Hayao Miyazaki is a famous Japanese director who is known for creating enthralling animated movies. These films have earned international recognition among both critics and the audience. Miyazaki was born on January 5, 1941, in Tokyo, Japan.
The famous director's unique style of animation first showed when he became a beginner animator at Toei Animation in 1963, one of the world's largest producers of cartoons. But before he took a job at Toei and started his career in animated films, Miyazaki completed an economics degree at Gakushuin University, Tokyo. At Toei Animation, he met his future wife Ôta Akemi, and his best friend and prospective business partner at Studio Ghibli, Takahata Isao. At the company, Miyazaki moved through the ranks, eventually becoming a big part of projects like Little Norse Prince (1968, Takahata Isao's debut in animation) and Wolf Boy Ken.
The future producer of fantastic movies like Princess Mononoke would leave Toei Animation with Takahata in 1971. The friends worked with several animation studios for a while, producing critically acclaimed movies like "Panda! Go Panda", which was a series of short films, and "Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro." Miyazaki also created monthly mangas (Japanese comics) for the local journals. One of them was called Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley Of the Wind). The story followed a young warrior and princess into a dystopian reality, where humans have obliterated the environment. Naushika, the monthly manga strip, became so popular with the readers that it has motivated Miyazaki and Takahato to create a movie! The anime had the same name and characters and was released in 1985. To the duo's surprise, the film did so well that it has prompted the men to group their efforts and become official business partners. The partners formed an animation company with the name Studio Ghibli.
The name of the studio came from Miyazaki's love for airplanes. To be precise, the name came from one of Gianni Caproni's war aircraft, the full form of which is: "Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli". The word ghibli itself comes from the Italian noun ghibli and means "hot desert winds." It isn't a very well-known fact, but the director's dad, Katsuji Miyazaki, was an aeronautical engineer. He helped Jiro Horikoshi build the Zero planes. I guess you could say that Hayao took inspiration for "The Wind Rises," both the manga and the movie, from his own family!
Although Naushika was a success in Japan, in the home market, the low quality of sound and translation made the film unbearable to watch in the West. This prompted Miyazaki to throw away the idea of releasing another movie to the Western audience for over a decade.
Studio Ghibli released several other extremely successful movies, such as Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbour Totoro, Porco Rosso, and Princess Mononoke. Princess Mononoke (or Mononoke-hime) broke all box office records in Japan at the time. The film discusses some of the themes that were already introduced in other Studio Ghibli movies. These critical topics include humans against the environment, Japan's cultural heritage, and the existence of the spiritual world alongside our ordinary world. Princess Mononoke is about humans and nature, fighting and trying to find a necessary balance.
Studio Ghibli's first international breakthrough came with their 2002 movie called "Spirited Away." It has won multiple Academy Awards domestically and internationally, broke the box office records in Japan (still standing first as of 2020!), and was a phenomenal success overall. You can read our Spirited Away review by clicking here! The story follows an ordinary 10-year-old girl Chihiro Ogino into the realm of magic, gods, and spirits. In this world, she must use her brainpower to escape and save her parents!
Following the massive success of Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki created Howl's Moving Castle in 2004, a film about a young woman. The lady got cursed with an old body but must find the cure for her curse, which leads her to Howl's magical castle. The anime earned Studio Ghibli an Academy Award in 2006.
The last film Miyazaki has made so far was The Wind Rises, in 2013. It is unknown whether the prominent Japanese producer will be returning to work on another movie. Many people know that Miyazaki doesn't want his son Goro to follow his father's footsteps. And truth to be told, Goro hasn't expressed much interest in taking over the studio either! But other fans and I will be waiting.