READ ALL ABOUT IT: Be sure not to miss the latest Studio Ghibli news. Like all details on a Neppu interview with Miyazaki (30th of November), Ponyo's English voice talent cast (26th of November), an interview with Miyazaki Goro (14th of November), On Your Mark in Ghibli Asemamire (27th of October), Miyazaki talking about his next film, Ponyo and Hotta (26th of October), Cinekid opens with Ponyo (20th of October), Cheburashka DVD (15th of October), Ni no Kuni trailer (11th of October), Hotta Exhibition opens (11th of October), Ghibli Museum Library announces new title (7th of October), a look at Akado Suzunosuke (1st of October), first screens of a Studio Ghibli video game collaboration (28th of September), new BD & DVD releases (21st of September), a new Ghibli project (18th of September) and a Ponyo review & Venice report (8th of September)..

(sticky) GHIBLIWORLD.COM EXCLUSIVE - A PERSONAL INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR MICHEL OCELOT: GhibliWorld.com is proud to bring its readers another personal interview. Following up people like Takahata Isao, Miyazaki Goro, Gualtiero Cannarsi and Enrico Casarosa is none other than director Michel Ocelot. With this award-winning creator, known for works like the remarkable Kirikou and Azur et Asmar, a heart-to-heart talk was held at his studio in Paris. Countless thoughts on animation, his past, but also future films were shared, resulting in another must-read and must-see interview for anyone.

Be sure not to miss it. Continue reading it now...

30th of November, A NEPPU INTERVIEW WITH MIYAZAKI HAYAO: The November edition of Studio Ghibli’s monthly report magazine Neppu features a highly interesting interview with Miyazaki Hayao in which he talks about the latest Ghibli Museum Library addition: 1954’s animated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm (動物農場). One of the strengths of the interview is that it not only reveals the studio’s reason for re-releasing the film a half a century after its production, but that it also is very well able to portrait Miyazaki’s thoughts and explore his opinion on Marxcism, socialism and his labor union work. That being already a prime opportunity for Japanese fans, GhibliWorld.com would like to share it with the Japanese-impaired as well and so a summary follows below.

Question: What was your first memory of Animal Farm?

Miyazaki: The reason why I remember Animal Farm is because I read a book which Halas and Batchelor wrote about animation technique: The Technique of Film Animation written by John Halas and Roger Manvell. When I began working in the animation industry back in 1963, there were only a few books about animation techniques, like this and a Russian one. The Russian one was not so useful, but I can only remember one lesson "The one that is interesting in linguistically isn't always interesting visually".

J&H;'s book was very thick and told about their experiences on filming, sakuga and various techniques. In it, there is a phrase, "Those who try to make a feature length animation surely feel a sense of cultivating a waste land that was never plowed before." They really must have felt such a sense, because they wrote this book just after they made Animal Farm. The film terribly failed in business.



After World War II in the 1950s, there appeared some feature-length animations here and there. Like Le Roi et l’Oiseau in France, Snow Queen and Ivan and His Magic Pony in Russia, and Animal Farm in the UK. Of course Disney had made many feature length animations in US. However, Disney was too far from us in its technique to understand how to learn all of it.

So Le Roi et l’Oiseau and Snow Queen were close to un in theme or technique. For our generation Animal Farm was one of the examples. However, it took some time till I watched the movie after I read the book. I watched it on TV and felt "Why could they make such a movie?". It wasn't assumed to be watched by children at all.

Question: An animated film aimed at adults was unusual at that time, right?

Miyazaki: At that time in the UK, WW2 ended and it was the beginning of the cold war. People had a fear for WW3 and nuclear bombs and also felt a crisis for the Soviet Union and communism. George Orwell noticed that and wrote Animal Farm and 1984. Halas and Batchelor must have had the same thoughts as Orwell. Halas was a Jew from Hungary. I guess he exiled himself from Hungary and went to the UK. During the war his homeland was occupied by the Nazis and after that by the Soviet Union. A totalitarian tyranny existed there and he surely felt such a reality in Animal Farm. Animal Farm had a nowadays theme for him. I think he wanted to depict the ugliness of dictatorship.



However, exploitation is not only found in communism, capitalism is a system just like that. I believe a company is common property of the people that work there. But that is a socialistic idea. Nowadays, American style capitalism has become mainstream. The stock holders have voices and change managers to get more profit in the current term. In addition to that, they downsize or restructure regular employees and enlarge temporary workers and part time workers. For them, temporary workers are just disposable. On the other hand, regular employees also are completely exhausted in hard work. Such a system is quite Animal Farm like.

Its scheme used to be common sense to the world. Now, everyone has forgotten about that. Everyone assumes he or she is in middle-class and blinded by the mechanism of exploitation. At a time, during the economic growth after the war, business managers also had to work hard. Because of its graduated taxation, the income gap In Japan was small. Before the bubble years, our society was like that and they didn't feel the reality on exploitation. But all were crushed by the burst bubble. Lifelong employment and seniority system were thrown away. Efficiency pay and target settings were brought. In my opinion these efficiency pays will bring workers nervous diseases. It is obvious that talented people must do their best at work without thinking about its return. Don't work for money. Actually, we need money though... anyway, we've thought that "Work is one's partner for life".



Question: In this movie, there is a scene that shows the delight of labor after the animals forced the farmer away and worked together in helping each other.

Miyazaki: The pig Napoleon from the movie absolutely is a greedy dictator. He is the only one to eat delicious meals, leaving the other people to bear with poor meals. Our real-world is more roundabout than this farm though. Nowadays we can't see any 19th century style hateful capitalists. Even a starveling horse does stock trading on the Internet these days. Many people have come to think that earning money by stock trading or merchandise on the Internet is a nice life style. Everyone wants to become a Napoleon.

Those who can't be Napoleon are considered to be lacking effort. Usual people can be Napoleons. Speaking of a familiar example, they call Japanese animation "Japanimation", but in fact it is supported by animators in China and Korea. If the Japanese outsourcer has a good will, pays enough and gives technical assistance, the people over there see the outsourcer staying at luxury hotel and reigning over them. There is a huge disparity in wages between them and us. If the Chinese is motivated much, he never can say to Japanese, "I'll do your work in place of you." We mustn't forget that.

We mustn't assume that we are good human beings even if we have a good will. We shouldn't assume us as innocent, because we don't earn so much money or have an easy life. We too can be Napoleons in the system. Indeed, the problem of the system can't be solved soon. However, if ones are unconcerned in it, then it means they are napoleons. We should always be aware of what our presence means in the role or position of society.



That is why we will release Animal Farm, which was made over a half a century ago. Society has a fundamental scheme in which there are workers and exploiters, even though it nowadays became much more complicated. So Animal Farm has an interesting meaning in order to learn about it. Just like Kanikousen (note: 蟹工船, Crab Factory Ship, a novel from 1929 written by Kobayashi Takiji, a famous Japanese author of proletarian literature, currently popular with young people in lower levels of society); a crab factory ship is isolated from society, so it is easy to show the scheme of society and nation schematically. In a same way Animal Farm shows an apologue of the world as well.

Question: During the time one is watching the movie, one usually empathizes with the working horses. We shouldn't forget that we can be the egoistic pigs as well.

Miyazaki: If I would make this movie, I would depict Napoleon as a more complicated character. I think it would be more interesting in setting it like this. Napoleon wasn't an indirect fellow at first. Rather than that, he was honest and making a serious effort at reformation. But little by little he becomes bored with foolish animals that never doubt the orders from above. I'm sure humans aren't so simple.

Question: After watching this movie, we awake to a socialistic justice, as if democratic socialism should now be reviewed.

Miyazaki: How can we go in peace without any dictators? The biggest bet of humankind to that question was socialism. It was grown in Europe during the 19th century and tested during the 20th century. As a result, it failed. We got to know there is no paradise on the earth.



I believe paradise only exists in the memories of our childhood. Because of that, many social movements that aim to make a paradise always end up failing. So we must accept that our world isn't a paradise. That is something which is too bitter for us though. That is why mankind created some ways to comfort themselves with several virtual ways.

Still, we necessarily need to acknowledge the reality that "There is no paradise on earth and around it". Around 1970, an Economics Minister of Sweden visited Japan and gave a speech. I watched it on TV and was much touched by it. He said, "There is no paradise on earth and around it. On the acknowledgment of that, we must think what nations can do and play a role." I was struck with his realism. Without realism, nations often make huge mistakes. Japanese stratocracy fell in a big mistake for a few decades because they lost realism.

Europe got disenchanted in socialism during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. During that war, not only socialists but also anarchists, democrats and several movements gathered in the people front. In the war, they were betrayed by Soviet Union. It was a big experience for George Orwell and he wrote "Homage to Catalonia" as a betrayed revolution. As they got to know more about the reality of the Soviet Union, progressive young people broke down with socialism. After WW2, the communists in France and Italy looked for ways of democratic socialism. At last, Europeans reached to EU. It isn't built by the socialists though, that is the only way to survive for Europeans.



Can we build democratic socialism? If it is possible, then I believe it can exist on the opposite side of globalism. In that sense I mean local production for local consumption. The wave of things like slow food or slow life comes more than once. That is kind of that. The desire of humans must be controlled. The idea that human desire can be grown infinitely must be changed at the moment when they get to know that the resources of the earth are finite.

My little wish is to wear domestically produced underwear. Maybe there are some if we pay enough. However, all underwear that can be purchased for reasonable price are all from China.

Yes. Maybe that's useless to say so because there is a huge disparity in wages between Japan and China same as animation outsourcing. But despite of that, I imagine there are shoemakers or tailors in the area we live and we can order them custom made underwear. The tailor says to me "Your tummy has developed? Not good!". The society is run by local production for local consumption and there aren't any large social changes. I only dream like that. It might be a foolish dream though... Animal Farm tells a similar story at its ending: "We have a right to try again and again". Though it’s an ending that differs from the story in the original novel, I agree with that idea.



Question: There are some counterviews against the changing of the ending though. John Halas told that he wanted to give the audience hope for the future.

Miyazaki: I agree. If they raise a revolution or a coup d'etat and exile the dictator and try to build an ideal world, then they soon will find a new dictator appearing in it. That is something history can easily show us. Despite of this, we should stand up again and again. I mean we have a right to revolt. To speak of my own private concern, during the 1960s I was very active in the labor union. I don't intend to say our activity was good or wrong. However, it was better to do than to do nothing, knowing human often makes mistakes. Recently young people begin independent labor unions. Revolutions should be raised everywhere.

Question: In fact, it became apparent that the CIA concerned itself to this movie and gave it financial assistance.

Miyazaki: The CIA’s involvement is of no matter me. I believe that Halas and Batchelor wanted to make the movie without regarding the investors. Any faucets are OK. We should make what we can make with the water that comes out from the faucet. Even for me, there is much possibility to do things like that.



What can I say to the question if Animal Farm is a masterpiece? I don't think it is of such a level. I mean, it has its weakness on depicting human complicacy. However, although it has some weaknesses, it is worth watching. Viewing it from the present perspective, it also has a certain unskillfulness in terms of technique. I can accept the movie including its unskillfulness. I can guess they struggled with it so much. I'm sure it was so hard for them to make a feature length animation during that age. We mustn't evaluate it only because of CIA money. Were all those who made a living during Japan’s militarism period dirty? Never. As I told it in the beginning, it was a visceral need for Halas and Batchelor to make this movie. I think they completed what they wanted to make with the clever use of CIA money.

Starting December 20 Animal Farm will screen at a selected number of theaters in Japan. For those who are unable to see it there, a DVD release is also available for purchase.

26th of November, EXCLUSIVE NEWS ON PONYO’S ENGLISH VOICE TALENT CAST, MIYAZAKI HAYAO’S BOOK RECOMMENTDATIONS: Loved, adored & respected by almost every Japanese, movie critic, cinephile and animation fan around the world, the films of Miyazaki Hayao are yet only one step away in fully reaching the west’s mainstream audience. Next year’s release of the English dub of Miyazaki Hayao’s latest film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) is likely to finally make this step and win the hearts of everyone. Besides the film’s adoring high qualities, an exclusive word on the English dub voice cast has reached GhibliWorld.com.

The US audience version, produced by Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, is to feature an all-star voice talent cast including Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, Fankie Jonas, Noah Cyrys and Cloris Leachman. Though one will not deny using stardom does not automatically guarantee a good voice dub, it will at least be useful in gaining the mainstream audience’s attention. Those wanting to find out what the end result will be still have the wait a bit though. Test screenings are currently being held, the final version will screen in US theaters in 2009.



Shining on the cover of this month’s edition of Iwanami Shoten's information magazine Tosho (図書, Books) is an illustration by Miyazaki Hayao. The magazine, freely available at bookshops all over Japan, is released as a commemoration of its 70th year anniversary and Miyazaki, widely known as quite the airplane enthusiast, especially made a watercolor illustration of a Caproni Ca 48 passenger plane from 1918 for it (note: Studio Ghibli’s name comes the Caproni Ca 309 Ghibli). Furthermore worth noting is the magazine’s inclusion of book recommendations. Numerous knowledgeable persons and celebrities included recommendations on their favorite "Iwanami shinsyo" paperback educational books. Miyazaki’s list included 3 books: The Alienation of Modern Man by Fritz Pappenheim, The origin of cultivated plants and agriculture by Nakao Sasuke and Literary fragments of Spain by Hotta Yoshie.

Regarding Miyazaki’s own books, though most of these have been published by Studio Ghibli’s former parent company Tokuma Shoten, some of them, like Blackham’s Wimpey and Orikaeshi-ten, are published by the above mentioned Iwanami Shoten, said to be one of Japan’s most highly regarded publishers.

14th of November, AN INTERVIEW WITH MIYAZAKI GORO ABOUT HOTTA YOSHIE: Early last month Japan’s acclaimed Studio Ghibli took some of their exhibition talents and transferred them over to Yokohama. At Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature a special Hotta Yoshie Exhibition subtitled The Troublous Times Depicted by Ghibli is being held and the studio’s favorite webstore 7andY had an interview with Miyazaki Goro to talk about the project.

Question: At Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature you are currently exhibiting your tries on making an animation film based on Hotta's works. One is Teika to Chomei and the other one is Rojou no Hito. With the image boards being exhibited so powerfully, it feels as if we are watching a movie. Why did you decide to give the exhibition such a style?
Miyazaki Goro: In this exhibition, the 1st part has “the usual style”, showing Hotta's history, pictures, hand scripts, materials, his favorites and so on. The 2nd part is done by Ghibli. At first, we thought it might have been enough if we had been involved with the 1st part. However, the museum staffs are all experts in that field, so I thought it would not mean much if we amateurs would join in. We at Ghibli are a movie company. And so we made a plan on how it would be if we make Hotta's into movie by image boards.



