The elusive Hayao Miyazaki, much to the public’s pleasant surprise, is no longer going into retirement, again, and revealed a new project he’s been working on for a while. 

By Sofia Moorefield – 11th grade.

He is the most respected director in Japan, and revered around the world. Founder of the world famous Studio Ghibli and creator of many iconic Anime series and Anime-style feature films like Castle in the Skye, Spirited away, My neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s delivery service, just to name a few, Hayao Miyazaki’s distinct style and masterful storytelling has captivated the entire world, and transformed animation. 

The master plans to direct an animated feature film based on a novel by Genzaburo Yoshino titled “How do you live?” because he “needed something in order to live, basically”. His simple reason being: “Because I wanted to.” as he said to the New York Times.

This is far from the first time Miyasaki changed his mind about retirement and was dragged back to the Ghibli world. He played with the idea way back in 1977, but he never went through with it. In 2013, he officially bowed out of filmmaking, although he still worked on several projects during that time. Unsatisfied with his new, retired life, Miyasaki decided to make a comeback in 2017.(Distractify) 

Now, he’s back, and 5 years into the production of his new movie “How do you Live?”. Studio Ghibli’s animation process is notoriously tedious since it’s all 2D and made by hand- taking an entire year to produce just 12 minutes of film. In a 2020 interview by Entertainment Weekly with Studio Ghibli’s former president, Toshio Suzuki, he said that the project was like “fantasy on a grand scale”, and announced the film should be completed in 2023. A date Ghibli fans should probably take with a grain of salt.