the anime became familiar to adults and children, and Totoro himself took pride of place on the emblem of Studio Ghibli.
Totoro revealed a bright feature of the work of the Japanese genius: the main characters in his animated films are often little girls. Brave, bold and clever little women appear in the Kiki’s Delivery Service, the Oscar-winning cartoon Spirited Away and the mystical Princess Mononoke. It is believed that Princess Mononoke brought Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli worldwide fame.
Cartoon by Hayao Miyazaki Princess Mononoke
Particularly striking success came to the picture in the United States; recognition culminated in the contract with Walt Disney, signed in 1996. According to American cartoonists, Miyazaki was determined when it came to developing a deal. The director demanded from the Studio to reproduce the cartoon precisely as it was in the original. One day, the animator sent the Americans a samurai sword, stained with red paint, and signed the parcel with the phrase: «Do not cut.»
Hayao Miyazaki was awarded an Oscar
Miyazaki continued his work. Another project was the film Spirited Away, which was released in 2001. A string of awards speaks eloquently about its success: The Japan Academy Prize, The Golden Bear, taken on Berlin festival 2002, and, finally, an Oscar, received a year later.
The main character of the picture was a little girl Chihiro, whose parents, once in a magical land, turned into pigs. To save them, their daughter gets a job from the owner of this market and wizard, Ubabe. During her stay in the magical place, Chihiro meets Haku, a dragon and a boy in one person, and also the God of Kaonashi (Faceless), an old man, Kamaji, and a girl, Rin.
Cartoon by Hayao Miyazaki Howl’s Moving Castle
In 2004, the list of triumphs joined the picture Howl’s Moving Castle, the plot of which is based on the fairy tale by British author Diana Wynne Jones. The history of its creation is quite unusual: Miyazaki agreed to complete the work of another director, Mormon Hosoda.
Alas, the ups were inevitably followed by a fall. In 2006, the Studio completed work on Tales from Earthsea, a full-length anime, a film adaptation of series of books by Ursula K. Le Guin. Miyazaki for years tried to achieve agreement on adaptation. However, his son began to work on the film began. In the process of filming the relationship between the young and the experienced director became extremely strained, and Ursula herself was disappointed with the debut work of Goro.
Cartoon by Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo
Controversial reviews of the Tales from Earthsea did not make the director leave the animation world, and in 2008 in movie theaters appeared a feature film, Ponyo. Miyazaki proved the accident of failure: the new project won two awards in Japan and two awards at the 2009 Venice film festival.
Hayao gave the world not only amazing cartoons; one of his projects was the Museum of Animation. The idea of creating the Ghibli Museum was first announced in 1998, but due to the busy schedule of the artist, the beginning of the work was repeatedly postponed.
The Museum of Studio Ghibli
The construction began only in 2000. The director himself worked on the drafts of the building. Hayao wanted the architecture of the main building to become a valuable part of the exhibition. The official opening took place on October 1, 2001. The Museum of anime studio is made in the form of a labyrinth, walking through which visitors meet the characters of their favorite movies.
After the release of Ponyo in 2008, the director took a break, which lasted six years. During this period, Miyazaki participated in the writing of scripts for two new films by Ghibli (The Secret World of Arrietty and From Up on Poppy Hill) and only in 2014 again engaged in directing.
Adoring the aircraft Hayao could not abandon the creation of the animated film The Wind Rises, the plot of which was based on the life story of Jiro Horikoshi, a famous Japanese aircraft designer, who worked on aircraft engines A6M Zero.
Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film The Wind Rises
After presenting his work at the Venice film festival in 2013, Miyazaki officially told the press about his retirement. A year later, his name was included in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. And in November 2016, the news appeared that was enthusiastically received by numerous fans: the master of anime was working on a new project.
The director worked on a short film Boro the Caterpillar. In his new work, Hayao decided to experiment with 3D technology. The premiere took place on March 2018 in the Museum of Ghibli.
Personal life
The animator willingly shares plans for new projects with the press and openly expresses his political stance, but little is known about Miyazaki’s personal life and family.
