A look back at Hayao Miyazaki’s career and impact through his last m

!SPOILERS!

A look back at Hayao Miyazaki’s career and impact through his last movie


On the 14th of the month of July 2023, the likely possibly definitely last movie of film director and animator Hayao Miyazaki aired in Japan theaters without any promotion, after around 7 years of slow-paced production and 10 years after the previous long piece of the filmmaker that was already supposed to be his last one. Kimitachi wa dou Ikiru ka ? (君たちはどう生きるか？; “How do you live”, recently renamed for the English-speaking countries as The Boy and the Heron) takes its name from a book by Genzaburo Yoshino but, for having read it, don’t adapt a single element of its story and is restricted to a symbolic reference inside of the diegesis. Having watched every single animated movie signed Studio Ghibli and work directed by the master Miyazaki or his mentor Isao Takahata, I can pride myself of having watched this last one on the very date of its release, in a cinema in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, as well as a second time in similar conditions this August.
My goal in the following rant is not to make a critic nor analyze that piece in particular. However, the way the film is built and its position in the man’s filmography leads me to an important question that requires to discuss the qualities and flaws of the story in order to unveil. So, I’m afraid I am going to spoil a lil’bit, I’ll try to limit it.

I am going to make it quick. The 2D animation, as well as the character designs, is on point and reaches Studio Ghibli’s usual level of exigence. The music perfectly supports the images, but is less memorable than the vast majority of Joe Hisaishi’s previous compositions - there is a certain lack of a memorable theme, the main one being too subtle to be more than a support. I found that the main character has too deep of a voice for its age, but Miyazaki is known for sometimes making questionable choices when it comes to the seiyuu in OV (Hideaki Anno as Jiro in Kaze Tachinu). The story carries the topics dear to his heart, and includes fantastique as people often love in Ghibli movies, even flirting with horror in a way I didn’t dislike at all.

My issue however is about the storytelling itself. The movie seems to be built as a memorial to Hayao Miyazaki’s whole career, from Lupin III to Kaze Tachinu, as well as Studio Ghibli’s previous creations from other directors, from Neko no Ongaeshi to Karigurashi no Arietti, including some older Takahata’s ones. It works most often by references that are not direct references but more like echoes to previous movies. A shot on a kid's face lightened by the flames will echo a famous shot from Hotaru no Haka, another short from a kid going into a bush will perfectly mimic a shot from Tonari no Totoro. A wave will be animated in the recognizable typical style of Gake no Ue no Ponyo, faces of a crowd will be distorted in a creative way similar to Takahata’s gorgeous attempts in Kaguya-hime no Monogatari. The design of a character will remind us of Lady Eboshi in Mononoke Hime, while the design of little white cute creatures will remind us of the kodamas from the same movie. Her house could possibly mirror the small house from Gedo Senki, a big manor the one from Aya to Majo. A shot is a replicate from Cagliostro no Shiro, another takes a lake very similar to Hauru no Ugoku Shiro, the labyrinthic building replicates Laputa’s castle’s inside, and a big boat procession is very similar to the dead planes cemetery in Kurenai no Buta. And so on, and so on, there are actually another dozen I could mention. Never direct references, this is more like more or less obvious echoes too numerous to be a coincidence.

The most interesting thing here is that, as it is already mentioned, it is included in the story telling. The intro scene brings backs memories from Hotaru no Haka, before continuing as a somehow follow up from Kaze Tachinu, before becoming a very dark adaptation of Tonari no Totoro, then turning into Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi where they will meet characters such as a new Kiki from Majo no Takkyubin, while taking many elements from the classic Taiyou no Ouji : Horusu no Daibouken and many others from Miyazaki’s oldest inspiration, Le Roi et l’Oiseau by Paul Grimmault. The result from such a patchwork is immediate : it is the most Miyazaki movie ever, reminding of all and none.

