Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, Miyazaki Hayao, born January 5, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan) is a prominent filmmaker of many popular animated feature films. He is also the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company.

He remained largely unknown to the West, outside of animation communities, until Miramax released his 1997 Princess Mononoke. By that time, his films had already enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan and Central Asia. For instance, Princess Mononoke was the highest-grossing film in Japan until Titanic (1997) came out a few months later, and the first animated film to win Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards. His later film, Spirited Away, had that distinction as well, and was the first anime film to win an Academy Award. Howl's Moving Castle was also nominated but did not receive the award.

Miyazaki's films often incorporate recurrent themes, such as humanity's relationship to nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. Reflecting Miyazaki's feminism, the protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women; the villains, when present, are often morally ambiguous characters with redeeming qualities. For instance Lady Eboshi as the leader of Iron Town in Princess Mononoke may seem evil to others, but she is just trying to save her people and strengthen her town.

In charactactures he sometimes draws himself as a pig. Miyazaki is a huge fan of flight and inter-war period airplanes. The film Porco Rosso combines both of these elements; starring a pig (who was once a man) as a renegade pilot flying around the Adriatic.

Miyazaki's films have generally been very financially successful (Kiki's Delivery Serice, My Neighbour Totoro, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke were the highest grossing films in each of their years of relase in Japan and most of Asia) , and this success has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney or John Lassester's Pixar. In 2006, Time Magazine voted Miyazaki one of the most influential Asians of the past 60 years.[1]

Anime directed by Miyazaki that have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award have been Nausicaä the Valley of the Wind in 1984, Castle in the Sky in 1986, My Neighbor Totoro in 1988, and Kiki's Delivery Service in 1989. In the 70s he worked on several TV series including Heidi of the Aples, and directed a TV series Future Boy Conan. His first feature film was The Castle Of Cagliostro - one of the Lupin series of films. However it was with the release of Nausicaa Valley Of The Wind (the film version of his seminal manga) that he acheived his first major hit.

One reason for the lack of awareness of his films in the 80s and early 90s was the poor treatment Nausicaa had received as a VHS in the UK/US where it was cut for time by over 25 minutes from it's original 2 hour running time. The result was that for a long time Miyazaki was hesitant about doing overseas deals. Only as the buzz increased around the making/release of Princess Mononoke did Disney and it's parent company Benua Vista reach a deal to distribute the studios films to the west. To Harvey Weinstein, the head of Miramax who was handling the release of Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki sent him a samurai sword as a gift with a note attached "no cuts!"



What members say | Filmography

Hayao Miyazaki - what members say

Hayao Miyazaki - filmography

5 most recent films

Ponyo - 3.5 stars
Ponyo - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
Howl's Moving Castle - Blu-ray - 4.5 stars
Howl's Moving Castle - 4.0 stars
Lupin The Third - The Pursuit Of Harimao - 3.0 stars

5 highest-rated films

Howl's Moving Castle - Blu-ray - 4.5 stars
Laputa - Castle In The Sky - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
My Neighbour Totoro - 4.0 stars
Nausicaa Valley Of The Wind - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
Howl's Moving Castle - 4.0 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Sherlock Hound - 3.5 stars
Lupin The Third - The Pursuit Of Harimao - 3.0 stars
The Castle Of Cagliostro - 3.5 stars
Kiki's Delivery Service - 3.5 stars
Porco Rosso - 3.5 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Akihiro Miwa - 5 times - show films
Akio Ohtsuka - 5 times - show films
Takuya Kimura - 4 times - show films
Sumi Shimamoto - 4 times - show films
Chieko Baisho - 4 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Masaaki Ôsumi - 1 times - show films
Masaaki Ôsumi - 1 times - show films