Question: Teika to Choumei is not based on novels, but on critical essays. What was your intention of making them into animation?
Miyazaki Goro: Indeed, it is true that they aren't novels. Though they are interesting, it wasn't easy to make it into animation directly from the essay.

Question: What kind of impression about Teika and Chomei did you get from Hotta's work?
Miyazaki Goro: Well, Teika was a minor nobility and couldn't succeed in his career. In his middle age, he was poor and physically weak. We know him as the editor of Shinkokin Wakashu (新古今和歌集, an anthology of short poems) and as a person of culture though. Chomei lived a complicated life and was nearly jobless through his entire life. He was born as a son of a Shinto priest, but he couldn’t succeed him. He had an excellent talent in literature and music. However, he was cynical and had an ax to grind.

Question: You set Chomei's age as 25 and Teika as 19. You decided to depict their youth…
Miyazaki Goro: I think they must have drifted this way and that way during their youth. It isn't interesting to depict the latter half of their lives. I wanted to depict the beginning of their troubles and difficulties.

Question: The theme of this project is "depicting troublous times". We usually think of the Heian era as an elegant age in which the aristocratic culture flowered as seen in Genji Monogatari (源氏物語). However, it was much troublous and there were many extraordinary natural phenomenons, right?
Miyazaki Goro: Not only just extraordinary natural phenomenons, but also the establishment by Imperial court had imploded.



Question: Hotta told that troublous times have continued to our age. In the case of assuming our time is a troublous time, do you see any commonality with it and the Heian era?
Miyazaki Goro: For normal people, it isn't easy to recognize what is happening all over the world. Although we live in an information society, we can only know what we see just in front of us; we can't see or understand what moves the society. In the troublous time, the people at the bottom of the social pyramid are involved in the social change without understanding what is happening. Such big power involves people always exists in all-time. I often feel it when I read Hotta.

Question: Hotta had never been involved in such a big wave, right?
Miyazaki Goro: It was possible only for real intelligentsia like Hotta. At the end stage of WWII, he went to Shanghai despite of knowing Japan was losing the war and its danger. At the age of 60, he immigrated to Spain. It wasn't easy for a normal person. He did that because he wanted to see by his own eyes, I guess.

Question: Do you think it is hard to keep the mind like Hotta?
Miyazaki Goro: We should know history in order to do that. The thing that has continued from the Heian era has formed us. If there is something we have accomplishment of that, is that we can avoid losing our mind.

Question: The climate during the Heian era was warmer and more humid like the one South East Asia currently has. That was something I found out from your exhibition. I was surprised to see the old Kyoto covered with dense woods.
Miyazaki Goro: Half of it is my imagination (laughing). There was a climate change from the end of the Heian to the beginning of the Kamakura era. It caused disasters and famine. During the Heian era, it was much warmer than it is now and people wore less clothing. As it had passed more than 300 years after Kyoto was built, there must have been many large old trees everywhere in Kyoto. And basically Kyoto was built in the wetland, it was a malarial area.



Question: Hotta was not only a really great intelligentsia, but also had a human mind. For example, he romanced passionately.
Miyazaki Goro: Indeed. He had much energy and was really passionate. Furthermore, he had both objectivity and subjectivity. Basically, the highbrows from his age are in another league to today. In terms of literature, music, art... there is a world of difference between them and us. Especially Hotta, who was born in a rich ship owner family, grew up surrounded by high-quality goods and very much had a sense of beauty.

Question: Is it possible for us to have another Hotta in the 21st century?
Miyazaki Goro: I don't think that’ll be easy. That kind of intelligence was built on some sort of high-quality education and not at school. I can only say we should read classics.

Question: We are looking forward to see Teika to Chomei to be filmed. Thank you very much.
Miyazaki Goro: Not at all.

Note: Teika and Chomei lived from end of the Heian to the beginning of the Kamakura era. During the Heian era (平安時代), which took place from 794 to 1192, the capital was set in Kyoto, which was then called Heian-kyo. During the Kamakura era (鎌倉時代), which took place from 1192 to 1333, the military government existed in Kamakura near Tokyo.

27th of October, ON YOUR MARK AT GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE: Yesterday Japanese radio listeners could yet again tune into another episode of Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire at Tokyo FM. As usual, GhibliWorld.com brings coverage and during the week a podcast version will be available for download over here.

This week’s Ghibli Asemamire guest was none other than Chage of Chage and Asuka fame. Unheard of to many in the West, an introduction to those fond of the works of Studio Ghibli is quite unnecessary; knowing them of course due to Miyazaki’s short musical film On Your Mark from 1995. In those days Chage and Asuka were in their peak and during this week’s Asemamire Suzuki told about the history behind this animated musical.



Back then Japan’s major audio and visual soft manufacturer Pony-Canyon was planning the promotion video of C&A;'s next CD On Your Mark. They had a meeting and planned to turn it into animation. As Studio Ghibli was Japan’s most famous studio, one of the producers got the idea to ask Ghibli about it. Everyone wondered if they would accept to make “just an promotion video”, but the person who initiated the idea thought they had nothing to lose and called the studio. Suzuki usually never accepted such orders, but still tried to tell it to Miyazaki, who during those days struggled to make Mononoke Hime’s final concept. Based on the original Mononoke idea Miyazaki made 10 years earlier, he was absolutely stuck at it and accepted the offer as a switch of mood.

Before that, Studio Ghibli had had a company tour to Nara. There Suzuki, Miyazaki and some others enjoyed a SEGA game arcade. They rode a virtual space simulation and all felt it was amazing. Except for Miyazaki, who told, "I'm never deceived by such cheap illusions." Interestingly, when Miyazaki started working on the e-conte of On Your Mark, Suzuki found it contained a similar image to that from the SEGA ride. Miyazaki seemed to had taken an idea from it and said, "I can make a much better one than that of SEGA."



Later on, when Pony-Canyon had ordered the video, they also asked for the characters of C&A; to appear in it. Suzuki refused. However, Miyazaki cared for it and showed them as the main characters. At that time, C&A; visited Studio Ghibli and talked with Miyazaki. Chage, who was surprised that it was just a common office and Miyazaki was just a common oji-san, got a cel from Miyazaki and has treasured it even till now. “On Your Mark proved to be a good diversion to Miyazaki. After finishing it, his work on Mononoke Hime proceeded smoothly,” noted Suzuki.

26th of October, MIYAZAKI TALKS NEXT MOVIE, HOTTA AND PONYO: This week NTV’s Zoom in Super talked to Miyazaki Hayao at Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature, which is currently holding a special Hotta Yoshie Exhibition subtitled The Troublous Times Depicted by Ghibli.

Question: Why is Ponyo a kingyo (goldfish)?
Miyazaki: In my first concept, it was a tin frog. However, frog stories are commonplace and as we usually take about 3 years to complete a movie, avoiding trends like that is a necessity. They often become out of date when the movie is finally completed (note: Miyazaki refers to the popular animations like Kerero Gunso and the older Dokonjo Gaeru). Some time ago, before the TV age, a tin kingyo was very popular as a kid bath toy. So I thought it was better.



Question: So when is your “pleasant hour”?
Miyazaki: That is a difficult question to answer. When I get a book that seems interesting and I don't have to get up early next morning… I usually read books in bed… Before reading I just smoke and that is the happiest time for me. Or talking about a movie just after I get an idea that can be turned into a movie, that is the most pleasant time. After that, production starts and so does the misery.

Question: How about your next movie?
Miyazaki: After finishing a movie, I want to make one that is quite different. For example, a live action movie might be nice. However, I'm sure we can't recover the costs. It'll take a lot of money. When I told Suzuki about it, he replied that he would only permit a 30 million Yen budget (laughing). With such small money it's impossible to make any kind of movie. Anyway, I don't think I must make animation only. No problem with live action. To tell the truth, I have a clear idea about what I want to make, though I'll never tell other people what it is (note: the way Miyazaki speaks does not imply he will surely make a live-action film, but rather leaves all options open).



Furthermore, Miyazaki gave a lecture on Hotta Yoshie, containing some rather abstract subjects. Following is a short extract:

Hotta was like a coordinate to me that always showed us where we were. When “sailing in this world”, we often fell into left or stray into right on a tidal stream or due to some big waves. When we lost our position on the ocean, looking at Hotta’s work showed us where drifted to and where to go to. He was like a towering rock that never moved.

Once, I happened to meet him and he told me, "How about making Houjouki Shiki into an animated feature? I'll give it to you." When I read it - I usually read books in my bed - I felt I had been in the Kamakura era (note: about 800 years ago). I thought that if I had woken up and opened the windows, I could have seen Kyoto on fire. Like a scene from the Great Tokyo Air Raids. At that time, B-29s dropped bombs from just 3000 meters above. People could see the red reflection of fire on the ground on the bodies of the B-29s. Hotta’s novels are that real. I replied to Hotta, "It's not easy.", to which Hotta said, "Then how about Rojou no Hito?" After that, I have always considered about the concept of Houjouki Shiki. For example, for the bombing scene in Howl’s Moving Castle, for that I got imagination from Hojouki Shiki.



My experience of being bombed was just little. However, after the war I gained much knowledge on them. While learning about it, I decided that I should not depict bombing from the bombers’ eye point, but from those being bombed. Yes, I know to say such things is useless, though. When I was a newbie animator at Toei, a TV series anime called Zero-sen Hayato (０戦はやと), a story of an WWII ace pilot in the South Pacific, began and some of my coworkers worked on it as their second job. I was really frustrated. I knew I was the most skilled person to draw Zero fighters and air fights. Even now I believe I'm the number one at it. However, I never joined. I mustn't make that kind of animation, because of Hotta (laughing). If I were allowed to make a cool and exciting anime about weapons, I would like to try it, but it is forbidden for me to do so. That's the rule I impose myself on. Later, I realized the air fighting scenes in Porco Rosso in a twisted way. Uchusenkan Yamato(宇宙戦艦ヤマト, Space Battleship Yamato)--宇宙戦艦ヤマト,1974-) was as well. Why didn't they let me work on it - drawing battleships? I was the best authority of military, I thought. BUT, I never do that. I shouldn't do such work.

When I was a kid, I saw fighter planes and felt them to be very cool. Why did I think them, such “sharpened things”, to be cool? After the war, Japan was forbidden to manufacture “sharpened things” (fighter planes), because the USA wanted to sell them to Japan. So instead of planes, they sharpened the trains (laughing) (note: Miyazaki refers to Shinkansen trains). What do these “sharpened things” mean? In another way of saying, they are a kind of human aggressiveness or form of violence... like the soccer hooligans in Britain. Humans might essentially have such tendencies. We shouldn't reason that the whole of humanity hopes for being in peace. Humans are rather outrageous creatures. That is also one of the things I learned from Hotta.

20th of October, CINEKID FESTIVAL OPENS WITH PONYO: Saturday 18 October an invitation-only opening of Cinekid Festival took place at Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek. This year's edition was officially opened by Dutch Minister of Culture, Education and Science Ronald Plasterk and joined by countless industry professionals and their children. The festival’s opening film: Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea).

Cinekid, a festival stimulating and developing activities for children in the areas of film, television and new media, collaborated on the opening with Studio Ghibli’s international distributor Wild Bunch. Furthermore, Japanese Ambassador Shibuya Minoru was present and held an introduction speech on Miyazaki and his films. Telling about his own daughter, Shibuya told she has been in love with Miyazaki’s work since she was young. “She once made a phone call to Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki coincidently was the one to pick up the phone. My daughter asked him what to do to become an animator. “A loooot of hard work!”, was his answer.”



“I enjoyed Ponyo very much. It was fascinating. It was not only good for small kids, but also moving for adults. Some of Miyazaki’s previous works had a profound meaning small kids might not be able to understand, but Ponyo is very simple and I think everybody is able to enjoy it!”, commented Shibuya after the screening to GhibliWorld.com.

Other guests at Cinekids’ opening included Sandra den Hamer, former director of the acclaimed International Film Festival Rotterdam and current director of Filmmuseum (Holland's museum for cinematography), who noted, “I am big fan of Miyazaki’s work. Several years ago Howl’s Moving Castle was part of the IFFR and that really, REALLY was one of my favorite films of the year. And of course we also screened Princess Mononoke in the past. Actually, back then we even shortly thought of making Howl’s Moving Castle into the opening film of the festival. It’s THAT special. However, the film had already been screened at Venice and for an international film festival (like Rotterdam) one always tries to search for a world premiere to open with. Anyway, I think his works are marvelous. I was once asked to write down “one of those lists’’ and Miyazaki’s work is definitely part of it.”



Concerning Ponyo Den Hamer was enthusiastic as well, “It was beautiful. What I had not experienced as much with Miyazaki’s previous films, is that this time Miyazaki really “took place in a children’s seat”. Something which was less the case with his former works, which were great for young and old. I also noticed it was sweeter than what I am used of Miyazaki doing, and I don’t mean that in negative kind of way. Visually Ponyo is of course more simplistic, and proves that can be beautiful as well. Sometimes there are movies which make you completely dizzy after seeing it, instead of Ponyo, which was more toned down.”

“In terms of strengths I think Ponyo’s greatest one lays in the way everything is visualized and animated. Howl’s had some plot holes and in a way Miyazaki slightly repeated that in Ponyo as well; story wise there are some things that are hard to understand or kept unexplained, for example “What is the exact relationship between Fujimoto and GranMare? How did they get kids?”. However, that doesn’t really matter, I don’t need to understand all of it.”



Next to a children’s program, Cinekid pays special attention to industry professionals as well. In addition to a Junior Film Market and screening club, the Cinekid Professional program includes several readings and seminars. Examples include a master class by Pixar’s Supervising Animator Mark Walsh, who will be focusing on the creative process that produced Ratatouille. Also part of the program is a seminar called Scriptwriting for children - Creating Modern Heroes, which includes the participation of Avatar - The Last Airbender creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. DiMartino and Konietzko, widely known to be admirers of Miyazaki’s work, will be using excerpts of the Avatar series to illustrate their personal view of today's children's heroes.

The 22nd edition of Cinekid Festival takes place from October 19 till 26 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) will screen in competition contending for a Cinekid Lion on:
- Monday 20 October 16:00, Movies 1
- Tuesday 21 October 14:15, Transformatorhuis
- Thursday 23 October 12:15, Transformatorhuis
- Saturday 25 October 12:00, Ketelhuis 1

15th of October, GHIBLI RELEASES CHEBURASHKA LIMITED DVD BOX, MIYAZAKI LECTURE TEASER: Earlier this month the classic & non-Japanese animated feature label Ghibli Museum Library added a new title to their line-up: 1954’s animated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm (動物農場). And with a new title being added to the Library, the former one, the Soviet animation classic Cheburashka, is being pushed to the DVD release schedule. Next to a standard edition (3,990 Yen) which will be released on November 21, starting December 17 Japanese shops will be selling a limited edition box set (12,600 Yen).



