criterionforum.org

Hayao Miyazaki (1941 -)



I believe that fantasy in the meaning of imagination is very important. We shouldn't stick too
close to everyday reality but give room to the reality of the heart, of the mind and of the
imagination. Those things can help us in life. But we have to be cautious in using this word
fantasy. In Japan, the word fantasy these days is applied to everything from TV shows to
video games, like virtual reality. But virtual reality is a denial of reality. We need to be open
to the powers of imagination, which brings something useful to reality. Virtual reality can
imprison people. It's a dilemma I struggle with in my work, that balance between imaginary
worlds and virtual worlds. - Hayao Miyazaki, MidnightEye.com


Filmography (as director)

Rupan sansei (TV series) 1971-1972

Future Boy Conan (TV series) (1978)

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

Lupin the 3rd (TV series) (1980)

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

1984-1985 Meitantei Holmes (TV series) (1984-1985)

Castle in the Sky (1986)

My Neighbor Totor (1988)

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Porco Rosso (1992)

On Your Mark (short) (1995)

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Spirited Away (2001)

Kujira tori (short) (2001)

Mei and the Kitten Bus (short) (2002)

Koro no dai-sanpo (short) (2002)

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Yadosagashi (short) (2006)

Hoshi wo katta hi (short) (2006)

Mizugumo Monmon (short) (2006)

Ponyo (2008)

Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess (short) (2010)

The Wind Rises (2013)

Boro the Caterpillar (2018)


Forum Discussions

Howl's Moving Castle

Ponyo


Web Resources

Miyazaki On Miyazaki: The Animation Genius On His Movies

The Hayao Miyazaki Web

Anime News Network

Studio Ghibli

I thought Miyazaki already had an entry in the Filmmakers Forum, but I looked and don't see one.

Maybe this thread should be moved over to that forum?

New to Miyazaki - where to start? What are the best films, the essential ones?

Nausicaa, Totoro, Spirited Away, Mononoke-Hime, and Castle in the Sky make for a nice primer.

Princess Mononoke's easily my favorite

My 3-year old daughter's favorites are Totoro, Chihiro (Spirited Away), Ponyo, and Kiki. I would tend to agree with her.

I'm with swo and baby swoetta, with Totoro at the top.

hearthesilence wrote:New to Miyazaki - where to start? What are the best films, the essential ones?

If you're looking for an easy entry point I would suggest Kiki's Delivery Service. Follow that up with something like My Neighbor Totoro or Ponyo to get a taste for simplistically wonderful tales before moving on to Castle In The Sky that should allow you to transition into his heavier stuff like Princess Mononke, Nasuicaa, and Spirited Away. Realistically there's no way you can go wrong, but if you start with Lupin be forewarned it is much different from his other work.

I'm pretty sure Totoro is the best thing he ever made, with whatever contribution he made to Whisper of the Heart since it's the best film Ghibli made. Future Boy Conan is also a must to any Miyazaki die-hard fan.

The filmography is a bit confusing : Rupan sansei is better known as Lupin III, while the 1980 Lupin the 3rd is the US name for Lupin III Part II. May be worth mentioning he only done a couple of episodes?

Totoro and Spirited Away are his best.

Princess Mononoke would be a lot better without the bad english language dub. You have Jada Pinkett doing her "sassy black chick" voice and Claire Danes is doing her "valley girl" thing, which doesn't work at all in the medieval japan setting and is quite distracting. Wonderful film though.

I actually really enjoyed all of the Disney dubs so far. I don't see where you're getting valley girl thing from and the sass works with Pinkett's character.

Kiki's Delivery Service is my favorite by a very large margin.

Porco Rosso isn't widely seen or talked about, but it's far and away my favorite Miyazaki. It's among his most light-hearted movies, but it's tinged with sadness and it has a very mature outlook -- it features his only middle-aged protagonist, and there's a subtle complexity at play under the surface. It also revels unabashedly in Miyazaki's obsession with aviation, which is infectious. It reminds me at times of Only Angels Have Wings, both in tone and content.
Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro are next in line. It's been a while since I've seen Kiki's Delivery Service, but I recall it being in a similar vein. I tend to prefer his more intimate, modest works to his epics, which I find overblown and didactic. Princess Mononoke is the best of those, though.

