The World of Hayao Miyazaki

They call him the Disney of Japanese animation. Perhaps they mean this as a compliment. Indeed both men are known for creating great works of art – visually stunning and unforgettable moving pictures. Yet none of Disney’s animated features, expect perhaps Fantasia, display the same complexity as any of Miyazaki’s works.

While he was a relatively unknown in the US until the release of his Princess Mononoke, he had been one of Japan’s biggest animators for over two decades. In fact, Miyazaki is a passionate filmmaker whose films have enjoyed both box-office success and critical acclaim. He is one of the most respected animators of his time.

Miyazaki first gained recognition with his second film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984), an eco-adventure set in the future, adapted from his manga of the same name. The film tells the story of Princess Nausicaa’s struggle to keep the world from eating itself up in chaos and war.

After Nausicaa, he formed Studio Ghibli. Under the Studio Ghibli label, he made critically successful films such as Castle in the Sky, about two kids in search of a floating castle, My Neighbor Totoro, telling the story of two sisters who meet a magical being named “Totoro”, and Kiki’s Delivery Service, about a young witch in training.

In 1992, Miyazaki departed from his usual formula by creating an adult male character in the feature-length animation Porco Rosso. It’s about the adventures of a pig-faced aviator. 1997’s Princess Mononoke is a return of Miyazaki to a theme close to his heart, the ecological and the political. The story revolves around the conflict between the forest spirits and humanity.

In Japan, the film became the highest grossing film of all time, until the success of Titanic surpassed it in the box-office. It won Best Picture at the Japanese Academy Awards, the English dubbed version having been written by New York bestseller Neil Gaiman.

In 2001, Miyazaki came out of retirement to direct Spirited Away, which broke the attendance and box office records previously set by Titanic. It won Best Picture at the 2001 Japanese Academy Awards, and the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

The 55-year old director continues to break box-office records with his most recent film, Howl’s Moving Castle, a film adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ novel of the same title.

You will find that some of Miyazaki’s characters, mostly the female lead characters, visually look alike, as if they’re real-life actors and actresses appearing in his various films. Miyazaki also has a very distinctive visual style in his movies, with his films containing visual elements of flight.

Almost all of these films feature strong girls as lead characters and have no traditional villain. There is no such thing as “good” or “bad” characters in a Miyazaki film. Each character struggles in what he or she thinks is the right path. In Miyazaki’s world, no one wants to run the world, everyone just want to live.

My favorite of the Miyazaki catalogue has always been Nausicaa. I watched it when I was a kid and it transformed me. Unlike most Disney films, Miyazaki’s movies do not dumb down to kids. In fact, they rely heavily on a kid’s ability to understand undercurrents and nuances; almost all his films are 2 hours long as well. Each film is complex and uncompromising in its viewpoint.

So, yeah. To compare Miyazaki with Disney is like comparing NBA with the Special Olympics. They may be both be about sports but they are not in the same league.