Furthermore, last Saturday none other than Miyazaki Hayao himself gave a lecture on the Japanese writer Hotta Yoshie called Houjouki Shiki and me (方丈記私記と私) at Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature. Preparing for GhibliWorld.com’s coverage, it is time for a small teaser:

In the midst of a big applause Miyazaki Hayao starts talking… "I was asked to talk for 1 hour and half. I'm afraid I’m not good at giving speeches though, but I'll do my best. There will be a question-and-answer session later. When my wife heard about my lecture of this time, she said, "That is the worst choice of selecting a person!" I agree with that, usually rejecting such offers. Actually, I was asked to give this speech about one and half year ago. I was struggling to make a movie around that time. In those days, I didn't know if I could complete it. Or I thought a huge earthquake might occur and we’d have the world’s end next year. So I thought I would not have to do it a year and a half later and accepted the offer. However, one year and a half has passed as quick as a flash. Anyway, Hotta is a very important person for me. I'll talk what Houjouki Shiki means for me and what I have considered about for a long time..."

11th of October (second update), NI NO KUNI TRAILER RELEASED: Last month's announcement of Ni no Kuni: The Another World, a Level5 video game in which Studio Ghibli is involved, has been given a follow-up. With the Tokyo Game Show currently being held at Makuhari Messe, a trailer has now also been released. Not only containing beautiful Studio Ghibli animation, but a lovely Hisaishi Joe soundtrack as well.

Ni no Kuni: The Another World follows the adventure of a 13-year-old boy whose actions lead to the death of his mother. One day, the boy encounters a fairy who gives him a book which promises to lead him to the mysterious world of Ni no Kuni, a reality parallel to his own. There he encounters alternate versions of people he knows (for example his neighbor's cat is a king there) and attempts to save his mother. The door to Ni no Kuni opens in 2009.

� 2008 Level5 ・Studio Ghibli

11th of October, STUDIO GHIBLI’S NEW “FILM” TEIKA TO CHOMEI: Last week the opening of a special Hotta Yoshie Exhibition subtitled The Troublous Times Depicted by Ghibli took place at Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature in Yokohama. The exhibition marks the 10th anniversary of Hotta’s death and, as Miyazaki Hayao and Suzuki Toshio have respected Hotta and had a relationship with him, Studio Ghibli has joined the exhibition. Based on Hotta's works the studio showcases about 400 image boards of Teika to Chomei (定家と長明, Teika and Chomei), the Studio Ghibli film by Miyazaki Goro that eventually did NOT get realized.

Not coincidentally, this week’s episode of Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire at Tokyo FM also dedicated its air time to the exhibition. Its special guest was Hotta Yuriko, Hotta Yoshie’s daughter.

Looking back at past times Suzuki told, "When Miyazaki was making Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta (天空の城ラピュタ, Laputa: Castle in the Sky) back in 1985, I was the chief editor of Animage and editing a guide book about it. I wanted to encourage Miyazaki and asked Hotta to contribute an article to the book, because I knew Miyazaki was a big fan of Hotta. Hotta did not only write literary novels, but had also written the scenario of TOHO movies like MOSURA."



To let Hotta know about Miyazaki, Suzuki once visited his house with a video player and showed Nausicaa to him. Both Suzuki and Yuriko can’t quite remember if they met each other at the house though.

Coincidentally Suzuki and Yuriko attended Keio University at the same time around 1970. Suzuki joined the student union and an anti-American-imperialism movement. Yuriko did not join any of those, but experienced more serious facts at home. Hotta Yoshie supported such movements and hid persons who evaded from the police net at his house. For example, Yamamoto Yoshitaka, who was the chairman of Tokyo University struggle committee, and US Army deserters who refused to fight in the Vietnam war (note: during the Vietnam war Japan was a logistic base for the US). Episodes like these show Hotta really had a backbone and was a brave man when he was still alive.

Concerning the exhibition, today (October 11) Miyazaki Hayao will be giving a special lecture on Hotta. As Hotta was quite an influence to Miyazaki, this was not fully unexpected. "Hotta was like a rock towering in the ocean for me. When I was drifted by tide and lost my location, I was saved by him many times." Suzuki titled the lecture Houjoki-shiki and me (方丈記私記と私). This was however without Miyazaki's permission, making Miyazaki worry about what to talk about.



The lecture is not Ghibli’s main part of the exhibit. Studio Ghibli made it up as a theme Making a try to the Filmization of Hotta's Work directed by Miyazaki Goro. Suzuki was considering about Studio Ghibli’s next movie and decided Goro to be its director. Asking him what he wanted, Goro replied that he wanted to make a story of Teika to Chomei (定家と長明, Teika and Chomei) that was inspired from Hotta's books. Goro has read Hotta’s works since he was a university student in effecting by his father. Having read them again after he was offered this exhibition a year ago, his film plan became "How would it become if Hotta's work is animated?". However, Suzuki immediately rejected it to be made into a movie, "Crazy!".

Note: Teika, a noble and a poet, and Chomei, a monk and an essayist, are not even that well known in Japan. Only intellectuals would be interested in them. Hence there would be no capability of making Goro’s film plan into a box office hit.



When Suzuki told Miyazaki Hayao about the kind of movie Goro was planning, he was much surprised and said, "No joking!!". Actually, Miyazaki also has had a big interest in Houjoki Shiki and tried to make a conception of it in the past, but later gave up on it. He was really surprised to hear his son had the same plan.

Still, Suzuki allowed Goro to study it and the result is currently being showed at the exhibition. Goro selected three of Hotta's works: Houjouki Shiki, Teika Meigetsuki Shisyou and Rojo no Hito. On the first two, he focuses on Fujiwara Teika and Kamono Chomei during the time that they were young and weren't famous yet. What did they see and feel to see turbulent times and disasters? Mixing fiction, he made a story and painted sketches and image boards. About 400 pictures are exhibited.

7th of October, GHIBLI MUSEUM LIBRARY ANNOUNCES NEW TITLE: Ghibli Museum Library, the Studio Ghibli label that fully focuses on releasing classic and non-Japanese animated features, has announced a new film to be part of their already very interesting line-up. Joining masterpieces like Le Roi et l’Oiseau, Azur et Asmar and Panda Kopanda is the animated version of George Orwell’s novella Animal Farm (動物農場). Starting December 12 will the 1954 animation classic, said to be the first British animated feature film on general release, fill up the screens of four Japanese cinemas (Tokyo *2, Osaka and Kyoto).

Pigs don't get fat now - “The modern society we live in seems to be more sophisticated than that farm, though its basic structure has not changed at all. Now, that's not one of pigs, these have been replaced with something else. Being a celeb means being a pig, doesn't it? Nowadays pigs aren't fat. They often go to the gym to exercise and are usually slim.” - Miyazaki Hayao

1st of October, MEMORIES OF MIYAZAKI – A RARE LOOK AT AKADO SUZUNOSUKE: For over 45 years has Miyazaki Hayao been working in the animation industry. Creating works like Tonari no Totoro, Mononoke Hime and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, the films the maestro made at Studio Ghibli are needless to say his most well known works. However, the establishment of Studio Ghibli was led to the success of 1984’s Kaze no Tani no Naushika, leaving lots of years before that.

Mirai Shonen Konan, Rupan Sansei, Arupusu no Shoujo Haiji… These are just some of the countless animation classics “Miya-san” made during his pre-Ghibli period. Some of them are however less famous, with Tokyo Movie Shinsha’s Akado Suzunosuke being one of them. This 52 episodes TV series, about a young red suit armoured samurai fighting evildoers who want to invade his homeland, was based on the 1950s radio drama by Tsunayoshi Takeuchi and somewhere around the production of Panda Kopanda and Panda Kopanda - Amefuri Saakasu no Maki Miyazaki did key animation and storyboarding on episodes 26, 27 and 41 for it. And Akado Suzunosuke’s co-chief director? None other than Takahata Isao. Furthermore, people like the famous Kotabe Yoichi, Kondo Yoshifumi and Dezaki Osumu also joined the crew.

In 2002 the series was released on DVD in Japan (without subtitles), though sadly that release is completely Out of Print. Reason enough for GhibliWorld.com to feature a special look at Akado Suzunosuke episode 26.

Akado Suzunosuke - Yattazo Akadou Shinkuu Giri
- Scenario: Yamazaki Haruya (Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro)
- Storyboard: Miyazaki Hayao
- Animation director: Kawauchi Hideo (Hotaru no Haka)
- Animation: Kondo Yoshifumi
- Air date episode 26: September 1972

28th of September, FIRST DETAILED LOOK AT STUDIO GHIBLI VIDEO GAME: Earlier this week details on a new Studio Ghibli project were released. The famed studio is aiding Level5 on making a video game called Ni no Kuni: The Another World, which is being made to commemorate Level5’s 10th anniversary. Ni no Kuni: The Another World is scheduled for release somewhere next year and some first HQ screens have just been released.

21st of September, LUPIN III ON BLU-RAY, GHIBLI MUSEUM LIBRARY TITLES BECOME ENGLISH-FRIENDLY: Notable news from Japan. Miyazaki Hayao’s full length feature debut from 1979, Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro (ルパン三世 カリオストロの城, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro), will receive a Blu-ray treatment. Starting December 3 the BD will be available in Japanese shops at a price of 5,040 Yen and will include 1080i visuals (note: no 1080p!) and audio in 3 different tastes; a PCM track, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby True HD 5.1. Specifications of any bonus features have not yet been announced. In addition, a BD-box set of Lupin III’s first and second TV series will be released on December 12 2008 and February 2009.



Furthermore, Waiting for Kalki’s Jordan Scott has just informed GhibliWorld.com with other newsworthy information. Michel Ocelot's Azur et Asmar, which was released theatrically, on DVD and Blu-ray Disc by Studio Ghibli in Japan, will get a DVD release in the USA on 11 November 2008 (it is already available as such in the United Kingdom). His Kirikou et la Sorci�re and Princes et Princesses are already available in the USA; in fact the only Ghibli Museum Library titles which have never had a domestic release there are Le Roi et l'Oiseau and Moya Lyubov – neither of which have had an English-friendly DVD anywhere in the world (though Moya Lyubov is available to buy with English subtitles from Apple's iTunes Store as My Love in both the USA and UK – search for 'Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts 2007' to find it).

18th of September, NEW GHIBLI PROJECT: The September edition of Ghibli’s monthly report magazine Neppu brings an update on one of the studio’s latest projects. Isao Takahata’s new film? Miyazaki Goro’s new film? Nishii Ghibli? Something else? Neppu’s cover already hints about its content. Shining on its cover is a painting by Miyazaki Hayao which the maestro earlier made for Jidai no Kazeoto (時代の風音), a book from 1992 that includes a talk of Miyazaki, Hotta Yoshie and Shiba Ryotaro. Needless to say, the project Neppu tells about is the one with which Ghibli focuses on Hotta Yoshie, a Japanese writer who watched and considered about humans at wars and conflicts of all over the world during a large part of his life.



Hotta sadly passed away in 1998 and, marking the 10th anniversary of his death, Studio Ghibli is currently cooperating with Kanagawa Museum of Modern Literature in Yokohama on an exhibition about the writer subtitled Troublous Times Drawn by Ghibli.

As always, this exhibition has its history as well. Miyazaki Hayao and Suzuki Toshio have been big fans of Hotta and had contact with him till his death. Furthermore, Studio Ghibli republished his books, released a related DVD-box and Miyazaki once wrote an essay on him. Also, one of Miyazaki's comments tells, "Hotta was like a rock towering in the ocean for me. When I was drifted by tide and lost my location, I was saved by him many times."

The Troublous Times Drawn by Ghibli exhibition is to take place from October 4 to November 24 and the project’s main staff member is none other than Miyazaki Goro, who also made a related movie plan. Its subject is "If Ghibli produced an animation based on Hotta's two essays Hojoki Shiki (方丈記私記) and Teika Meigetsuki Shisho (定家明月記私抄" and takes two works that were both written about 800 years ago. Using Hojoki, an essay by Kamo Chomei, and Meigetsuki, a diary by Fujuwara Teikam, Miyazaki Goro planned a story about what these two persons saw and considered during a time of war and turmoil. Furthermore worth noting is Neppu’s inclusion of a Miyazaki Goro’s pencil drawn image board and two character sketches from that particular plan. Nothing is said about its filmization though.



On a related note, Neppu’s September issue also includes some of Suzuki’s written episodes about Hotta. Hotta, who had lived in Spain for ten years and had much knowledge of its history and that of Europe, wrote many books about Spain. One of those, Rojo no Hito (路上の人, A man lived on the road), was read by Suzuki and tells of a story about those who lived during Europe’s Middle Ages and roamed around from Italy to Spain and France. Suzuki told Hotta, "This novel must be interesting if it's made into animation.", to which Hotta replied, "I'll give you the filming rights right now!". Suzuki added, "However, it would not be easy to realize." It seems that the novel also raised Miyazaki Goro’s interest, though again nothing concrete is yet said of making it into a film.

8th of September, GHIBLIWORLD.COM’S VENICE REPORT & PONYO REVIEW: Some time went by before we were able to post our report on Miyazaki Hayao’s presence (+ Suzuki Toshio, Hoshino Koji and Fujioka Fujimaki) at Venice Film Festival (as it was far from over), but that fun has now come to an end so it is time to post our details.

Read GhibliWorld.com's personal report here!

1st of September, LIVE FROM VENICE – “IMPRESSIONS” OF PONYO: Sometimes a short post is all there is… The 65st edition of the lovely Venice Film Festival is in the midst of taking place and while spending words on it is a very nice thing, for the moment our priority lays in visiting the countless press screenings, premieres, press conferences, interviews and so on. There is one thing we can say: Ponyo was extremely well received! Next to a over-5-minute standard ovation, critics were raving as well, currently leading the list in CIAK (“La Mostra”’s daily magazine) for winning the Golden Lion. Look forward to our report.

29th of August, COUNTDOWN TO VENICE: Only little time is left before Miyazaki's Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) is to be shown at the 65th edition of the ever lovely Venice Film Festival. For those who haven’t seen the film in Japan, be sure to pay the sunny Lido a visit!

Press screening:
- Saturday, August 30, 22.00, Sala Perla
- Sunday, August 31, 9.00, Palalido
Press conference:
- Sunday, August 31, 12.00, Casin�
Official screening:
- Sunday, August 31, 17.00, Sala Grande

27th of August, MIYAZAKI DESIGNS KOGANEI CITY MASCOT: Recently Miyazaki Hayao designed a special character for Koganei, the city where Studio Ghibli is based. On August 20, Studio Ghibli president Hoshino visited Koganei city hall and handed over the character to mayor Inaba. We once saw mayor Inaba before at the Ghibli nursery opening ceremony and he said they will definitely put it into practical use. Currently the boy has no name yet, but Koganei city is publicly soliciting for a name.