Hayao’s wife is Akemi Ōta, an employee of the animation Studio. The wedding took place when the animator was 24 years old. In marriage, the couple had two sons, Gorō Miyazaki and Keisuke Miyazaki. The eldest son continued his father’s work, and Keisuke is professionally engaged in wood carving.
Hayao Miyazaki and his wife
The creative work of Hayao Miyazaki, thanks to the many fans around the world, has become a real subculture. Wise quotes from his animated films became known to the whole world. On behalf of Hayao, there is a page on Instagram, where screencaps from the famous cartoons of the master are presented. An interesting fact is that on social media, there is a fan blog contributed to Miyazaki, where one can find food art, copying screenshots from the animated films of the director.
Hayao Miyazaki now
Hayao Miyazaki in 2018
The script was based on the plot of the book of the same name written in 1937 about the boy Junichi Honda, nicknamed Koperu in honor of the scientist Nicolaus Copernicus. The young man loses his father and is forced to move into the house of his rich uncle, where he becomes the subject of bullying from his cousins.
The works of Miyazaki’s students give hope to the admirers of anime, who want to see new masterpieces. In the spring of 2018, came out the animated picture Mary and the Witch’s Flower by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the director, who learned much from the master, working under his guidance on the creation of scenes from the films Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. The new director’s work of Hiromasa was released within the Ponoc Studio, but, according to him, the group of artists kept the approach to the creation of animation that is characteristic of the Studio Ghibli.
Legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki
Animator Makoto Shinkai is also often called «the next Hayao,» even though the artist himself says that his skills are overrated.
Filmography
Interesting facts
Quotes
You cannot change fate. However, you can rise to meet it if you so choose.
Whenever someone creates something with all of their heart, then that creation is given a soul.
Just follow your heart and keep smiling.
Inspiration opens up the future for us.
Biography
Overview (3)
Mini Bio (2)
Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan’s greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking animation in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan. The Walt Disney Company’s commitment to introduce the films to the rest of the world will let more people appreciate the high-quality works he has given the movie-going public.
Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tôkyô on January 5, 1941. He started his career in 1963 as an animator at the studio Toei Douga studio, and was subsequently involved in many early classics of Japanese animation. From the beginning, he commanded attention with his incredible drawing ability and the seemingly endless stream of movie ideas he proposed.
In addition to animation, Miyazaki also draws manga. His major work was the Nausicaä manga, an epic tale he worked on intermittently from 1982 to 1984 while he was busy making animated films. Another manga, Hikoutei Jidai, was later evolved into his 1992 film Порко Россо (1992).
— IMDb Mini Biography By: A+8
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, author, and manga artist. Through a career that has spanned five decades, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and as a maker of anime feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio. Miyazaki has been described as combining elements of Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg and Orson Welles.
In 2002, American film critic Roger Ebert suggested that Miyazaki may be the best animation filmmaker in history, praising the depth and artistry of his films. In November 2014, Miyazaki was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his impact on animation and cinema. He is the second Japanese filmmaker to win this award, after Akira Kurosawa in 1990.
Miyazaki Hayao
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Miyazaki Hayao, (born January 5, 1941, Tokyo, Japan), Japanese anime director whose lyrical and allusive works won both critical and popular acclaim.
Miyazaki’s father was the director of Miyazaki Airplane, a manufacturing concern that built parts for Zero fighter planes. The family business instilled in Miyazaki a love of flying that became apparent in virtually all of his work. After having completed studies in economics at Gakushūin University, Tokyo, in 1963, he took a position as an entry-level animator at Tōei Animation, a division of the Tōei studio and Asia’s largest producer of animation. While at Tōei, he met fellow animators Takahata Isao and Ōta Akemi. The former became a lifelong friend, collaborator, and business partner, and the latter, after a one-year courtship, became his wife. Miyazaki moved through the ranks at Tōei, working on such projects as the television series Ōkami shōnen Ken (“Wolf Boy Ken”) and Takahata’s feature directorial debut, Taiyō no ōji: Horusu no daibōken (1968; Little Norse Prince). After leaving Tōei in 1971, Miyazaki, accompanied by Takahata, continued to work for various studios throughout the 1970s. Highlights from this period included the Panda kopanda (Panda! Go Panda!) film shorts and Miyazaki’s first full-length film, Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979; Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro), an adventure story featuring the gentleman thief Lupin and his compatriots.
