67 Comments »   posted in Anime, Herman's Hermits

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Hayao Miyazaki, who has been known to often take a negative tone about the animation industry and society in general, recently tweeted that he gets the feeling that the Japanese animation industry is “done for,” and as evidence, cited the emergence of women animators. Here’s what he said in Japanese:

They say it’s over for animation in Japan. When we look for new hires only women respond, and I get the feeling that we’re done for. In our last hurrah we borrow from outside staff (i.e. outsource), but soon we won’t be able to do that forever.

The tweet would seem to indicate that he somehow correlates the end of Japanese animation with women employees, but that may not be the case. Blogger Anne Ishii asked him to clarify and he responded with a five-part tweet, that perhaps made things a little better but also confused the issue further with some tangent about women bus drivers. The ambiguity may partly be due to translation issues and partly because Twitter is an awful forum for having meaningful discussions of any kind.

Considering that Miyazaki is arguably the most successful feature animation director of all time, his comments are worthy of discussion, and I, for one, am curious to hear him explain further what he meant when he said, “I think it would be great to see a female animation director, but as far as Ghibli’s concerned, I can’t think of a single one for us.” To read Miyazaki’s entire commentary, go to the Hooded Utilitarian blog. If you’re familiar with Japanese society and have a different understanding of what he’s saying, please share your thoughts.

63 Comments »   posted in Anime, Ideas/Commentary, Hayao Miyazaki, Japan

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GKids acquires 13 Ghibli films; Miyazaki in Lego

September 8, 2011 2:00 am

In an odd new twist for the Studio Ghibli film library, Daily Variety is reporting that U.S. distributor GKids (The Secret of Kells) has acquired the U.S. theatrical and non-theatrical rights to thirteen Ghibli films – including Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away. Disney will retain the home video rights. Gkids is planning to distribute a series of Miyazaki film festivals to theatres nationwide.

Disney must have felt they no longer needed the theatrical rights. It’ll interesting to see how GKids will fare with these films – that company is certainly emerging as a leader in distributing worthy international animated features.

Meanwhile, I just caught up with these incredible Lego sculptures by Iain Heath. Heath’s tribute to the master animator Hayao Miyazaki was unveiled last year at Seattle’s BrickCon where it received the “Big in Japan – Best Overall” award. Check out his entire Miyazakitopia on Flickr. These two (below) are my favorites:

13 Comments »   posted in Anime, Hayao Miyazaki, Lego

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Forthcoming Anime

August 3, 2011 1:00 am

Momo E No Tegami (A Letter To Momo) from director Hiroyuki Okiura (Jin-Roh) will open in Japan during next spring’s Golden Week holidays. Okiura spent seven years planning, writing, storyboarding, and directing the film. Masashi Ando (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) is overseeing the animation process. Among the animators on the team are Toshiyuki Inoue (Akira), Ei Inoue (The Cat Returns), Takeshi Honda (Evangelion 2:0), Tetsuya Nishio (Ghost In the Shell 2), and Hiroyuki Aoyama (Summer Wars). Hiroshi Ohno (Kiki’s Delivery Service) is serving as art director.

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Here’s a second, longer trailer from Studio Ghibli’s From Up On Poppy Hill, which opened in Japan on July 16th. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki’s son Goro (Tales from Earthsea).

(Thanks, Ben Price)

10 Comments »   posted in Anime, A Letter To Momo, Goro Miyazaki, Hiroyuki Okiura

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Studio Ghibli’s “From Up On Poppy Hill” teaser

July 7, 2011 5:30 pm

Here’s a strangely abrupt teaser trailer for Studio Ghibli’s newest film, From Up on Poppy Hill (Kokurikozaka kara). It’s based on the 1980 two-volume manga of the same name written by Tetsurō Sayama and drawn by Chizuru Takahashi. The film is a collaboration between Gorō Miyazaki (Tales from Earthsea), who directed it and his father, Hayao Miyazaki, who wrote the screenplay.

(Thanks, Ben Price)

47 Comments »   posted in Anime, Hayao Miyazaki

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Studio Ghibli’s “Arrietty” trailer in English

July 1, 2011 8:30 pm

While we in the U.S. await word of a domestic release of Studio Ghibli’s latest film, an international trailer of an English dub has made its way to the internet. This UK release has Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, Atonement) in the lead. Disney’s later English dub will feature Carol Burnett, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett and Bridget Mendler (Lemonade Mouth) as Arrietty.

53 Comments »   posted in Anime, Arrietty

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“Tatsumi” trailer

June 7, 2011 10:30 am

Here’s the intriguing trailer for a new animated documentary celebrating the life of Japanese comic artist, Yoshihiro Tatsumi. A disciple of Osamu Tezuka, Tatsumi established an alternative style of comics called Gegika. Tatsumi was screened recently at the Cannes Film Festival and is presently seeking U.S. distribution.

UPDATE: Singapore has now qualified this film with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s as its official entry in the Best Foreign Language category.

9 Comments »   posted in Anime, manga

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