And here’s the issue : by having plurals, Kimitachi wa dou Ikiru ka ? lacks an identity. While remembering every single Ghibli’s linked movie there is, we also at some point remember of the movies that tries to copy the Ghibli fabric with less style or less soul, movies such as Mary to Majou no Hana, (It’s not because you grew in Studio Ghibli that you should copy them) Hoshi wo ou Kodomo (which is, I’ll maintain, a better movie than most of the following Makoto Shinkai’s films, I’ll die on that hill), Birthday Wonderland (the most disappointing film that was bring to my eyes) or Gin-iro no Kami no Agito (who’s introduction is worth watching, contrary to the rest of the film). Thus, the movie can lack, more than an identity, of this famous Miyazaki’s magic, of a clear soul that would elevate the movie among the others. Maybe, time will bring that soul into it, and to be totally honest, I found a bit of that soul already in the character of the Heron. Hence, I must admit : The Boy and the Heron is an interesting exercice, especially from a director who claimed about 15 years ago that he never re-watched any of his own creations after he finished it, and a cinematic curiosity that I enjoyed, but that has troubles reaching the heights of the master’s precedent classics.

But you know what ? It just shows how impactful Hayao Miyazaki has been. Moreover, I think this movie was the best decision he could have made as a final movie, if it does ends up being it. And, more than that, the only true possibility. But to understand why, we must take a step back to a long long time ago : 1963, a year before my mother was born, omg, my mom is going to turn 60 soon, time sure flies.

1963 is also the year Hayao Miyazaki joins the Toei Douga as an In-Between animator. To make the story short, he quickly becomes a talented Key animator, meets Isao Takahata in a bus under the rain exactly like in Tonari no Totoro, meets a lot of other very talented animators and filmmakers I don’t have the space here to name, becomes a syndicalist leader, go on a strike that gets him to help Takahata make is first movie, a masterpiece that failed really hard, and then spend years flying from projects to projects. He directs a few episodes for shows here and then, especially for Lupin III, goes to Sweden and gets kicked out by Astrid Lindgren, co-directs his first almost-movie, Panda Kopanda in duo with Takahata, makes his own shows, Mirai Shounen Conan, starts and gives up Sherlock Hounds in order to spend only 6 months to create the game changing Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa, and on the ruins of the studio he killed to produce it, he, along Takahata and the brilliant mind of Toshio Suzuki, founds the infamous Studio Ghibli. He directs by himself about a masterpiece a year for about 10 years while others directs other masterpieces at about the same rhythm for about the same time, the great Yoshifumi Kondo dies, Miyazaki declares his next movie will be the last, there are 4 last Miyazaki movies, 2013 Isao Takahata dies, a new last Miyazaki movie airs, and we are nowadays 10 years later in 2023 and for once it seems likely that the new last movie, Kimitachi wa dou Ikiru ka ?, will really be the last. Here, was maybe the worst summary of Miyazaki’s career ever.

From this massive and successful production, recurring themes quickly emerge - ecology, strong women, flying machines, japanese folklore and western-style environments. And among those movies, patterns can be found, and they can, in my opinion, be divided into different categories of “type movies”.

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Post last edited by Nathan Eliot Gomes on 09.25.2023, 02:15 PM.

The first one, historically, have to be the kids anime, with a cute mascot that sells plushies, selling innocence among disasters, casting children as main characters, and generally giving very good comfortable vibes. His very first (co)directed movie, Panda Kopanda (Panda ! Go, Panda !), is basically a draft for the later Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) and Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo). About the last one, despite the animating prowess, Toshio Suzuki himself said that he doesn't like it because it is too redundant with Totoro. And this is showing how influential and important this particular movie from Miyazaki’s filmography is. Fluffy mascots were already a thing in Japan before Totoro, but it made it ten times bigger and, more importantly, it pushed it into the global international pop culture. Everyone knows what Totoro looks like nowadays, it is savagely enormous. It is no secret that Ghibli is sustainable solely thanks to merchandising sales, but although they are selling some from every franchise they own (except perhaps for obvious reasons Sanzoku no Musume Rounia), Totoro’s plushies alone are more than half of the income. It definitely holds its place in the global mass culture.