Some of the Disney dubs are better, some are worse (either as to performances or translations or both), none are better than the Japanese originals.

My Miyazaki favorites are Totoro, Spirited Away, Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke, with Kiki and Porco rosso just a bit behind. The others I like, but not as much. I found Conan interesting, but WAY too hyperactive for me.

I personally prefer (on average) the films of Miyazaki's senior partner -- Isao Takahata. I love his Only Yesterday more even than Totoro.

Whisper of the Heart is an interesting hybrid. It's director (the prematurely-deceased Kondo) was even more a "student" (and trainee) of Takahata than of Miyazaki, but Whispers was (at least partially) written and produced by Miyazaki.

Just a heads up for anyone in New York: we're doing a big 15-title Studio Ghibli retrospective (including Only Yesterday and Ocean Waves/I Can Hear the Sea) at IFC Center for a month starting next Friday. Brand new prints for just about everything, both subtitled and dubbed options for just about everything. It's going to be amazing.

We're also touring the retrospective starting in January, so hopefully a lot of other cities will get their shot.

I do wish I Can Hear the Sea was a little bit longer, but it is a marvelous but under-appreciated little gem. I hope Only Yesterday makes it hear to Boston -- as I'd particularly love to see this screened.

davebert wrote:Just a heads up for anyone in New York: we're doing a big 15-title Studio Ghibli retrospective (including Only Yesterday and Ocean Waves/I Can Hear the Sea) at IFC Center for a month starting next Friday. Brand new prints for just about everything, both subtitled and dubbed options for just about everything. It's going to be amazing.

We're also touring the retrospective starting in January, so hopefully a lot of other cities will get their shot.

Noticed this. Girlfriend is a huge fan, we're definitely going to at least see Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. Exciting!

Michael Kerpan wrote:I do wish I Can Hear the Sea was a little bit longer, but it is a marvelous but under-appreciated little gem. I hope Only Yesterday makes it hear to Boston -- as I'd particularly love to see this screened.

Aye, we're hitting the Museum of Fine Arts in February, and the Only Yesterday print will be there. I Can Hear the Sea is a nice (albeit short) film; I think their sensitive handling of the random quirks around teen relationship stories, including From Up On Poppy Hill, is one of the more under appreciated talents of Ghibli, since these films don't involve fantastical creatures.

Starting this weekend, BAM's showing a bunch of Miyazaki films. It's a mix between subtitled and dubbed films, but this looks like a good line-up.

Just noticed that a handful of Miyazaki films will be released on Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs from Disney in May. These will reportedly have the original Japanese soundtrack (with removable English subtitles) as well as the English-dubbed track. Hopefully they won't be scrubbed "clean" like Disney's other non-CG animated titles...

hearthesilence wrote:Just noticed that a handful of Miyazaki films will be released on Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs from Disney in May. These will reportedly have the original Japanese soundtrack (with removable English subtitles) as well as the English-dubbed track. Hopefully they won't be scrubbed "clean" like Disney's other non-CG animated titles...

The Disney Ghibli releases are considered to be quite good (especially if you want the English dub) and compare in quality to the definitive JP releases. There are a few small anomalies, but DNR is not one of them. They are not "re-built" like the Disney classics.

Excellent! Will definitely get My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle when they come out on May 21, and will definitely look at Castle in the Sky, Ponyo and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which are already out there.

Don't some of these releases have issues with English credit sequence replacing the original one?

I believe only one had no Japanese credits, and one had dubtitles. There is a comparison thread on Blu-Ray.com that should help. I primarily listen to the dub (watching with kiddies who can't read the subs) so the Disney release are my preference, as they optimize the English soundtrack, and the video is comparable to the MUCH more expensive JP versions. If you only want the Japansese language version with English subs, the HK releases are closer to the JP versions, but drop the dubs. Lot of choice. The UK Optimum ones have DNR. All in all, the Disney ones are quite good. Worst part is the horrible previews and other miscelaneous Disney muck one has to wade through.

Which one has dubtitles, Castle in the Sky?