Miyazaki said, “Only a town where small kids grow well can develop.” The baby wears a kind of apron red cloth which is called a "haragake" and used to keep the stomach warm. On the character’s harakage “金” is written, which is kanji for “kin” or “kane” and means “gold”. The kanji is taken from the city name Koganei (小金井) and on the other hand it is a typical traditional design for a harageke. The Japanese folk tale boy hero Kintaro also wears it.

20th of August, PONYO EXCEEDS 10,000,000,000 YEN AT JAPANESE BOX OFFICE: In only 31 days after its release has Miyazaki's heart warming fantasy Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) managed to exceed the 10 billion Yen on Japanese box-office sales.

Since last year's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End it is the first movie to exceed this mark and for Ghibli the first since 2004's Howl’s Moving Castle. Compared to their previous releases, Ponyo’s 10-billion-in-one-month record is beyond that of Chihiro (25 days), though shorter than Howl’s (33 days) and Mononoke (43 days).

Even in Ponyo’s 5th week of release its vigor doesn't drop down, not only attracting a wide range of people from kids to adults, but bringing a lot of second-time viewers to the Japanese theaters as well. Logically, Ponyo’s future expectations remain to be good. Distributor TOHO forecasts its number of viewers will exceed 10 million in August. Even more, after September it is expected to beat Hauru no Ugoku Shiro and Mononoke Hime as a megahit in the long run box office.

19th of August, AN INTERVIEW WITH MIYAZAKI HAYAO BY ROBERT WHITING AT GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE: With another episode of Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire at Tokyo FM having passed, GhibliWorld.com brings another summary as well. As usual, during the week a podcast version will be available for download over here.

This week’s Ghibli Asemamire featured an interview by Robert Whiting with Miyazaki Hayao. Whiting is a sport journalist who has been living in Japan for a long time and has the same age as Miyazaki. A written version of the interview can be found in this book which was released this month. At the beginning of the interview, Miyazaki asked if Whiting would have a problem if he’d smoke…



Robert Whiting: So how much do you smoke per day?
Miyazaki Hayao: Nowadays, about 30 cigarettes a day. I decreased a lot. Both of my parents were heavy smokers, though they didn't die of lung cancer. So I'm OK. I scanned my lungs the other day and there was no problem."
Robert Whiting: When and where were you born?
Miyazaki Hayao: I was born 1941 in Tokyo and moved to a local city in 1944 to avoid air attacks. I experienced a big bombing at that city (note: Utsunomiya, Tochigi prefecture, which is about 100 km northern to Tokyo).
Robert Whiting: Was that by B-29s?
Miyazaki Hayao: It was a cloudy day and I couldn't see the planes, though most of the US bombers were B-29 in those days.
Robert Whiting: When did you return to Tokyo?
Miyazaki Hayao: In 1950. But that was a different place than where I was born. It was a western suburb and I didn't see any tall buildings. Only fields and straw-roofed houses.
Robert Whiting: How was the wartime shortage?
Miyazaki Hayao: For me, a lack of food was ordinary, because the war had already begun before I was born. So I didn't worry about it. After the war, I was surprised to see bananas and caramel candies.
Robert Whiting: Did you read any books when you were kid?
Miyazaki Hayao: Yes. I read a lot, everything.



Robert Whiting: Did you have any scary experiences?
Miyazaki Hayao: An air attack when I was four years old. My family escaped to under a rail bridge to avoid an incendiary bomb. My mother covered me with a futon and put a tatami mat on it. I couldn't breath at all and nearly died. A lot of people died because of the bombings in Japan, though many crews of the US bombers were also killed. A B-29 was shot down near my place and all of the 11 crew members died. I saw the pictures of the dead, very young and looked rustic. They didn't look like inhumane murderers at all. I thought the war brought tragedy to everyone.
Robert Whiting: So when was the first time you saw Americans?
Miyazaki Hayao: In 1954. They were Allied Occupation army soldiers. My father had a business relation with.
Robert Whiting: Did you ask them for chocolates?
Miyazaki Hayao: Never. I thought that was humiliating.
Robert Whiting: Did you join the struggle movement to the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1960?
Miyazaki Hayao: No, at least not the big movement from 1959, I joined it after 1960.
Robert Whiting: To protest against the Vietnam war?
Miyazaki Hayao: Yes. I joined the demonstrations thousands of times. We didn't think we were supporting the Vietnamese people, though we were supported on our movement. I thought there should have existed a fairer and more equal world.



Robert Whiting: So, is Studio Ghibli a stock company?
Miyazaki Hayao: Yes. I have my own company called Nibariki (note: 二馬力, 2 horse power, its name is inspired by a Citro�n 2CV, one of Miyazaki’s cars), which is a stock company as well. However, I do not have any interest in their stock price. My father liked trading stock… I couldn't understand why it was interesting. Someone has to lose money to let me gain… Everyone only talks about money and economy. So stupid. We see everything gathering in Tokyo. That's too much. It’s an overplus. And where in this world did we start needing so much entertainment? Like when making a drama, they need a murder to make a big scene. That is reverse order.
Robert Whiting: So do you use internet?
Miyazaki Hayao: No. I don't have a computer or fax. I don't have a DVD player either and I forgot how to use a video recorder. I even seldom watch television.
Robert Whiting: How about the use of e-mail?
Miyazaki Hayao: No. I write letters when I need.
Robert Whiting: And video games?
Miyazaki Hayao: No. I once played Shogi (note: a Japanese kind of chess) with a computer and lost. The PC checks all approaches. That's not fair.
Robert Whiting: …sigh…
Miyazaki Hayao: He is sighing… (laughing).



Miyazaki Hayao: I once took a Hitchcock-like methodology: planning the last scene first. That is the way I did things when I was young.
Robert Whiting: For example?
Miyazaki Hayao: Like Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro (ルパン三世 カリオストロの城, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro). Towards the ending I built up the structure in great detail. I designed all the details of the castle, the lake and so on. I made some rules. For example, I always used the same place twice, never once. The first shot from here and the second shot from the opposite side. A kind of brain teaser. It was interesting, but I thought it would be decadence to try such a way once again. So I quit that approach and took another methodology.
Robert Whiting: What methodology?
Miyazaki Hayao: A methodology of “I don't know where the destination is”. The only thing I can do is just to start. It’s too thrilling and bitter though. It takes a certain amount of time to see beyond the full view of it all. I need to write a certain amount of e-konte till I can understand where the story goes.
Robert Whiting: Do you often lose the story development?
Miyazaki Hayao: Always. Then I rewrite all of the memos and consider again where I came from and where I should go to. If I find the way 1 meter ahead, I tentatively crawl there.
Robert Whiting: What do you do if you can't find any ideas? Drink?
Miyazaki Hayao: Only worrying. Worry, worry and worry in front of a piece of paper. At the end of a long, long worrying, the lid opens in the deep. Anyway, the first storyline surely breaks. I always tell it to my staff as a joke… the real movie producing starts from the point where we lose the way to go to.

16th of August, INSIDE NHK PROFESSIONAL - ALL OF MIYAZAKI HAYAO – PART I: Early this month NHK’s Professional featured the 2nd part of their special on Miyazaki Hayao (a follow-up to that from March 27 2007). Japan's public broadcaster aired an exclusive documentary titled Professional Shigoto no Ryugi Special - All about Miyazaki Hayao and the Birth of Ponyo in 300 Days and, for those who were unable to see it, GhibliWorld.com will be zooming in on its content, with this being part 1.

Two years ago Miyazaki started conceptualizing Ponyo. With water colors he began painting the image boards, painting only the images he wants to paint. "Whenever and whatever I'm painting, the drawer of my brain begins to open little by little. Rather than that, I'm wishing it."



Miyazaki has a motto, "within a 3 meter radius", usually getting ideas from the things close to him. The model of Ponyo is Kondo's one and a half year old daughter Fuki. While listening to the stories Kondo told about his daughter, the character of Ponyo began to change. Its character grew to abandon and started getting selfish. A character we have never before seen in Miyazaki movies.

After he painted many image boards, he began making his e-konte (storyboard). Whenever Miyazaki finishes some pages of e-konte he stops, ending by writing つづく (tsuzuku, to be continued) at the lower end of e-konte page. Next to it he writes "Everyone, wait for the next page!" and then he takes a break for a while... A few days or few weeks… considering the next developments.



Suzuki says, "Despite of having already started production, we staff members cannot guess where the story goes. Miyazaki himself doesn't know it either. He and us both must experience the thrill, thinking it might brings the movie a good result." The finished part of e-konte is handed to the animators.

Miyazaki checks the all genga and often re-draws them by himself. "When I'm checking and drawing the lines, little by little I get to understand what the characters are thinking or how they behave!" He checks the scene of genga in which Ponyo returns to Sosuke and hug each other. He redraws the genga drawn by the staff to make the action of Ponyo more vivid and dramatic. "The true line truly exists somewhere. We must find it."



Why don't you start producing after you complete the story? Do you have the clear storyline in your head? Miyazaki says, "That doesn't go well either. If I start working on the e-konte with a detailed conception, the e-konte never traces the original plan. The plan surely breaks. I can realize where the story should go only while I see the rush film or when I'm struggling on checking genga and making e-konte."

When making the e-konte reached its final phase Miyazaki’s pencil completely stopped moving. He thought the film needed an impressive sequence before ending, even if would not effect anything on the story development. "The story has already been decided in my head. I know how the ending will be, but tracing the story with e-konte isn't good. It lacks Wasabi…", tells Miyazaki. In the fall of 2007, his e-konte stopped and didn't proceed for a long time. Every week Miyazaki called the massage service to come by to the studio. Because of the e-konte delay the production department got into some serious trouble. They had a meeting with Miyazaki and asked him to hurry. Miyazaki was driven into a corner…



After quitting Toei, Miyazaki worked on TV series animation with Takahata. On Heidi, he showed enough of his skills under director Takahata. However, he began to wish wanting to make his own movie. In 1979, when Miyazaki was 39 years old, he made his director’s debut with the full length feature Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro (ルパン三世 カリオストロの城, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro). It was not a young start as a director and unfortunately while going to the theaters he found only few audiences watching it. After that, he had a hard time for some years.

He proposed some movie plans to a certain film company (note: Telecom animation) like Totoro, the prototype of Laputa and the prototype of Mononoke Hime... But they didn't accept them at all. There was a rumor in the anime industry business that Miyazaki's plan smelled horseshit. His projects were out of date and never expected to result in box office hits. Those were the days in which Space Battleship Yamato got its success in Japan. Miyazaki joined working on some of the Telecom productions, like Little Nemo and Sherlock Holmes but quit the company because he couldn't do an original movie.



How did you feel about the fact that you weren't accepted to the anime industry in those 3 years? "Of course I was frustrated. But I didn't want to give up. I really wanted to make animation. However, I didn't think I would have any opportunities. There was a possibility my plans would never see the daylight. I finally completed Totoro thirteen years after the moment I first proposed it. I think it was not so long. During those thirteen years, I kept the idea and matured. For example, when I happened to see a street or an atmospheric sloping road, I thought I would take them to use for certain scenes or for backgrounds. Therefore those thirteen years made Totoro richer than the original idea."

One day during that time, the editor of Animage (note: Suzuki Toshio) visited Miyazaki and proposed him to write a manga for the magazine. Miyazaki started Nausicaa on it. He had no job without it and dedicated his days to it. After a year, Nausicaa became popular on Animage and Suzuki offered to make it into a movie. Miyazaki thought it was his last chance and accepted to be the director. On such day, his mother died after a period of long, long battling illness. He couldn't be present at her death. Nausicaa got a good box office result and achieved universal popularity. Miyazaki was 43 years old then.

14th of August, A BETTER LOOK AT THE ART OF PONYO: In the midst of Miyazaki Hayao’s release of Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) in Japan and its presence at Venice Film Festival being only about two weeks away, it is time to take a better look at The Art of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. This another fine edition of Studio Ghibli’s “The Art of...” book collection has been available starting August 2nd and contains a variety of sketches, storyboards, background information, and cel reproductions (with backgrounds). This must-have for anyone interested in the works of Studio Ghibli can be purchased at a price of 2,900 Yen at international webstores like Amazon.co.jp.

12th of August, GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE 45 WITH OSHII MAMORU: With another episode of Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire at Tokyo FM having passed, GhibliWorld.com brings another summary as well. As usual, during the week a podcast version will be available for download over here.

This week’s guest was director Oshii Mamoru. He created an outspoken talk about Ponyo, as having a long friendship with Miya-san and Suzuki enables him to tell anything he thinks of.

"That movie doesn’t have any theme and structure. It is just the result from Miya-san's delusion. There is no inevitability in the story development. For example, why does Risa take such a risk coming back home from Himawari-no-ie in the storm? After she comes home, she again returns to Himawari-no-ie. She could have stayed with Sosuke. There is no reason in her behavior." Suzuki replied, "Maybe it is needed for Ponyo to meet Sosuke again." Oshii disagrees, "That is nonsense. Audiences never accept a story that does not show any rationality. Still, every single scene was interesting. The first 10 minutes are amazing. That jellyfish scene is really fantastic. The reason why we can somehow watch the movie till the end is just because of its excellent expressiveness during every single scene." Suzuki didn't make an effective rebuttal on him.



Oshii’s The Sky Crawlers, which like Ponyo is also going to be screened at Venice, was also discussed. Suzuki told, "It was interesting. I felt it contained a lot less dialogues than what your films usually contain. And the characters were lacking facial expression as well." Oshii, "That is just because I intended so." Suzuki, "Before the cuts change the characters speak their dialogue and show some small gestures. Like touching their hair. How would the movie have been, if you had removed all of these gestures?" Oshii "Nothing would have been left. Telling a story, the effect of a small gesture and the presence of silence can be found in Japanese traditional plays like Nou or Joruri. I intended it that way." (note: Nou is a kind of traditional masque play from 500 years ago, Joruri is a traditional puppet theater from 300 years ago).

"The characters that are on the ground are depicted by 2D, while the air battle scenes are depicted by 3D-CG. What did you intend?". Oshii replies, "This has a simple reason. No animator can draw fighter planes or moving clouds by hand now. Generally, we can't choose hand drawn animation if we want to keep preserving quality. If it's so, I should have taken CG positively. In the air scenes, the pilots wearing helmets were drawn on cels and later on added to the CG. The taste of keeping the pilots hand-drawn filled the airplanes with soul. However, I believe none will try that way again. It takes so much time and effort. Maybe the mass media will admire Miya-san's try on insisting to use hand-drawn animation as a kind of touching tale, but I doubt it will. We cannot rely on high quality hand drawn animation anymore. At least not for theatrical features. For mass-produced anime TV series they don’t even care about its quality (note: most of them are outsourced to other Asian countries)."