A second type of movie is the ecological fable, some darker movies in wild worlds, where a hero between nature and civilization defends a middle ground and peace for each and any side, never really succeeding to stop destruction but keeping a certain amount of hope for a better rebirth in the end. While this type is the one that didn’t have any new piece for the longest time, it's also the one with the most length of content to watch or read. It includes the filmmaker’s first solo directing project ever, Mirai Shounen Conan ([/I]Conan, Future’s Boy), which is as well its longest animated show, the movie that acted the foundation of studio Ghibli, [I]Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind), as well as the manga that it is adapted from and that he wrote for 12 years, and finally the longest movie he ever made, the longest animated movie at the time (until Haruhi Suzumiya no Shoushitsu decided to be 3 geniuses hours long), Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke). Those are not just massive pieces in terms of length, their impact is also huge. Conan inspired a generation of animators (see : Eizouken by Masaaki Yuasa). Nausicaa introduced Miyazaki to a wide audience, it is really the one movie that made the crowd remember his name, leaving a trace on a whole era’s culture (many pieces of fantasy that came after have been affected by it, for example, the Chocobos from Final Fantasy, created 3 years after the movie aired, are inspired by the mounted creatures you can see in it). Mononoke is, aside my second favorite movie of all time, in most top 100 movies of all time (especially on public’s reviews such as IMDb or Senscritique) and often rightfully cited as one of the top 10 animated movies ever created. Once again, the real importance of this movie is hard to precisely measure, from the new computer techniques for animation developed for its production to its cultural impact all over the world, from a few people attempting to replicate it and failing to many others starting to educate themselves about ecology thanks to it… It’s one of those rare films that is a milestone in a multitude of lives, that changed the worldviews of countless people, especially amongst my still young generation.

But another Hayao Miyazaki’s movie can claim that title, and it is Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away). It is simple : in every single ranking placing Mononoke Hime high, it always end up a little behind Chihiro, and when one isn’t mentioned, it’s the other, and vice-versa. This is the Japanese movie that has been the most seen in cinema in the world, just beneath the much more recent success of Kimi no Na wa (Your name.). This is still to this day the second movie the most seen in theaters of all time in Japan. It is an acclaimed masterpiece, basically with the same impact range as Mononoke but with a totally different ambiance. Indeed, Chihiro belongs to a third type of Miyazaki films, that is the shoujo type : films centered around a teenage girl that will grow from a kid to a young adult, gaining maturity while working and discovering independence, widely criticizing the capitalism at the same time. Anyone who've seen Chihiro as an adult would have spotted the consumption society’s open critics, but the other main movie of this category is talking about burnout and this overworking society, and it’s Majou no Takkyubin (Kiki’s Delivery Service). Yes, the little Chihiro and Kiki, 12 years apart from each other, face the same society, although one is more scandinavian and the other purely japanese, and grow in the same way through labor and confrontation of the life views of surrounding more or less magic people. One may see this as a secondary type, given that it features only two Miyazaki movies, but it would be missing that he scenarized Kokuriko-zaka Kara (Up On Poppy Hill, Ghibli movie directed by Goro Miyazaki, his son), Mimi wo Sumaseba (Whispers of the Heart, Ghibli movie directed by the late Yoshifumi Kondo), directed a pilot for a never aired show, Yuki no Taiyou, and made the layout (an important designing step between story-board and key-animation) for Isao Takahata’s Heidi, all those pieces he’s been very implicated in featuring girls growing and leaving childhood behind by facing work, going through depressive phases and being lost in front of various teenager’s issues. These, as well as, most likely, the rejected unachieved project of Pippi Longstocking, a canon event of Miyazaki’s life and career, can be included in this third category.

The fourth movie type is the one of the purest beautiful heroes in a vicious world, facing a somewhat manichean situation and often war, directly, but with magic and in a universe that can be described as Steampunk. Influenced by the British Isles, opposingly as the Shoujo type, here, the male protagonist is often not nearly as interesting as the world he evolves in and the characters he meets. It includes at first Sherlock Hounds, in England, where the ambiguous detective is replaced by a good and noble dog, and the set of side characters, the originality of the situations and the original foreign conception of England are what moderately saves the show. Then, Tenkuu no Shiro, Laputa (Castle in the Sky) features the perfect boy Pazu rescuing a princess and destroying a dangerous war power in the doing, the whole thing being inspired by a mine workers’ strike in Wales. And finally, Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Owl’s Moving Castle) is from an Irish book from whom it basically kept only the Irish inspiration, showing the most steampunk building ever and a (despicable) knightly hero everyone loves solely because he’s handsome. Seriously, not me judging your awful tastes in men, but-... Those three films are variations of a same fight, good versus evil, beauty against chaos, the war of the powerful few and the peace of the meaningful plenty. All that in a British Victorian landscape with dirty coal, creative (flying) machines and modern creatures - living robots, suited scarecrow or burning speaking flame.

