Hayao Miyazaki took his retirement cues from NFL quarterbacks, boxers, and professional wrestlers. While the legendary animator called it quits in 2013 after his tremendous film The Wind Rises, which to me was the perfect swang song to his career, rumors of Miyazaki’s return started almost immediately. And four years later he was back and announcing one more Studio Ghibli movie, How Do You Live?, based on the 1937 novel of the same name by Genzaburo Yoshino.
While the novel is about a 15-year-old Tokyo boy, named after astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, who learns about life while staying with his uncle following his father’s sudden death, it’s unclear what Miyazaki’s approach will be. In a profile by The New York Times, Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki described the film as “fantasy on a grand scale”, which sounds altogether different from Yoshino’s book. He also says he “recognizes himself in one of the characters, who is not human”, adding another wrinkle to Miyazaki’s comeback project.
“The whole purpose of Studio Ghibli is to make Miyazaki films,” Suzuki added.
That certainly suggests Studio Ghibli will exist primarily to produce new films from Hayao’s son, Goro Miyazaki. They recently released their first fully computer-animated movie, Earwig and the Witch, which Goro directed. He also directed 2011’s From Up on Poppy Hill, and 2006’s Tales from Earthsea.
As for Hayao’s How Do You Live?, the film is still a few years away so he’s got some time before holding another retirement party.