(note: honestly, Oshii’s clever talk is very interesting, though it is hard to transfer all the nuances into this summary)



Oshii, "Indeed Ponyo shows the appeal of handling skills. Even if CG could have showed the jellyfish scene more realistically than how it was done in Ponyo, it can never show the taste we can enjoy due to the handling skill of Ponyo. However, hand drawn animation is a kind of craftwork. Craftwork cannot be mass-produced, because it takes a lot of time and sacrifices to grow skilled craftsmen. Behind one skilled craftsman growing up, lots of young talents are dumped into the dustbin. About 20 of the very skilled animators that have supported the high quality of Japanese hand drawn animation are already in their 40s now." Suzuki, "No. They are over 50." Oshii, "We don't see any skilled animators after them." Suzuki, "Haven't you cultivated any young animators at Production IG?" Oshii, "Yes, I tried. But the ones having that kind of level haven't appeared." Suzuki, "That is why we are planning to make another try to cultivate young animators at Nishi Ghibli" (note: Western Ghibli, Studio Ghibli’s training center in Toyota)

Suzuki, "When we were young, the anime industry was rising and lots of young people rushed in. That was something from which many skilled talents grown. It was the same in each kind of business." (note: this was during the baby boom after WW2). Oshii, "Indeed, many peopled rushed towards the anime industry as if there weren't any recruitments. However, there was another point of view. They didn't have any place of employment. I was in the same position. I wanted to work in the movie industry, though I couldn't find any work and was finally forced to an animation studio. In that age I found that business allowed us to try everything we wanted to do. Due to the luck of that age, many skilled animators were grown during that time. I don't think it is possible to recover the bad situation artificially." Suzuki, "From a historical point of view that is usually true." Oshii, "However, if there is demand and the will to make anime movies, we should apply using CG."

8th of August, VISITING THE HISAISHI JOE CONCERT AND GHIBLI LAYOUT EXHIBITION: For those who were unfortunate to miss the recent Hisaishi Joe concert and have not yet been able to visit the Ghibli Layout Exhibition, GhibliWorld.com presents a small visual journey by one of its visitors especially sent to us.

Visit the picture gallery! (click to zoom in, use keyboard arrows to navigate)

30th of July, ENRICO CASAROSA TALKS TOTORO FOREST PROJECT: About three weeks ago GhibliWorld.com reported about the official launch of the “The Totoro Forest Project”, a great project organised by people like Dice Tsutsumi, Yukino Pang, Ronnie del Carmen and Enrico Casarosa. Held in association with none other than Totoro no Furusato National Trust Fund, Studio Ghibli, Pixar Animation Studios, Cartoon Art Museum, General Consulate of Japan and Give2Asia, they brought over 200 top international artists together to do one special thing: donating artwork especially created to preserve Sayama Forest (Totoro’s forest). Truly a wonderful way of giving something back for all the years of wonder and magic Miyazaki has given them.



Being such an amazing project, it deserves everyone’s attention so GhibliWorld.com very much wanted to spend more writing on it. What more could Pixar storyboard artist Enrico Casarosa tell GhiblWorld.com about it? How did this project get started?

“Well the idea was born on my commute to work with good friend Dice Tsutsumi. He started work at Pixar last summer, we've been friends for years, since when we were working at Blue Sky Studios on Ice Age. We hit it off immediately at the time in big part due to our passion for Miyazaki and Ghibli.”

“So here we are driving into work and Dice mentions he read in the news that the foundation Miyazaki started a few years ago to protect Sayama Forest (the place where he got the idea for Totoro) was still struggling to protect this land from development, mostly due to the ever-raising real estate costs. So we started talking about how we totally could lend a hand to such a cause. Seemed only fair really, do it as a big heartfelt thank you to Miya-san himself, for the years and years of inspiration he gave us. Dice also knew that last year I had done an art auction benefit to raise funds for Emergency (a wonderful non-profit that builds hospitals in warthorn countries) so we though, why not do something like that? Gather all the amazingly talented artists we know from all around the world, have them donate a piece inspired by Totoro and make an art auction event out of it! Seemed like a plan!”



“We enrolled the help of good friend Ronnie del Carmen and Yukino Pang from the Asian Art Museum here in San Francisco, with the four of us forming the core committee. Because of copyright issues we quickly realized we wouldn't be able to use Totoro in any of these images ... so we thought the theme would roughly be "What is your Totoro?". What does this movie bring you back memories of, in your own childhood? What kind of nostalgic memories can you dig for when thinking back to the sense of wonder of childhood and nature. So what at first felt like a limitation, the fact we could not use anything resembling too closely Totoro, turned into a wonderful blessing in disguise: the pieces we got from artists are all personal and heartfelt and have very often wonderful stories behind them.”



Casarosa also explained how Pixar's and Studio Ghibli’s association came across.

“Well, one of the key factors was getting Ghibli's permission and blessing. Thanks to Dice we were able to do that. He went back to Tokyo (where he grew up) and had a few meetings with several people from Ghibli and the Totoro Forest Foundation. They've been supportive since. They think this effort could really help the foundation, not only in a monetary sense but even in helping raising awareness. We talked to the heads of Pixar a few months later and they've been totally excited about this project. They've given us the ok to host the event here at the studio and their support has been huge from that day on.”



Furthermore, Casarosa shared us his expectations for this fantastic fundraiser.

“Well, the event is turning out to be a pretty huge endeavor. At every turn the project has gotten bigger in scope and reach. There's many facets to it: The book, the auction and the exhibition. Dice and Yukino have been the driving forces behind most of this effort and I am very grateful for their hard work. As far as the auction goes, we are extremely excited about it and we are working hard to make it a very very special evening. We've just this weekend, seen the whole collection of more than two hundred pieces all together in one room and it's just breathtaking. We really hope people will be flying in for this one (laughing).”



“What else can I say. Well, I think this is a great cause, it's a wonderful little urban forest we are trying to help save and it's more than that, it's a big thank you for the dreams and wonders Miyazaki has given us through the years, it's also a communal symbolic gesture: different artists from different parts of the world coming together for a good cause. I love that.”

The Totoro inspired artworks will be auctioned on September 6th at Pixar Animation Studios. All the proceeds of this fundraiser will benefit the Totoro Forest Foundation. The official website is already filled with amazing Totoro inspired art, so be sure to check it out.



To sum things up, be sure to check out a lovely video version of Enrico Casarosa’s artistic contribution for the Totoro Forest Project. And while you are at it, why don’t you support this great cause and give something back for all the years of wonder and magic Miyazaki has given you? Helping out is easy:

MAKE A DONATION NOW!!

29th of July (second update), MIYAZAKI GORO TALKS LAYOUT: Last weekend the opening of Studio Ghibli’s latest exhibition called Studio Ghibli Layout Designs: Understanding the Secrets of Takahata/Miyazaki Animation took place. Taking place from July 26 till September 28 at Tokyo’s MOT, none other than Miyazaki Goro is supervising editor of the exhibition and Yomiuri Shimbun had an interview with him.



Question: What is a layout?
Miyazaki Goro: It is the final blueprint containing information to make a cut like camera work, camera speed and the position relation of characters and backgrounds. When seeing a layout, every section staff can understand what they should do. We make layouts to whole of each cut. So there are about 1400 layouts in both Hauru and Chihiro. I heard this system was consolidated by Takahata and Miyazaki during their work on Alps no Shōjo Heidi (アルプスの少女ハイジ, Heidi, Girl of the Alps) back in 1974.
Question: Why was such a system needed?
Miyazaki Goro: The biggest purpose is maintaining quality. Generally, as animation is produced by a division of labor, blueprints were needed to give a movie the sensation of unity. For a year long that TV series (note: Heidi) was aired every week, so the production had to be done in a very short amount of time and such a reasonable system was needed. During Heidi, most of the layout was done by Hayao.
Question: What kind of indication is concretely written in it?
Miyazaki Goro: It contains a lot of information. For example, if the chimney smoke is cel animated or CG, if the background picture is place only behind or both behind and in front, how many layers of clouds are needed and so on and so on…



Question: Those pictures are drawn carefully, despite they are not being shown to people outside the studio.
Miyazaki Goro: On the surface they might seem to be “just pictures”, though they form the hidden secret of Miyazaki animation. Basically, picture composition should be drawn on rules of perspective. However, Miyazaki animation ignores it consciously and accentuates what we want to see with human eyes. Therefore the space often twists. However, as it is close to the sense of human eyes, we do not feel it as something strange or unnatural. On the other hand, Takahata tends to be faithful on keeping perspective. He does not want the audience to be dragged into his world. Some people have the impression that Takahata’s are cold or inaccessible unfriendly, though it is intentional.
Question: What is needed on making layouts?
Miyazaki Goro: The ability of grasping space. Even if he or she accepts the rules of perspective or not, it is surely needed to know the original form.



Question: Then that is your home ground, because you experienced building architecture and landscape architecture?
Miyazaki Goro: For Gedo Senki I checked about 1,200 cuts of layouts and drew about 400 by myself. However, to tell the truth, it was groping. In those days, I used to read Hayao's e-konte and got to know it was already a perfect blueprint. I worried about how much I had to do in layout. I realized the importance of layout after seeing the finished pictures and feeling unreasonable.
Question: What kind of advice did you give on this exhibition?
Miyazaki Goro: Not so much. Some proposals about the arrangement of pictures or the value of quantities. As Chihiro has the most cuts, putting the layouts all over the wall was a better way. I did only little. To tell the truth, it is presumptuous to say I am supervising.
Question: Have you seen Ponyo?
Miyazaki Goro: Yes. Simply speaking, it is like The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Although it is a very attractive work, I had the strange feeling of wondering if it is possible to keep being attached to it. That is my honest impression.

29th of July, PONYO AND MIYAZAKI AT VENICE FILM FESTIVAL: This morning, at a press conference at the Excelsior in Rome, the line up of the 65th edition of the famed Venice Film Festival (August 27 - September 6) has been officially announced. As GhibliWorld.com noted some weeks ago and insiders had already secretly confirmed us, Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) will be one of the movies to be screened there, with its festival premiere taking place on August 31. Moreover, unlike Miyazaki Goro’s Gedo Senki, it will be in competition: it will contend for the Golden Lion. The Mostra programme furthermore includes another animated film, The Sky Crawlers by Oshii Mamoru, which is in competition as well.

It is not the first time for Miyazaki to visit the festival, who commented, "The Lido is a very beautiful place. I'm glad that I can walk there again." Certainly sharing his opinion, GhibliWorld.com will be present to cover the festival.

26th of July, OPENING OF GHIBLI LAYOUT EXHIBITION: This weekend the opening of Studio Ghibli’s latest exhibition took place. This unmissable exhibition, called Studio Ghibli Layout Designs: Understanding the Secrets of Takahata/Miyazaki Animation, takes place from July 26 till September 28 at Tokyo’s MOT. For detailed information on the exhibition, visit the official website and read our detailed post about the exhibition.

Furthermore, a photo impression of the exhibition is featured at Buta Connection. Pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and more.

25th of July, MORE EXTENSIVE TALK WITH MIYAZAKI HAYAO - PART 2: This week GhibliWorld.com posted a Ghibli Asemamire summary on a very extensive talk with none other than master animation director Miyazaki Hayao himself. It was so extensive and interesting that it will be extended with some more additional parts. This is part 2.

A conversation between director Miyazaki Hayao, executive producer Suzuki Toshio and company president Hoshino Koji - A short question by Hoshino opens the talk. He asks, “So have we been recruiting newbies every year?”. Miyazaki replies, “For these last few year we have not done so. I ordered to stop it.” Of course Hoshino would like to know why and asks Miyazaki, “Why did you stop it?”. An interesting story about one of Studio Ghibli's new plans unravels. Miyazaki starts telling…

“Every year we used to accept four to five newbie sakuga staff members. However, they were soon swallowed in the elder group and brought nothing new to the studio. They did not behave as freshmen at all. There did not blow any fresh wind from them, so I quit recruiting. These days the Japanese anime industry outsource their work to foreign countries like China or the Philippines. So the relation of labor supply and demand is not so tight as it used be. We can outsource douga easily these days.” Hoshino aks, “You mean, the gross amount of anime work is decreasing?”. Sadly Miyazaki’s answer is affirmative. “Yes, at least in Japan. For example, the douga of a short program for a TV series can be finished in one or two days by outsourcing it to China. Moreover, they add color on it. Let alone its quality. They all spill from over the TV screens. Some say the head (note: of the anime industry) still remains in Japan. I do not agree with it. The head might be like a sponge.”



“Basically they (note: meaning regularly recruited animators) are not curious and do not have interest in other persons. They do not want to give influence to others or get influence from others. They usually work with wearing earplugs (note: meaning an iPod). I do not know what they are listening though. I think they consist of a group of shit guys. Have I said too much (laughing)? Anyway, our staff might have realized that good movies cannot be made by elder staff members only. So we changed our policy and are planning to recruit young animators.”

“How many persons are you going to take?” Miyazaki replies, “About 20 at once. If we take little by little, they will surly be swallowed by that group soon. Basically, the value of setting up a studio is keeping its torso. If we need the head or hands, then we can bring ones from outside. So the torso is necessarily needed to set the head, face or hands on it. The torso is not needed to be so clever or like a rapier, but it must be a group of faithful and patient people. It is needed to have a strong stomach, guts and anus. However, it is not easy to maintain.”

“So do you mean you will build the torso by using newcomers?” Miyazaki answers, “That’s right. Our torso has gotten deteriorated now (laughing). Once we had recruited many animators and taught them everything. They have grown up and some became sakuga directors or genga staff. We have already got our return on investment.”



“Did you get more in return than seeding money (laughing)?”. Miyazaki affirms again, “Right. Rather, I grated them like radish again and squeezed them out again (laughing). Making animation needs sucking the lifeblood from young talents like a vampire.” Suzuki adds, “Explicitly saying (laughing).” Miyazaki, “However, I am not able to suck the blood anymore. The torso has thinned down to skin and bone. All I can suck is just water, but no blood. So we need to freshen the torso. If we can build it again, then good a head or hands might sprout from it. I do not want those newcomers to be influenced by tattered elders. And I want them to have a steady and quiet life. So the training institute should be placed in a local city.”

“I must tell them: You will need to spend one year and a half as an ascetic monk. You do not need to see anything, any information or news. Get up early and come to the institute at 9 and work hard till 5. During that time you must not use a cell phone, e-mail or iPod. Devote yourself in looking at the world and drawing pictures. Then we will ensure your salary and life. You can learn everything you need, even if it is in a rural city. If you bear with this one year and a half, you will get much more than spending ten years slobbing around in Tokyo.”



