The Genius Storytelling of Hayao Miyazaki

Birth of a Legend

Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo in 1941. Because of Japan’s state during the war at the time of his birth and early childhood, much of his first memories were of evacuations and “bombed-out cities.” Though his father [name] enjoyed purchasing and displaying art, he didn’t have much knowledge about painting, so Miyazaki’s early interest in animation is quite interesting. It was possible that came from his mother who he was closest with, though she passed away from spinal tuberculosis later in Miyazaki’s life.

Early Career

Miyazaki graduated from Gakushuin University with a political science and economics degree, but he eventually found a job at Toei Animation. He stayed there for most of his early career, taking part in animating feature anime movies and slowly moving up the ranks. After leaving the company, his individual style began to develop shine through in manga strips he wrote for magazines.

Studio Ghibli

While he is a great illustrator and manga artist, Miyazaki is most known for his phenomenal and unique storytelling that he finally got to showcase through Studio Ghibli. The success of Nausicaa of the Valley inspired the creation of the infamous studio in 1985 and was later animated into a film produced by the company. Today, he has animated films include My Neighbour Totoro, Castle in the Sky, and Ponyo, and are all internationally recognized for their unique perspectives and mesmerizing music score.

Miyazaki’s voice shines brightly through his work. While all of his films have an absolutely captivating storyline, they all have underlying themes of environmental consciousness and conservation. As someone who has grown up with his films, they give me a nostalgic feeling of childhood innocence that I don’t seem to get with anything else. The serene qualities and accompanying music add a very nice touch and complete his works.

**My Neighbour Totoro Sketch** This is a sketch of the character Mei riding the Cat Bus in one of his signature movies titled My Neighbour Totoro. I have not looked into Miyazaki’s sketches until doing research for the blog, but I find it very interesting how little changes he made from these sketches to the final movie in terms of character design, atmosphere, etc. Fun fact: Totoro, the main character of the film (not shown) became the so-called mascot or logo for Studio Ghibli and can be seen in the opening credits of all of their movies!

**Ponyo Poster** This whimsical film features the adventures and discoveries of Ponyo, a fish princess, when she was discovered by a boy named Sosuke. She learns about the human world and provides such an innocent and child-like perspective, making me appreciate the little things in life just a bit more.

Spirited Away

Spirited Away is possibly my favourite movie of all time. I remember watching it as a child and being confused and rather scared, as there was a specific scene where the main character’s parents turned into pigs. Though obviously, I grew very fond of the film as I learned to appreciate the beauty of not only the animation, but also all other aspects of the movie. His mystical concepts are truly out of this world and balance just the right amount of fantasy and reality.

**Spirited Away Movie Still** This shot came from a scene in the movie featuring the main character, Chihiro, on the left and No Face on the right. No Face is a character that can produce gold from his hands to lure and eat creatures tempted by it. Maybe you can see how it can be quite haunting for children to watch some scenes in this move despite it being animated.

**Chihiro and Haku** Haku, the dragon and river God, is a friend in the film that helps Chihiro navigate this new and fantastical world that she gets herself into. Haku helps Chihiro to reunite with her parents and Chihiro aided Haku in remembering his lost memories in return.

I recognize that this blog post is mostly commentary on his life and films rather than specific illustration works. Despite that, I think that Miyazaki’s art was the perfect vehicle for him to grace us with his incredible talents, which, in a way, is precisely what being an artist is all about.

Happy holidays and happy almost retirement Jeff!

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Miyazaki-Hayao
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki#Early_career
https://wherecreativityworks.com/illustrator-study-hayao-miyazaki/

One thought on “The Genius Storytelling of Hayao Miyazaki”

Jeff Burgess 12/16/20219:53 pm Reply

Samantha,
Hey your final post on Miyazaki is excellent! I do understand that he’s not a fine artist but in this case I’ll make an exception. I also love the film Spirited Away and own a DVD copy myself. A wonderful and disturbing piece of work. Your enthusiasm really shines through in your writing. You get a 2/2 for this last post. Also your score on the final quiz was 46/50 so very well done! Enjoy your holiday break and thanks for the retirement wish.
Jeff