Miyazaki’s individual style became more apparent in Kaze no tani no Naushika ( Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind), a monthly manga (Japanese cartoon) strip he wrote for Animage magazine. The story followed Naushika, a princess and reluctant warrior, on her journey through an ecologically ravaged world. Its success inspired a film of the same name (released in 1984) and encouraged Miyazaki and Takahata to undertake a more permanent partnership arrangement. Together they launched Studio Ghibli in 1985. The following year Miyazaki’s Tenkū no shiro Rapyuta (Castle in the Sky) was released in Japan and Nausicaä was released in the United States as Warriors of the Wind. Although the original film’s impressive aerial sequences remained intact, confusing edits and poor dubbing rendered Warriors of the Wind virtually unwatchable. More than a decade would pass before Miyazaki would consider another Western release.
Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli continued to produce works for the domestic market, however. His Tonari no Totoro ( My Neighbor Totoro) debuted alongside Takahata’s Hotaru no haka (Grave of the Fireflies) in 1988. While both films were well received critically, the financial success of the studio was secured by the phenomenal sale of Totoro merchandise. Miyazaki followed with Majo no takkyūbin (1989; Kiki’s Delivery Service), the story of a young witch’s coming of age, and Kurenai no buta (1992; Porco Rosso), an adventure yarn about a World War I flying ace who has been cursed to have the face of a pig. These successes set the stage for 1997’s Mononoke-hime ( Princess Mononoke), a blockbuster that broke Japanese box-office records. The film revisited some of Miyazaki’s recurring themes, such as the conflict between human progress and natural order and the persistence of the spiritual world alongside the mundane. In addition, its depiction of kodama (Japanese tree spirits) as white humanoid creatures with clattering heads provided one of the more enduring images in anime.
Miyazaki’s Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001; Spirited Away) captured the top prize at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival, won best Asian film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and was named best animated feature at the 2003 Academy Awards. In his native Japan it won best picture at the 2002 Japanese Academy Awards and replaced Titanic as the top-grossing film in Japanese history. In the film, Chihiro, an ordinary if slightly spoiled young girl, wanders away from her parents and enters a realm of gods and magic. There, dubbed with the name Sen, she is forced to make do with her wits in an effort to reclaim her name and return to the human world.
Miyazaki followed the phenomenal success of Spirited Away with Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004; Howl’s Moving Castle), the story of a young girl cursed with the body of an old woman and the quest that leads her to a legendary moving castle; it was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006. In 2005 Disney unveiled a restored version of Nausicaä on DVD. Featuring both the original Japanese sound track as well as a new professionally recorded English dub, this release marked the first time that the film was commercially available in its original form in the United States. Gake no ue no Ponyo (2008; Ponyo) was targeted to a younger audience than were most Miyazaki films, but nevertheless it was the top Japanese box-office draw of 2008. Miyazaki later cowrote the screenplays for the Studio Ghibli releases Karigurashi no Arietti (2010; The Secret World of Arrietty), which was based on Mary Norton’s children’s book The Borrowers, and Kokurikozaka kara (2011; From Up on Poppy Hill), a coming-of-age tale adapted from a manga series. The latter film was directed by Miyazaki’s son Gorō.
Kaze tachinu (2013; The Wind Rises) was an impressionistic take on the life of engineer Horikoshi Jiro, who designed fighter planes used by the Japanese during World War II. The film was based on Miyazaki’s manga of the same name, and it was nominated for an Academy Award in 2014. Miyazaki declared that Kaze tachinu would be his last feature-length film, and he began work on Kemushi no Boro (Boro the Caterpillar), a short film for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Miyazaki’s retirement appeared to be temporary, however; in 2016 he announced that Kemushi no Boro would be expanded to a feature-length release. The film marked Miyazaki’s first project to be done entirely in computer animation. In 2015 he received an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.