“Do you intend on recruiting people that have some experience?” Miyazaki, “No. We’ll be looking for quite newbies. I will go and teach them how to draw one day once a week. If they can complete a short movie and see children having fun at the museum, they will get a big confidence.” Suzuki adds, “We might be able to find big talent in them.” Miyazaki, “I visited Aardman studio in England. Instead of London it is based in Bristol. By train it takes about one hour from London to get there. Bristol is just a local city. Around the studio there are only some factories and green, but nothing more than that. It has a nice company cafeteria run by two male chefs. They are both tall and muscular. I guess on Sundays they are hooligans at the football stadium. I want chefs like those… (laughing)”

“Anyway, If we continue our style any longer, hand-drawn animation might perish. There is one way that we also join the consumers who consume everything and entertainment. Many of our staffs already joined them.”. Suzuki asks, “Consumers are not able to create, can they?” Miyazaki replies, “No. We do not need to be consumers. They must not watch Korean dramas or purchase the DVDs (laughing). I do not mean all of our staff should be the way I wish them to be. However, at least the core of the creators that assume a responsibility to take the studio to our goal must be stoic. A group that has the common experience of spending a hard time together is what we need. During their training, if they learned hard and can find the secret of the world of animation - even if it as small as the eye of a needle - they will be able to go on as animators.”



Studio Ghibli recently announced having started recruiting interns. The training center will be in Toyota city, in Aichi prefecture, a city of course famous of world’s biggest car company Toyota. Satsuki and Mei's house that was build at Aichi Expo is near it.

- Period: April 1 2009 to March 31 2011
- Age: graduating high school or university March 2009 (meaning 18 to 22 years old)
- Salary: 167,000 Yen per month, social assurances and holidays included
- Needed: two hand drawn B4 pictures to apply and prior examination

23rd of July, MORE EXTENSIVE TALK WITH MIYAZAKI HAYAO - PART 1: This week GhibliWorld.com posted a Ghibli Asemamire summary on a very extensive talk with none other than master animation director Miyazaki Hayao himself. It was so extensive and interesting that it will be extended with some more additional parts. This is part 1.

At the beginning of the production of Ponyo - Miyazaki tells, “At first, Ponyo didn’t exist in the plan. A boy existed, though he had no name. There was also a house on the cliff. It had been empty for a long time, until a strange guy began to live there. That person was already Fujimoto (note: Ponyo’s father in the final version). Fujimoto asked the boy, “Didn’t you see anything strange near here?”. At that point, what Fujimoto was searching for was not Ponyo, but a tin toy frog. This was because I planned a story based on Nakagawa Rieko’s Kaeru no Eruta (Elta the Frog). I tried to develop it into a story for a while, but I realized it was impossible and I gave up on it. I still brought the book with me to Tomonoura though. Anyway, Nakagawa’s stories are usually incredibly lacking in logic. She is a writer who can explain everything without logic. She says ”Why does it need anymore explanation?” She needs no rules.”



Then when did you began to have the intent of your new movie not needing any rules, logic or background explanation? Miyazaki replies, “If I would tell about all of the events that happen during the time process in which the story takes place, then it must take many hours. What should I do? I decided to take the risk of using drastic skips. There is a theory of how to build up a story, like first someone meets somebody else, the story develops, a small catastasis comes in the middle, a big catastasis comes at the end and then a happy ending closes the story. It is very common in Samurai-plays, Westerns and detectives. If a director repeats that particular pattern, then his movies begin to decay. I know there are such guys repeating that style over and over again and without any doubt. However, we should notice its corrupted smell by ourselves. If I start making a movie with a foreseeable story development, then it soon begins to emit a corrupted smell to me (laughing). In that case I should throw it away. Working any longer on it will only degenerate things. I believe so.”

About Ponyo, we felt your intention of completely pruning away the extra drama… Miyazaki notes, “That storm was caused by Ponyo. She just wanted to meet Sosuke again. So she did not have any bad intentions. We cannot blame her. That is the kind of character I wanted to make as a heroine.”

22nd of July, ORIKAESI-TEN, PONYO MERCHANDISE: This month publisher Iwanami released Miyazaki's new book Orikaesi-ten 1998- 2008, a follow-up to Shuppatsu-ten 1979- 1996. With a page number of 522 pages it includes 60 project proposals, essays, interviews, talks and lectures and manages to leave a highly interesting 12 year trace of Miyazaki’s thoughts. From Mononoke to Ponyo. A must-have for anyone who is able to read Japanese.



Furthermore, with the release of Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) a lot of merchandise is being released as well. Time to take a better look at what kind of Ponyo goods Lawson has the Japanese to offer: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

20th of July, AN EXTENSIVE TALK WITH MIYAZAKI HAYAO AT GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE 42: Yesterday the moment was finally there: Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) received its official release. As was announced last week, Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire at Tokyo FM dedicated full (expended) airtime to its release and brought an extensive conversation with Miyazaki Hayao. As usual GhibliWorld.com brings a summary and a podcast version can be found over here.

“After I made Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (ハウルの動く城, Howl’s Moving Castle), I regretted that people said it was not understandable. Basically, my belief was to make movies for children. Despite of this, I made Howl’s. I had worried till I decided to make a next movie.”



Miyazaki stayed at a small port town for two months to ease his mind and body - Around that time I was suffering from an autonomic imbalance. Natsume Soseki once told that humans tend to have an autonomic imbalance when civilization progresses. Because we are always living in crowds, we need time to be alone. If we live alone and have a simple life, the autonomic imbalance gets better. By simple life I mean to cook and wash by myself, take a walk, read and sleep and repeating it everyday. When we had a company tour to that town (Tomonoura) and I stayed at a old house on a cliff, the owner told me that was OK to continue to stay there for a while without any pay.

I just walked the same road everyday and had 2 an-pan (bean-jam bun) for lunch. All I could hear was the bush warblers tweeting in the woods and the engine sound of the fisher boats. Each boat had a different sound. So quiet. Once a bush warbler got angry and attacked me when I smoked. We are not able to have experiences like this in Tokyo. When we are pushed into a corner, we can see the scenery more beautifully. My nerve touched the scenery directly. The sunset touched me very much in that situation. I got an image of someone watching sunset from on a cliff. I didn't knew where the piece of jigsaw puzzle slipped into, but I wanted to make a film that included such an image.



Miyazaki talks about nature and earth - Various disasters attack us, but we should not think governments are to be blamed for them. It is Ponyo that causes them (laughing). That way we feel less stressed. When a big earthquake occurred in Noto peninsula, an old man smiled to see his house completely collapsed. I liked that old man. Maybe he did not know what to do and all he could do was laugh, but I empathize him. In my opinion the sea level should raise and we should be having earthquakes. Also in Tokyo. Like Jomon Kaishin, a raising sea level is not that strange when looking at the geological time scale.

(Note: The Jomon period is said to have lasted about 10,000 years, starting 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. During part of that period, the seas rose and submerged low-lying areas in Japan. This phenomenon is called Jomon Kaishin. When the sea was highest about 6,000 years ago, Tokyo Bay stretched 65 km inland to what is now the city of Tatebayashi in Gumma Prefecture. The sea level would have been several meters higher then, and mean temperatures were more than 3�C warmer than they are now.)

The Japanese islands itself were also shaped by volcano activities. Everything is moving. Rocks, continents, planets, stars... Gaia theory says earth is like a creature and alive. If we look at things from that point of view, disasters cannot be seen as just tragic events. Generally, creatures must meet several disasters. Recently, people tend to call other to account them for disasters or accidents. Such tendency brings difficulties on running a nursery for example. Children can even drown in a shallow pond. If we get rid of the pond and stairs and just flatten the ground, will that result in a situation in which children can grow well? Impossible. Children must experience falling down, getting hurt or burning themselves... like people from the stone age experienced. After that, human brains can work well, I guess. Kids must master how to kindle a fire, keep it and put it out.



We live in a virtual reality like world. We consume things manufactured in backstreet factories somewhere in far away countries we don't know. Basically, we should eat things we make by ourselves. I do not believe a system like this can continue.

Although having said that, talking about my own life, I have lived being part of the animation industry for 45 years long. It is a rare lucky life to see from a world historic point of view. However, I am not sure young people working in animation are still lucky. No one knows if it will exist forever. I doubt it will. Of course when we were young we also had angst in the future of animation. But as a result, we have lived in a lucky age. In a certain sense, staying for 45 years in the anime industry is a very rare thing. Sorry to have spend so much paper. Seems I have spend paper and pencils mostly. Animation wastes a lot of resources. It’s not good. Looking around Tokyo from the top of the NTV building, I wish everything will sink under the sea. It is a useless apology that I'm making good films or working for children, I just happened to have a had job that has karma. All I can do is make animation. It is a kind of an atonement that I made a nursery. However, I'm not forgiven or have corrected any balance. I keep walking in the twilight (laughing).



Miyazaki Hayao’s words of Ponyo: Where does he place in children? - I made this movie with the intent that 5 year old children can understand it, even if 50 years can't. Watching children at the nursery, 5 year olds have enough language ability and intelligence, even though they can't express it by words.

I do not think Japanese animation has a bright future. Because children and young people are growing up surrounded by virtual things. Making animation needs remembering of his or hers real life experiences. Of course it includes watching movies or theater play, though most of it is about physical movements. We must remember how our bodies move in every situation. While growing up we have stocked it in our memory. The most important factor is our experiences. The ones that have grown up playing virtual games are lacking this. For example, he who hasn't lighted a match, because his father doesn't smoke. He who has never burnt a burner, because his kitchen doesn't have any stoves but only has a microwave. How can he who has never seen a real flame draw it? I once ordered a young animator to watch a flame for four hours. It is very difficult for such guys to draw a fleshly play, even when making a big effort. I think, the human brain is basically programmed based on using a needle or knife or to color or bend things. It is impossible to only do things metaphysically without the physical side.

Sosuke enjoyed being poured with water by Ponyo. Another kid felt uncomfortable. If all of the audience feels uncomfortable and can't empathize with Sosuke, then the character Sosuke doesn't work out and the movie must fail. I have watched children at our nursery and gotten confidence of the probability of Sosuke's character and completing this movie.

18th of July, FINAL PONYO TRAILER: Ponyo ga kuru! Time is running up and only ONE day is left before the release of Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea). Today its final trailer was broadcasted on Japanese television and, for those who unfortunately were unable to see it, words cannot express how good it looked.

Miyazaki’s idea of fully hand drawn animation, the pastel & water color backgrounds, the waves… it all just perfectly fits together. That is all that needs to be said. Like Miyazaki wants his movie to be, explore the rest of Ponyo & Sosuke’s adventure by yourself. It will certainly blow you away.

Due to copyrights GhibliWorld.com will not be hosting the trailer, all will be kept at one picture with four screenshots of Sosuke only. Your understanding is appreciated.

17th of July, MIYAZAKI HAYAO TALKS PONYO AND HOSHINO KOJI TALKS ABOUT GHIBLI’S FUTURE: Ponyo ga kuru! Only two days are away before the release of the latest film of master animation director Miyazaki Hayao. The huge amount of Ponyo news and advertising it brings is almost too much to keep track of. However, much of it is interesting and manages to raise a lot of people looking immensely forward to Miya-san’s newest creation. A recent example is NHK’s Ohayou Nippon which featured an interview with Miyazaki himself.



Miyazaki “I intended to make a film that 5 year old children can understand. They don’t watch it by logic but by feeling. However, it wasn’t easy.”

The water and waves in Ponyo move intricately. It has been said that in the use of animation it is not easy to depict them. Miyazaki says, ”Well, I don’t put the emphasize on the interface of water and air. When children dive into the water and open their eyes, of course they can’t breath, but they will see a quite different world. It is really exciting. I hope my film can help them trying to get such a small adventure.”

Since Mononoke Hime Miyazaki had innovated CG into his films. However, this time he tried to make an animated film all by hand and without the use of CG. As a result, 70 staff members had to draw a total of 170,000 pictures in period of one and a half year. Miyazaki notes, “Talking from our experience, people tend not to be so surprised at things that have been done “by electricity” (note: of course Miyazaki hints at the use of computers here). We have drawn with pencils for a long time, so then we thought we should do it with pencils only. That is our advantage. Even we ourselves felt fresh to see the completed film.”



Unlike with CG, hand drawn lines often warp or misalign. However, those lines sometimes bring unexpected and sensitive motions. Miyazaki intended to bring this kind of dynamism onto the entire screen, even to the backgrounds like the jellyfish or seaweed. It would bring more appeal to the film. As Miyazaki tells, “I want to move whole of the world. Basically, we became animators because we wanted to move everything. So it isn’t good if only the characters move. Even on buildings, it is OK if not only curtains, but also the building itself can move. Not only the grasses, but even the ground can move. Such fluctuation gives the movie a sense of being alive.”

One of the ideas for this film Miyazaki got while he visited and stayed at a small port town. There he felt the beauty of the sea and the Japanese people’s mind to the sea that they had felt since long ago. Miyazaki mentions, “I think we should respect the sea, including the hills and trees around it. All of it has not been lost. Though we often lose to the power of money. However, I believe it still remains deep in our Japanese mind that has lived in this island country for a long time.”

(Note: Miyazaki hints at destroying nature for development. For example, the Tomonoura port earth filling or the Isahaya bay reclamation).



He hopes children to keep respecting nature. He wants to tell it to children by his movie. Miyazaki tells, “When they go to the sea, they might think the waves are alive. That’s the clue so that they become to care about nature. Of course, they never think waves have eyes and chase children. They might think nature is alive. In fact, small children usually do so. I’m afraid their precious time is spoiled. That’s all.”

(Note: Miyazaki wants children to have more time to get in touch with nature. While speaking he often skips his words, so to somewhat get the meaning in English some gaps were filled.)

Furthermore, Nikkei Waga Maga features an interview with Studio Ghibli president Hoshino Koji. Following is an interesting except of Hoshino talking about Studio Ghibli’s future.



Ever since Hohokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun (ホーホケキョとなりの山田くん, My Neighbors the Yamadas) in 1999, Takahata hasn't produced anymore films. In fact, his new movie is now being prepared. We can’t tell the details, though it has been more crystallized than it was some years ago. He hasn't produced movie in these 10 years, but was busy on writing or lecturing. If Miyazaki is the one who gathers attention under the sun, Takahata is the type who quietly cruises underwater. If they have any common point, then they both have amazingly deep fountain of creation. Takahata is now very fine. Please, expect his next film. Goro is also preparing his new film.

There is a possibility we will promote a new director coming from the Studio Ghibli staff or invite a director from outside. We are always considering to employ various producers and directors because Studio Ghibli is a production company that can earn by only producing.

In Japanese animation business Studio Ghibli is the first company that employs animators by a monthly salary system. This April the staff of Ghibli Museum also became permanent employees. Furthermore, we started a nursery for employees. Maybe these reforms seem to row against the current, though we think it is important to do what we want to do.