Finally, the fifth type is the one I call the Personal Category : movies where Miyazaki portrays himself by discussing our current world. Often pretty geopolitical, they are considered by the critics as “personal letters” from the author. Jiro in Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) is both his father and himself, while exploring his trauma with his mother sickness and talking about a dangerous pre-war Japanese politics background while being openly anti-military at a time where re-militarizing Japan was seriously considered and heated debate in the Archipelago. The Wind Rises is who Hayao Miyazaki was in his early 70’s. Toshio Suzuki said about Kurenai no Buta (Porco Rosso) that “when you see Marco, what you really are watching is Miya-san”, while the movie was produced at the fall of the USSR and Yugoslav Wars and became is a metaphorical comment about the situation : a young american actor aiming to become president in a blue plane fighting a disappearing aging pig in a red plane that says “better a pig than a fascist” and started to refuse to kill and join new wars. Porco Rosso is who Hayao Miyazaki was in his early 50’s. Lupin III : Cagliostro no Shiro (The Castle of Calgiostro) has immediately been seen when it aired as a weirdly personal movie for a command film linked to a popular show, and while it is very limited due to its nature of movie derived from a show derived from a manga, it remains the first full solo-directed movie of Miyazaki, a movie he put everything he was in because, by then, he acknowledgedly believed it would be his only one. According to him, it’s when he dedicated his time to this movie that he started to be a less good father to Goro, and give less time to his family. Also, the Count Cagliostro in the movie is in the middle of political shady business in a country that truly seems like a Balkans dictatorship. The Castle of Cagliostro is who Hayao Miyazaki was in his late 30’s. Those three films are the same process at different times of his life, a simple formula : “me + geopolitical analysis + cool planes”. Note how there’s an early-career movie, a middle-career one, and a late-career one. Note how the 3 are one step further in the representation of planes as a central subject and being overly mechanic-nerd’s movies. Note as well how all those films happened, rare decision for him, in a clear period of time, especially between the end of WW1 and the beginning of WW2, periods defined by how close those wars are or will be. Note finally how it would have been perfect to finish everything on Kaze Tachinu. However, Hayao Miyazaki decided to make another film, and here’s where we come back to it : what was there still to say leading to Kimitachi wa dou Ikiru ka ?

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Let’s think about it for a minute : your career is wrapped up, you famously said that it was a mistake, but you are acclaimed, don’t really understand why, should rest, but you feel like you want to do yet another one just because you don’t know what else to do. What do you do ? You can’t do “just a movie”. You made a few attempts but made the best ecological fables you can think of. You wrote a lot for this sake, and ended up doing a perfect unbeatable fantasy shoujo. You’ve done everything you could with the british steampunk heroes. You’ve tried to do even better with mascot movies, but you couldn’t succeed more than with the gigantic Totoro. And finally, you’ve delivered the ultimate politically controversial plane nerd’s introspection letter. What more to do ? Two possibilities : something completely new, different. Almost impossible, to be honest, at this age with this path, everything will loop back to something already done. Or, you search in your skull, doing so, rewatching for the first time your own and your friend’s achievements, and see what you could have done better. And just like this, Miyazaki ends up making an enormous, honest, tribute to his and his friends artistic lives. It made a weird unbalanced creation, but the best one on a wider scale. The Boy and the Heron highlights how diverse, strong, consistent in its quality, influential, and important for today's global and Japanese culture, and unique, and huge, and loved, and fascinating is Hayao Miyazaki. He’s cited as an inspiration from Wes Anderson to Guillermo del Toro, from Mamoru Hosoda to Steven Spielberg, from Zelda no Densetsu to Ori and the Blind Forest. My whole generation watched at least one of his movies. Most likely loved it too. Anime is the ultimate modern Japanese pop-culture, and Hayao Miyazaki is its godfather. He’s probably the current most influential ambassador of Japan as a nation. Kimitachi wa dou Ikiru ka? is not the greatest Miyazaki movie, but it is an interesting epilogue that we must see as it is : a miraculous bonus to an outstanding, breathtaking career.



