Hayao Miyazaki & Studio Ghibli

I like films as much as the average person. I’ve even started going to the cinema fairly regularly (Orange Wednesdays, wahoo!). But I’m not the kind of person who knows anything about directors or producers of films, I only just about know the names of the actors. And only sometimes, because chances are I’ve probably not seen all the famous films they’ve been in. I won’t go into all the classic films that I’ve never seen…

I appreciate the title or credits sequences and the film posters, because I’m a graphic designer and that’s what I know how to appreciate. But something I really admire, and have no concept of just how complicated and time-consuming creating it is, is animation. But while I think Pixar is great at what it does, I don’t feel the same love for it as I do towards Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

Earlier in the week it was announced that Hayao Miyazaki – one of the founders, directors, animators and general face of Studio Ghibli – is going to retire from the film business.

“Miyazaki, 72, is one of the most celebrated figures in animated film-making, with iconic movies such as 1997's Princess Mononoke, 2001's Oscar-winning Spirited Away and 2004's Howl's Moving Castle in his canon. With Isao Takahata, he co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985. The company has produced 18 feature films, with several taking the top spot at the Japanese box office for their respective years of release.

Miyazaki, who won a lifetime achievement award from the Venice film festival in 2005, previously retired following the international success of Princess Mononoke, but returned to direct Spirited Away four years later and then stepped in to take charge of Howl's Moving Castle when original director Mamoru Hosoda unexpectedly quit the production. The Wind Rises, his 11th feature-length film, is a fictionalised biography of Jiro Horikoshi, who designed Japanese fighter planes during the second world war.” – the guardian

He will be missed but, of course, he is not the only person who creates the amazing Ghibli films. The studio will continue without him and I’m sure the future films will be just as excellent as all those that have come before.

Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away