16th of July, KONDO KATSUYA TALKS PONYO: The August edition of the Japanese animation magazine Animage features a talk with Studio Ghibli veteran Kondo Katsuya. Since 1986, starting with Laputa, he has been working on countless Studio Ghibli movies as one of their top animators and during the years his resume has expanded to more than that. Kondo’s job has ranged from key animator and character designer to animation director and so on.

Needless to say, the latest project on which Kondo worked is Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea). After most of the information on Ponyo having come from Suzuki Toshio (and somewhat sporadically from Miyazaki Hayao), this time it is Kondo to share his thoughts on working on Ponyo. It adds an interesting new perspective. For those who can't read Japanese, a GhibliWorld summary follows below.



Question: How did you join Ponyo?
Kondo Katsuya: When I was working on one of the Ghibli Museum shorts as an animation director, Miyazaki-san alluded it to me. He said, "A movie that is able to get through by watching the pictures only without the dialogue. I want to try and make a future length film that tells its story by the animation itself."
Question: As sakuga director of Ponyo, what was your stance?
Kondo Katsuya: I did not change my style so much. Miyazaki used to say, "In commercial animation, the technique of “maximum advantage with a minimum of labor” has been developed. We will choose the way that had been thrown away. The way of the more labor and cuts being spend, the higher the quality gets." Of course we did not spend much on scenes that didn’t need many sakuga, but poured 10 on the important scenes which we used to spend 5 on or so in the past. I had aimed on balancing such density of sakuga.
Question: Are there any scenes you had a tough time on?
Kondo Katsuya: When talking about that, every scene was. I don't mean there were some scenes we spared effort. Keeping level was important.

Question: How about the characters? Were there any of those you had a tough time on?
Kondo Katsuya: The character of Gran Manmare was a hard one. We had to be delicate, because she is an absolutely beautiful woman.
Question: Of course Gran Manmare is glamorous. This time, I got the impression that the female characters were being depicted with glamour.
Kondo Katsuya: Ultimately, a sakuga director's job is to burnish and glaze everything. If there is nobody to notice it, there is no raison d'etre for me. They add the fruit around the pit, I am to one to polish it and hand it over to the douga staff. My job is doing the makeup on each character at the final stage. Pictures can’t be interesting if the characters itself don't have any amorousness or burnishing. I believe that is the largest reason that I was told to be sakuga director.
Question: Reading Miyazaki's e-konte (storyboard), did you find anything that was different from the from his previous ones?
Kondo Katsuya: Yes, the e-konte was painted in color. This time we had to depict a real world or sea world and to let the staff know Miyazaki's intent, he had to paint it with color. As it was well-received he couldn't keep it at the beginning only, but continued till the last.
Question: Were there any characters that you were inspired from by your family?
Kondo Katsuya: Well, it was the exact opposite. Miyazaki was inspired to see my family and the character of Fujimoto seems to be taken from me. When we were recording the voices for the film and Miyazaki was directing the part of Fujimoto, he said, "Kondo does like this…". He often models a character on the ones close to him.
Question: Do you have any other examples?
Kondo Katsuya: Ponyo is modeled on my 3 year old daughter. When Miyazaki explains about Ponyo during work, he doesn't call her Ponyo, but uses my daughter's name.



Question: You wrote the lyrics of the theme song. Was it Miyazaki who ordered it to you?
Kondo Katsuya: Yes. He asked me, "Why don't your try?" and I replied, "Aha? May I? OK. I will." (laughing). It seemed like something very interesting. At that time, Hisaishi Joe already finished the music. I had been beside Miyazaki and I knew about his intentions. So I thought it was easy.
Question: So it was an easy task for you?
Kondo Katsuya: No, not at all (laughing). I wrote a few lines long memo and showed it to him the next day. He told me to do it in that line. After taking about 10 days to complete, I showed it to him. He said it was not bad.
Question: Seems like it went smooth.
Kondo Katsuya: Yes, till that time I thought I had done a good job and was satisfied. However, after that, it was made into a demo sung and while listening to it Miyazaki told me, "Kondo-kun. It's not good." I agreed it to listen it. Miyazaki said, "It's too vexatiously complicated. Make it more simple. When you come at the point where you understand it, that is the moment you must quit."
Question: That's severe.
Kondo Katsuya: At first, Miyazaki gave me a memo about the lyrics, saying something like "want hands, wants legs, it'll be nice if I had them". I had considered about it and written. I couldn't give up and tried it again for 3 or 4 days. Then it went well. Maybe I wrote too much about the story in the first version. So I re-wrote it more simply and focused more on telling about the physical side.
Question: How did you feel while you listened to the completed song?
Kondo Katsuya: That it was better. The first version was like a bouquet of small flowers. It was not so impressive. Showing a big flower like a sunflower gives a much larger impact.

(Note: Sunflowers play a notable role in Gake no ue no Ponyo. An example of this is Himawari-en, the nursery which Sosuke attends. Himawari means sunflower in Japanese.)

14th of July, GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE 41: With another episode of Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire at Tokyo FM having passed, GhibliWorld.com brings another summary as well. As usual, during the week a podcast version will be available for download over here.

Seven years ago Hiiragi Rumi acted the role of Chihiro on Miyazaki Hayao’s Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (千と千尋の神隠し, Spirited Away). She was in 2nd grade of middle school at that time. Now she is a college student and becomes 21 years old this August. They talked about that episode Nayo and Hiiragi Rumi were selected as voice actors (note: a rectification on Ghibli Asemamire 39 is needed here as information was mixed up. Hiiragi and Nayo only play the roles of husband and wife, they do not have a relationship themselves) and Suzuki told about the Ghibli Layout Exhibition. As news on this was already posted on GhibliWorld.com, we will leave it at this. However, there was an announcement about the next episode of Ghibli Asemamire. On July 20, a special edition of Ghibli Asemamire will be aired. Its broadcast will be expanded to 60 minutes and will feature a long interview with none other than Miyazaki Hayao.

13th of July, MIYAZAKI GORO TALKS PONYO, DAISHI DANCE MEETS GHIBLI: Last Friday Miyazaki Goro’s Gedo Senki (ゲド戦記, Tales from Earthsea) received its TV premiere at NTV’s Friday Roadshow. In that line, Goro earlier spoke that morning about his father’s latest film, Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea), at NTV Zoom in Super.



Miyazaki Goro: In the scene in which a lot of jellyfish are swimming, all of them are drawn by hand. There aren't any the same ones. I'm afraid of its formidableness. A total over 170,000 pieces of picture were drawn for only 100 minutes of animation. The density is awesome.
Q: How is that in the case of usual animation?
Goro: They draw a few of jellyfish and copy & paste them by computer.
Q: How is your relationship with your father? Has it changed?
Goro: His presence has not changed at all. Maybe he thinks "I'll show you my power!".
Q: Do you expect Hayao's next film?
Goro: I wonder until when he will continue to make anime. He will surely be over 70 years old if he makes a next. It is really incredible that someone over 70 can produce anime.



Now when taking a look at other factors creating the magic of Studio Ghibli films, one cannot deny its soundtracks play an important role as well. Of course, in that case a name like Hisaishi Joe, who is having some gigantic Ghibli concerts at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan early August, immediately turns up. For those who sadly cannot join that party, there are two musical options. The first one being Ponyo’s soundtrack, which is to be released in only a couple days away (July 16) and an obligated buy for anyone interested in Hisaishi’s latest musical pieces. The second one, for those who want more, is Daishi Dance’s The Ghibli Set. It was released earlier this month and mixes Ghibli songs with a contemporary flavour.

Watch the promotional video of The Ghibli Set: Daishi Dance meets Studio Ghibli PV

12th of July, PONYO’S KEYWORD - PART 2: As noted last week, the official website for Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) has been given a major update. Besides the extra flash gallery on the main page, the newly added press section contains a keyword with more inside information on Ponyo. For the Japanese impaired, GhibliWorld.com now presents a summary on its second and final part.

A secret of the ancient fish - In Ponyo there is typhoon that causes the sea level to rise, making the town sink into the sea and bringing underwater creatures that once existed in the Devonian period. Some examples are the Bothriolepis and Dipnorhynchus, which really used to exist and of which fossils were found. Another one is Devonencs. It is huge whale like shark and its body is flat. In fact, this is an imaginary creature created by Miyazaki, on which he says "Isn't it like " Ittan-momen?".

(Note: Ittan-momen is a kind of traditional specter. Ittann means about 10 meter long, momen means cotton, so it's a cloth specter. It became popular by Mizuki Shigeru's manga GeGeGe no Kitaro.)

Back with Nausicaa Miyazaki already created huge fictional insects. Like that, Ponyo’s water creatures stun the audience, without their form showing any unreasonableness. Instead, it shows Miyazaki's imagination and his deep knowledge about biology.



Love for Ramen - In Miyazaki’s films there often appear many kinds of delicious looking food. Like the sunny-side up egg and bread in Laputa, Tendon, Anman and Onigiri in Sen to Chihiro and the bacon and eggs in Hauru...

(Note: Tendon (天丼) is the shrimp tempura in a rice bowl which Kamaji eats for lunch, Anman（あんまん）are bean-paste buns Chihiro and Rin eat it in the night at the balcony and Onigiri（おにぎり） is the rice ball that Haku gives to Chihiro when she was crying.)

In Ponyo, the best is the Ramen which Lisa serves to Sosuke and Ponyo, even though it's just instant noodles. Miyazaki's favorite is the one with spinach added to it. However, it wasn't easy to draw and as a result it was changed to green onion as we can see in the picture. There are also two pieces of ham on the ramen to be seen. In that particular scene where Ponyo eats the ham, the animator drew Ponyo taking the upper piece first, however the Sakuga director checked it and corrected it. Ponyo takes the lower ham first, because it is dunked in the soup and can be much warmer than the upper one. It's a delicate persistency. Like this ramen episode, the movie shows various examples of delicate persistency and direction everywhere.



The depiction of waves - This time, with Ponyo, Miyazaki has put most of his effort on depicting waves "like creatures". He turned them into huge rushing fishes called "Suigyo" (水魚, water fish).

Miyazaki uses the waves to resemble these huge fishes and depicts roaring waves in an overwhelming volume. Those who can see them as fish are only children like Sosuke, but adults like Lisa only see the waves. We once saw such a thing in Totoro. Children can detect the entity with their pure eyes. This is a unbudging belief Miyazaki has kept consistently. He might have created a new depiction style of waves that is different from Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎).



A thought put into gladiolus - At Ponyo’s Himawari-en (the nursery which Sosuke attends) and Himawari-no-ie there are blooming gladiolus. In flower language they stand for passionate love, memory, endeavor and forgetting and there are not many flowers that have such various meanings in flower language.

When Miyazaki was discussing the art settings of Ponyo with its art director, he insisted on appearing gladiolus in the film. Gladiolus is a very familiar flower that many people have experiences of growing from bulb. Ponyo's passionate love. Sosuke's endeavor for his given trial. The people in the story who forget everything that happened in the movie and return to their daily life. The gladiolus flowers might clandestinely watch them from behind the scenes...



Again a sunken town - In Miyazaki’s films we sometimes see sunken towns. Famous examples are Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro (ルパン三世 カリオストロの, The Castle of Cagliostro) where a Roman town appears and Panda Kopanda: Amefuri Circus no Maki (パンダ・コパンダ 雨降りサーカスの巻, Panda Kopanda: The Rainy-Day Circus) where Mimi-chan's town sinks in the flood. This time, the town where Sosuke and Lisa live sinks in the water. A common thing they all share is that they all sink in clear water, instead of a muddy stream. The scene depicts just an accident, without recalling any tragic disaster, but instead something exciting and nostalgic that extraordinary events brought us in our childhood. When Miyazaki once watched Fantasia 2000, he mentioned "Nice try… though if I make it, I draw the sunken town under the water surface on that flamingos are dancing." In Miyazaki's conscious mind, there exists the persistence of wanting to visualize sunken towns.

(Note: Every summer Japan is attacked by some typhoons. They often bring disaster to adults, though children always look forward to its arrival, because they bring adventure and joy and school closing.)

10th of July, TOTORO FOREST PROJECT, ITALIAN GHIBLI STORM AHEAD: During our extensive personal interview with him Pixar storyboard artist Enrico Casarosa already informed about us a very neat project he was planning do with some of his friends. Organised by people like Dice Tsutsumi, Yukino Pang, Ronnie del Carmen and Enrico Casarosa himself, it is now finally there… “The Totoro Forest Project”.

Miyazaki Hayao has been (and continues to be) an enormous inspiration to countless people around the world and the Totoro Forest Project, an international charity effort to preserve Sayama Forest (Totoro’s forest), is their way of giving something back for all the years of wonder and magic Miyazaki has given them. Held in association with Totoro no Furusato National Trust Fund, Studio Ghibli, Pixar Animation Studios, Cartoon Art Museum, General Consulate of Japan and Give2Asia, over 200 top international artists from animation, illustration, and comics are donating artwork especially created for this cause. These will be auctioned on September 6th at Pixar Animation Studios, which will be hosting the art auction event. All the proceeds of this fundraiser will benefit the Totoro Forest Foundation.

The official website just launched, so be sure to check it out. It is already filled with amazing Totoro inspired art. And while you’re at it, why don’t you make a donation to help and preserve Totoro’s Sayama forest?



Furthermore, important Ghibli news related to Italy. The Italian distribution company Lucky Red arrived at an option agreement with Studio Ghibli. As a result, starting from autumn the whole Ghibli production might possibly be released in Italy on DVD, with new dubs. But there is more: the additional plan is that all the films by Hayao Miyazaki will be released also in cinemas! This huge Ghibli campaign is aimed to start on November 14, with the first release of Totoro in Italian cinemas. Then, all the other Miyazaki films will follow, with a schedule of two films per year. The official press communicate by Lucky Red will be published in the next days, so GhibliWorld.com will let you know as soon as it will be available. Will all of this be a follow-up to a possible screening of Ponyo at the famous Venice Film Festival…?

9th of July, 7ANDY PONYO INTERVIEW - PART 1: The Studio Ghibli pages at the Japanese webstore 7andY have been updated with a talk between Studio Ghibli’s executive producer Suzuki Toshio and 7andY president Suzuki Yasuhiro. Logically, its subject was Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) and GhibliWorld.com presents a summary of part 1 for the Japanese impaired (part 2 will be published on July 22nd). Their question was: Even for a 5 year old, the world is "male and female"?