Sources (sorry, plenty are in French):

Books :
Mimi wo Sumaseba - Studio Ghibli Storyboard Collection Vol. 10, Yoshifumi Kondo & Hayao Miyazaki
The Art of Princess Mononoke, Tokuma Shoten, Hayao Miyazaki
Hommage au Studio Ghibli - les Artisans du Rêve (2017), Ynnis Edition
Hommage à Hayao Miyazaki - un Coeur à l’Ouvrage, Ynnis Edition, Stéphanie Chaptal
Hommage à Isao Takahata - de Heidi à Ghibli, Ynnis Edition, Stéphanie Chaptal
Hayao Miyazaki, Nuances d’une Oeuvre, Vivian Amalric & Victor Lopez
100 Films d’Animation Japonais, Ynnis Edition & Animeland

Documentaries :
10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki, NHK (that’s a must watch)
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, Mami Sunada
Never Ending Man : Hayao Miyazaki, Kaku Arakawa
Journey of the Heart, Hayao Miyazaki
Kurenai no Buta DVD Bonus
Omoide Poro Poro DVD Bonus

Youtube :
La Face Cachée de Miyazaki, Benjamin “Bolchegeek” Patinaud
Hayao Miyazaki : the Mind of a Master, Any-mation
L’Europe de Miyazaki, M. Bobine
The Immersive Realism of Studio Ghibli, Asher Ishbrucker
Les Plus Beaux Lieux de Porco-Rosso, Lapeint
Le Temps des Cerises - Les Réflexions Stupides, Arcades
La Face Cachée de Princesse Mononoké, Laurent Turcot from L’Histoire nous le dira
And basically the entire youtube channel of STEVEM, especially the video essay The Miyazaki Problem

Wikipedia :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_and_the_Heron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ghibli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki

Bonus : - Ghibli Museum

__________________
anything ? --> nathan.gomes56@orange.fr

First of all, Nathan, Welcome to the Tavern!

Hahaha, so many people have signed up as 'Members', but then never posted anything...!

But, Nathan, YOU had a lot to say...

Thank you for your comments and links... Unfortunately I won't be able to read some of the links... "Parle Vous France? Non!"
But maybe I will find an English link...

I left Canada at age 6 and so never learned but a few words of French... My Mother told me, when I was a kid, that I did speak French...? But it was kinda hard to make complete sentences with just 'Chevrolet coupe' and 'Buick sedan'.

Again, Welcome to the Tavern...

__________________

Hey there!

Very interesting! I didn't read absolutely everything, since I'd prefer to avoid hearing too many details about the new film, but what I did read was great. It chimes with some of what I have heard people say too, about the new film having direct referenced to many other Ghibli works. I'll be interested to see for myself how that all plays out. Another intriguing thing is that according to reports, Miyazaki is still considering directing another film - and with the recent NTV takeover, it might be easier to make that happen. So what could he do after a film like this one?

Another thing I want to comment on is your "types" for his works. I've also often thought about his stuff falling into a number of categories, and some of it matches up quite well with yours. I think your third category, though, is what I would call his "adventure" stories. Especially in his early career, you can see the influence of early science fiction (authors like Jules Verne - at one point, Laputa was inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and the kind of historical action stories with charming rogues. I'd put Lupin III in there too, definitely, and I think Conan and Porco Rosso kind of fit the bill as well. This type follows on from some of the projects he worked on near the beginning, like Puss n Boots and Animal Treasure Island. And from what I know of the abandoned 80s projects, he had more of that sort of thing in mind. So in my opinion, that's a category I'd definitely include.

And a minor point - the author of Howl's Moving Castle was English, and the character Howl is from Wales (and that's also where Miyazaki went to get location ideas for Laputa). I think you got a bit mixed up there.

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quote:

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Originally posted by husky51
First of all, Nathan, Welcome to the Tavern!

