Artefact 4 – PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA – Miyazaki’s ‘Ponyo’ tops anime awards

Read this article on Variety Asia.

Artefact 3 – Goro Miyazaki’s Tales from Earthsea (2006)

TALES FROM EARTHSEA aka GEDO SENKI (Japan, 2006), the directorial debut of Goro Miyazaki, the son of Hayao Miyazaki, created a lot of controversy in the Japanese media, not because of the film itself, but due to the dispute of the father and son, the reason being that Hiyao Miyazaki felt his son is not ready yet to direct.

TALES FROM EARTHSEA is loosely based on a combination of plots and characters from the first, third, and fourth books of the Earthsea-series by Ursula K. Le Guin. It it is very well-known that Hayao Miayazaki kept Le Guin’s novels for years on his bedside table and even requested Le Guin several times to authorize him to turn them into a film. That time Le Guin was not familiar with Miyazaki’s work and kept refusing. As she came to know his work many years later, she offered him the rights, but that time Miyazaki was busy directing HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE. So we can see that this topic is a highly emotional one for Hiyao Miyazaki and we can understand him being irritated that his son took up the sujet for his debut.

Artefact 2 – Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1979) – Hiyao Miyazaki’s Directorial Feature Film Debut

In the Miyazaki-Lassetter-Video-Letter we come across a scene in which Pixar Vice-President John Lassetter describes the time when Miyazaki first showed him LUPIN III aka RUPAN SANSEI: KARIOSUTORO NO SHIRO and how thrilled he was when he saw it. He felt this is exactly what had to be done and what he wanted to do too: Animation as entertainment not just for children, but for everybody. It also shows the European comic-tradition which influenced Miyazaki strongly and the way Japanese animators used to adapt French graphic novels for an European market.

According to Lassetter nobody directs action better than Miyazaki and this 1979-film is so packed with car chases, fist fights and an enthrilling story that it proves this point quite well. Lupin III is the grand-son of Maurice Leblanc‘s fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Conan Doyle‘s creation Sherlock Holmes. Lupin III has been the hero of various films and a TV series on which Miyazaki worked before directing this film.

Artefact 1 – The Lassetter-Miyazaki-Video Letter (2002)

Long live Toshio Suzuki!!!

Who is Toshio Suzuki? That he is the producer behind Studio Ghibli-classics like PRINCESS MONONOKE, SPIRITED AWAY and HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE is a  fact commonly known to animation fans. Less known is the mysterious video letter titled “Thank You, Lassetter-san!!”, released in – I believe – Japan only, which is credited to him as well.

This video letter captures the visit of Hiyao Miyazaki and team to North America attending the premiere of SPIRITED AWAY in several cities in US and Canada in September 2002. While the guests from Japan visit the Disney and Pixar Studios as well as Lassetter’s home and other locations, we become witness to the unique friendship between John Lassetter and Hiyao Miyazaki which seems to have had a very significant role for both Disney/Pixar as well as Studio Ghibli.

The most inspiring about this letter is to see Lassetter’s as well as Miyazaki’s sheer enthusiasm for their own and each other’s work. It is obvious that they both have remained very much children inside although the size of the sandbox has slightly grown. This enthused madness and reference for each other’s insanity is what makes this small film so thoroughly enjoyable. This guys just looooooove what they do.