Toshio: How was the movie?
Yasuhiro: A lot of fun. I felt I went into a wonderful world.
Toshio: What made you have fun?
Yasuhiro: Sosuke behaves very naively. I thought I was like that when I was small.
Toshio: Were you like Sosuke?
Yasuhiro: Ponyo and Sosuke ride on a boat in the sunken town. That scene excited me. When I was small, a typhoon came and electric power was cut. I blew up a vinyl boat in the candle light. I wanted to ride on it if it flood. I reminded that.
Toshio: You know Sosuke doesn't have male friends. So did you?
Yasuhiro: No, I used to play only with boys.
Toshio: Sosuke is just 5 years old though, he only cares about girls. I wonder how his future would be (laughing). Miya-san usually does such a thing. When we produced Kiki, we had an argument. The first person who Kiki meets at Koriko town is a boy named Tombo. I told him violently "The one she meets first is a male?" In my opinion, when one visits an unfamiliar place the first person to meet must be of the a same sex.
Yasuhiro: I see.
Toshio: After that, she or he becomes aware of the opposite sex. Twenty years have passed since then and he still follows the same pattern. This time, I asked him unobtrusively "Sosuke does not seem to have any male friends..?" He replied "In fact, he has some. They just don't appear because I'm too busy to draw them." I thought his belief has consistence. He believes even for 5 year old kids, the world is "male and female".
Yasuhiro: In a way, that's natural.
Toshio: No. I don't think it's natural. Usually, we first make friends with people of the same sex, and after that we get eased at mind, then we become aware of the opposite sex. I mean, Miya-san's characters have no interest in same sex. That's one of the points of attraction of his movie.

8th of July, THE ART OF PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA: Those being really fond of the works of Studio Ghibli will certainly not be unfamiliar with their “The Art of...” book collection. With some small exceptions like Hotaru no Haka and Umi ga Kikoeru, almost everyone of their films has received the “The Art of...”-treatment and of course Miyazaki Hayao’s latest creation cannot stay behind. A variety of sketches, storyboards, background information, and cel reproductions (with backgrounds) of Miya-san’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) will all be put in The Art of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. This another fine edition of Studio Ghibli’s “The Art of...” book collection will be released on August 2nd at a price of 2,900 Yen. Pre-orders at international webstores like Amazon.co.jp or Yesasia aren’t up yet, but GhibliWorld.com already has its highly attractive cover art. Mixing watercolors with pastels. Isn’t it lovely?

7th of July (second update), MIYAZAKI AND PONYO COMING TO VENICE FILM FESTIVAL???: Oricon brings word on the recently held preview report of Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea). Now for details please visit Nausicaa.net, because all this post will talk about is one thing: Ponyo will be screened at an “unnamed international film festival”.

Most very probably this will be the famed Venice International Film Festival. Note that nothing has been confirmed and the festival’s official programme still needs to be announced (during a press conference, to be held on 29th July at the Hotel Excelsior in Rome), but chances are as close as 99%. Besides Miyazaki’s love for Italy, Miyazaki and la Biennale have quite the history. Furthermore, last April Venice director Marco M�ller already spoke of his wishes for the festival. One of it being Miyazaki’s Ponyo. Let’s hope M�ller’s wish will be granted.

7th of July, PONYO’S KEYWORD - PART 1: As noted yesterday, the official website for Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) has been given a major update. Besides the extra flash gallery on the main page, the newly added press section contains a keyword with more inside information on Ponyo. For the Japanese impaired, GhibliWorld.com presents a summary on its first half.

The wonderful shade the moon brought to the movie - At the opening of the movie we see an impressive moon. It is larger than usual and as it appears its existence becomes larger. Miyazaki mentions that "Because of the world’s balance disruption, the moon is getting close to earth." It brings the crisis of earth’s collapsing; the moon’s approximation causes a gravitational imbalance, making the sea level rise and cities sink into the sea.

However, the moon means more than that. Since early times, the moon has been said to be a female symbol. Ponyo's mother Gran Manmare always appears at night and radiates a strange moonshine-like light. Some say the moon can govern human spirit and increase the numbers of suicide during full moon. Or the moon's age and tide having some relation with human life and death. It may be no exaggeration to say that humans as a creature are controlled by the moon.



The relationship with the Ghibli Museum shorts - Some of the trials Studio Ghibli has accumulated during the production of six of the Ghibli Museum shorts have been reflected on this movie. From Koro no Daisanpo (コロの大さんぽ, Koro's Big Day Out), with its picture book style like backgrounds (the warm and nostalgic style painted by Yoshida Noboru was first accepted in that movie). From Mizugumo Monmon (水グモもんもん, Monmon the Water Spider), with its the detailed depiction of water. From Yadosagashi (やどさがし, House Hunting), with its depiction of trees, grasses and winds which were drawn using Sakuga. From Hoshi wo Katta Hi (星をかった日, The Day I Harvested a Star), with its three-dimensional depiction without using CG mapping.

These are the experiences that made it possible to make Ponyo without any CG. Because we nowadays don’t use cel animation at all, we necessarily need computer processing on the composition of characters, backgrounds and effecting of light. However, we can feel something awesome on this all hand drawn movie.



Listening to Wagner's Valkyrie - When Miyazaki was developing the idea of Ponyo, he used to listen to the entire composition of Wagner's opera The Valkyrie. Some staff say that Miyazaki was saying "Listening to this music, I can feel the adrenaline flowing". Like Hitler used Wagner in Nazi propaganda, Wagner’s music has an uplifting power to the human sprit.

No wonder such Valkyrie could effect something on the movie. The real name of Ponyo is Br�nnhilde and was derived from the eldest of the nine flying girls named the Valkyrie. She is slept by her father Wotan, who is caring about her. From the very beginning, the world view of Valkyrie is the world of the gods fronting the end of the time. From these, the influence can be guessed. Wotan is the master of the gods, trying to avoid the end of the world. We can easily imagine Ponyo's father Fujimoto from it.



The root from Natsume Soseki - After the production of Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (ハウルの動く城, Howl’s Moving Castle), Miyazaki eagerly read the complete works of Natsume Soseki, which gave an unforeseen effect on Ponyo (note: Natsume is widely considered to be Japan’s foremost novelist of the Meiji Era). Natsume's novel Mon sets its main character as Sosuke. This Sosuke lives under a cliff and it is obvious that Ponyo’s Sosuke is derived from Mon’s Sosuke.

Furthermore, Natsume studied abroad in London when he was young. He must surely have seen Millais's Ophelia at Tate Britain. In his book Kusamakura (草枕, Grass Pillow), Soseki overlapped Ophelia on its heroine and mentioned about the picture of Ophelia. Miyazaki got an interest in Millais’s diabolical picture and visited Britain to watch it by his own naked eyes. He was shocked to see it and decided to change his way of depiction, which was too detailed and over mature to naiveness. And all of this started because of Soseki. Surprisingly, according to the old calendar Soseki's birthday is on 1/5. Miyazaki's is on 1/5 according to the new calendar. They might be linked by fate.

(Note: Miyazaki was shocked by Ophelia’s detailed depiction. He thought the way pursued by Studio Ghibli had already been completed by Millais and other European painters from the 19th century with a much higher level than that of Ghibli.)



Mother and Child, by Suzuki Toshio - This year Miyazaki became 67 years old. Last autumn, he told, "I became at such an age that I can count the rest of my days until "Omukae" comes to me. Then perhaps I can meet my mother again. When that time comes, what should I talk with her about?"

(Note: When we die we think someone like God, Buddha, an angel or death comes to invite and take us from beyond the grave or above the sky. In the Ponyo song Himawari no Ie no Rondo, the lyrics go "I want to dance again for a while until Omukae comes to me". This is the wish of the elderly wheel chaired women.)

During the production of Ponyo Miya-san was always thinking about this. During one of the days of production, a scene of seeing again came up in the movie. Of course it does not depict such a situation of Miyazaki himself. He borrows the character of the 5 year old Sosuke and lets him meet with an old woman. I won’t tell what they talk about. You will know it when it’s on the screen. Either way, no matter how old we get, the existence of one’s mother has a large and deep meaning for all of us.

6th of July, PONYO WEBSITE UPDATE, GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE 40: The official website for Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) has been given a major update. Its main page now has an extra flash gallery with a lot new beautiful high resolution pictures from the movie, making you long even more for its release. Also newly added to the website is a press section, divided up into sub sections like story, about, character, song 1, song 2, keyword, profile and credits. Scattered around various posts, most of its content has already been posted before on GhibliWorld.com, but there still is enough information worth mentioning so beware of future updates.



With another episode of Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire at Tokyo FM having passed, GhibliWorld.com brings another summary as well. As usual, during the week a podcast version will be available for download over here.

This week’s guest was Agawa Sawako (阿川佐和子). She is a novel writer and we once before saw her on Asemamire. She serialized Gyotto-chan no Bouken (An Adventure of Gyoto-chan) on Studio Ghibli’s Neppu for 2 years and it will be soon published as a book.

She also is a daughter of the famous writer Agawa Hiroyuki. When she was small, she used to go "Katsura-Bunko", which was a private library for kids and was run by children's book writer Ishii Momoko. Though Agawa wasn't a book lover, she enjoyed some series such as K�stner's and Doctor Dolittle.

At the end of program, Miyazaki Goro gave his comments on Ponyo. "I watched Ponyo today. I thought it’s kind of a scary movie. This judgment can be split clearly depending on the viewers: understand it or not. Those who can understand it, watch it by feeling. Those who can't understand it, watch it by logic. "Understand-guys" want to watch it again, because they can understand. "Don't-understand-guys" want to watch again, because they want to get the logic. Ponyo has such an enchantment. About me? I can understand, but don't agree (laughing). Maybe I'll get scolded for mentioning this. The reason I can't agree does not mean I'm critical towards Ponyo or Hayao. It just means that if I was ordered to make a movie now, I wouldn’t make something like this."

4th of July, MORE PONYO NEWS ON JAPANESE NATIONAL TELEVISION: Ponyo ga kuru! After last week’s release of the TV trailer of Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea), today the advertising blitz further continued with an interesting news item at NTV’s Zoom in Super.

One of its presenters, Hashima, was up to do some voice acting for Ponyo. He visited Studio Ghibli, where he was welcomed by Miyazaki Hayao and Suzuki Toshio. As a present Hashima brought some doughnuts with him and he was so excited, handing them over to Suzuki already made him nervous and exhausted.



In Ponyo, there is a scene in which Ponyo is longing to meet Sosuke again and causes a typhoon by using her father's magic. On TV news, an announcer tells about it in amphibolic radio wave signals. Hashima is the one to act the part of that news announcer and was directed by Miyazaki Hayao. "You should act cool as usual. I am sorry to say, but soon both picture and sound will get confused. You'll soon get it on screen."

Hashima went into the recording studio at the basement of Studio Ghibli, a room which is usually used as their preview room. As can be seen in one of the pictures below, there is a monitor at the front corner from which Miyazaki directs all the actors.



After only one time of rehearsing, the real thing started and Hashima became even more nervous. To enlarge that out even further, the TV show showed a caption "プレッシャー" (pressure). Hashima’s announcer reading went like this "There has suddenly occurred a small, but strong typhoon and it is coming up with 30 km/h and remaining its power. Please pay attention to the weather forecast and keep being aware of it."



Hashima's acting was over in 1 minute and 20 seconds. Miyazaki gave him a small applause and Hashima took a deep breath to loosen up his tension. After all was finished Hashima rushed towards Miyazaki. Miyazaki said, "No problem. That's OK!". "I was sooo nervous!", said Hashima, to which Miyazaki responded, "Why nervous?". Suzuki joked around bit and said, "We considered that we should add some more scenes that you act, but unfortunately we couldn't…" Hashima told "This was the most exhausted news reading that I've ever experienced."

Due to copyrights GhibliWorld.com will post various screenshots only and will not be hosting this report in the form of a video file. All images are copyright of Nibariki and GNDHDDT (� 2008 二馬力 ・GNDHDDT)

3rd of July, OSHII AND STUDIO GHIBLI: While being competitors of each other, Oshii Mamoru and Studio Ghibli have always had a special kind of connection. This is something which recently came through again. Oshii’s latest film, The Sky Crawlers, will be released in August and its website has been updated with comments by Miyazaki Goro and Anno Hideaki.

Miyazaki Goro’s seem to be rather cynical, "Those guys on screen never eat a meal. They only live on liquor and tobacco. No, they didn’t ingest them, but just pretended to be ingesting them. And about sex, they just pretended to be having sex. There wasn't any smell of sweat or sperm. They rode on airplanes and motorbikes. However, all of them seemed like unsubstantial machines on the monitor display. Even those machines seemed to pretend being machines."

Evangelion director Anno Hideaki, who in the past worked as a key-animator on Kaze no Tani no Naushika and Hotaru no Haka and directed Shiki-Jitsu (which was released by Studio Ghibli offshoot Studio Kajino), just gathered his friends' impressions, "Interesting!", "This is Oshii's first film during which I didn't fall asleep halfway.", "Understandable", "Really sensitive romance!", "Its air battle scenes are long and very good.", "The CG is made very well", "Sound effects are awesome", "Want to watch once more", "Impressed", "It shows Oshii's love for anime and Miyazaki and I was titillated with my heart", "Oshii became an adult", "The dogs are cute"…… These are my friends’ positive impressions. I was also interested much. I love its stoic feeling.

Besides Miyazaki Goro and Anno Hideaki, Suzuki talked about the preview of The Sky Crawlers on his radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire. He only said, "It feels us as if it's very short", because the character motion is less than that of Ponyo. Furthermore worth noting is that today Oshii appeared on one of Japan’s most famous TV shows, Fuji TV’s Waratte Iitomo. It is hosted by the famous comedian Tamori, who was a foley artist on the Ghibli Museum short Yadosagashi (やどさがし, House Hunting).

1st of July, PRE-RELEASE PONYO ENJOYMENT, (PRE-)GHIBLI ON DVD AND BLU-RAY: Natsume Fusanosuke, one of Japan’s foremost manga critics and grandchild of the novelist Natsume Soseki, has posted his thoughts in short on Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea). What makes his comments extra interesting is that the name of Ponyo’s Sosuske is derived from the main character of his grandfather’s famous novel Mon. During Miyazaki’s stay in Tomonoura, he read the book and got the name Sosuke from it.

Natsume noted, “I'm just back from watching the preview. Straightly, it was very interesting. Kids can easily enjoy it. As usual in Miyazaki anime, it also has a message. I like the pictures of M�rchen-like standard and its colors. Both of them show the importance and the pleasure of figment. I cannot write any more, because it isn't long before its release."



Furthermore, a particular unnamed person who also claims to have seen Ponyo mentions that “It has all cleared up today: This summer, you should watch Ponyo at the largest theatre possible near you. Forget reading any magazines, TV programs or TV-CM that comment or advertise it as much as you can. You must go to the theatre, pay the fee and sit on that seat without any prejudice or knowledge. As far as I am concerned, I eagerly desire to watch it again."

Also worth mentioning is a reminder on tomorrow’s release of Ghibli Museum Library’s Panda Kopanda and Snow Queen. Later that month these will be followed by Blu-ray releases of Jarinko Chie and Meitantei Holmes on July 25, and on August 6 Studio Ghibli’s Ghibli ga Ippai Collection will release "Hotaru no Haka - the complete preserved edition".

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