Hahaha, so many people have signed up as 'Members', but then never posted anything...!

But, Nathan, YOU had a lot to say...

Thank you for your comments and links... Unfortunately I won't be able to read some of the links... "Parle Vous France? Non!"
But maybe I will find an English link...

I left Canada at age 6 and so never learned but a few words of French... My Mother told me, when I was a kid, that I did speak French...? But it was kinda hard to make complete sentences with just 'Chevrolet coupe' and 'Buick sedan'.

Again, Welcome to the Tavern...

---

__________________
anything ? --> nathan.gomes56@orange.fr

quote:

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Originally posted by arren18
Hey there!

Very interesting! I didn't read absolutely everything, since I'd prefer to avoid hearing too many details about the new film, but what I did read was great. It chimes with some of what I have heard people say too, about the new film having direct referenced to many other Ghibli works. I'll be interested to see for myself how that all plays out. Another intriguing thing is that according to reports, Miyazaki is still considering directing another film - and with the recent NTV takeover, it might be easier to make that happen. So what could he do after a film like this one?

Another thing I want to comment on is your "types" for his works. I've also often thought about his stuff falling into a number of categories, and some of it matches up quite well with yours. I think your third category, though, is what I would call his "adventure" stories. Especially in his early career, you can see the influence of early science fiction (authors like Jules Verne - at one point, Laputa was inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and the kind of historical action stories with charming rogues. I'd put Lupin III in there too, definitely, and I think Conan and Porco Rosso kind of fit the bill as well. This type follows on from some of the projects he worked on near the beginning, like Puss n Boots and Animal Treasure Island. And from what I know of the abandoned 80s projects, he had more of that sort of thing in mind. So in my opinion, that's a category I'd definitely include.

And a minor point - the author of Howl's Moving Castle was English, and the character Howl is from Wales (and that's also where Miyazaki went to get location ideas for Laputa). I think you got a bit mixed up there.

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__________________
anything ? --> nathan.gomes56@orange.fr

quote:

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Originally posted by Nathan Eliot Gomes
Thank you for the warm welcome !
I'm glad of the reactions here, I guess posting into a forum is a bit intimidating ~

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I can see how you would think that, but I feel like it's a bit of a shame! I remember forums being a nice easy way to join in and have fun without needing to know anyone first, but I guess things have changed (not that I'm THAT old, lol). Anyway, you certainly don't need to feel shy to take part in anything on here.

quote:

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Originally posted by Nathan Eliot Gomes
Those types aren't closed and fixed entity, some pieces, especially some of the early works, can be both one and another. For example, Holw's Moving Castle is very similar to Kiki and Chihiro once you focus on Sophie instead of the World Building.

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I definitely agree that there's a lot of overlap between the different types. Even though most of them have a category that they fit into quite well, they usually have shared features too - and especially in the early days some of the character designs basically got recycled.

It's really interesting to think of what he might do next, and whether he'll actually be the director or not. Another idea I've thought about a bit is that way back in the 70s, Miyazaki and Takahata diverged in the way they did things and told stories, but with The Wind Rises and what I've heard about The Boy and the Heron, I wonder if in his old age he's come around to Takahata's approach after all. And if that's the case, maybe he would consider doing something more experimental in the future.

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quote:

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quote:
Originally posted by Nathan Eliot Gomes
Thank you for the warm welcome !
I'm glad of the reactions here, I guess posting into a forum is a bit intimidating ~

I can see how you would think that, but I feel like it's a bit of a shame! I remember forums being a nice easy way to join in and have fun without needing to know anyone first, but I guess things have changed (not that I'm THAT old, lol). Anyway, you certainly don't need to feel shy to take part in anything on here.

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__________________
anything ? --> nathan.gomes56@orange.fr

When I said they diverged, what I was mainly thinking about was how early on, they worked together on various projects in a few different genres, but around the time of Anne of Green Gables, Miyazaki went off to do his own thing. His own projects were more about action and adventure, while Takahata continued doing more realistic and dramatic works, and I don't think they worked together many times after that. "Human-centred" is a pretty good way to describe Takahata's style, and maybe that's a direction Miyazaki has moved in a little bit recently.

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