A Beginner's Guide to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli
With Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron hitting theaters nationwide, this is a good place to start with his filmography
A decade after his last feature film, The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki and Gkids have launched Miyazaki’s latest animated movie in US theaters. The Boy and the Heron plays like the greatest hits of the great directors’ works, highlighting his trademark themes and style, while taking audiences to a new magical world of his creation. There are plenty of articles discussing the merits of the new movie and how it fits into Miyazaki’s canon, including my thoughts on the movie from TIFF.
Toronto Film Festival 2023, Part 2
Read on for a mini-review of the Hayao Miyazaki movie, The Boy and the Heron.
What I wanted to cover was a brief overview of why Hayao Miyazaki is such a world-renowned artist and some of the movies I’d recommend if you are watching his movies for the first time.
Who is Hayao Miyazaki?
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist who has been working in animation for the better part of fifty years. In the ‘70s Miyazaki contributed to famous anime series like Lupin the Third Part 1 and Future Boy Conan before working on his most ambitious work— an adaptation of the manga Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. That movie would set the template for many of Miyazaki’s later works as it featured a female protagonist, included an emphasis on preserving nature, and his interest in creatures that exist in the depths of our imagination.
That film led to the beginning of Studio Ghibli in 1985. During the period of the mid-80s until the 2010s, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli would work at a prolific pace, releasing fully hand-animated features at a clip of about every three to five years.
While Miyazaki was known internationally, it wasn’t until his masterpiece Spirited Away released in 2001 and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, that the movies of Hayao Miyazaki truly came into the West. It certainly helped that disgraced Pixar executive John Lasseter was a champion of Studio Ghibli and used Disney’s influence to push the movies to a wider audience.
Now at age 82, it’s believed that The Boy and the Heron will be Miyazaki’s last feature film. Miyazaki has announced his retirement from animation in the past, only to go on to tackle another project. This time he has made no such declaration. Perhaps we’ll be treated to another work from this animation master.
For a more in-depth article on how Hayao Miyazaki was introduced to America, The Ringer’s Daniel Chin has put together a wonderful piece.
Another new article for The New York Times has Maya Phillips examining Miyazaki’s love of flight and how his movies take audiences to the skies.
Where Should You Start?
My Neighbor Totoro
If you’ve never seen a Hayao Miyazaki movie before or you’re trying to introduce a child to his works, My Neighbor Totoro is where to start. It’s a story about a father and his two young girls moving to a remote village where strange magical occurrences happen. But underneath all that magic is the truth of the move—this family chose such a remote residence because it is closer to Mom who has been hospitalized with some undisclosed illness. The girls, Satsuki and Mei, have to acclimate to their new environment while facing the challenge of their mother’s illness. It’s wonderfully animated (like all of Studio Ghibli’s works) and features one of their most iconic characters in the forest spirit Totoro. I’ve seen it numerous times in the past year as my child has watched it and every time is just as wonderful as the last.
Princess Mononoke
Arguably his most adult feature, Princess Mononoke, follows the young man Ashitaka as he finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and a mining colony. This is probably the closest that Miyazaki got to a samurai film as it features memorable sword fights and epic setpieces. Many in the West would count Princess Mononoke as their first brush with Miyazaki because of its release under the Miramax banner. The BBC has a fascinating article on the English script and how the movie made it to the West.
Spirited Away
Spirited Away is unquestionably my favorite Studio Ghibli film, and the Academy Award winner is a fine entry point into Miyazaki’s filmography. It’s a coming-of-age story featuring Chihiro, a young girl who is moving to a new town and she’s nervous about starting over again. She’s very fearful of the world around her and depends heavily on her parents. That all changes when her family steps into a magical world and her parents are transformed into pigs. Now Chihiro must grow up fast and acclimate herself to a bathhouse whose clients included fanciful and frightening spirits. The movie is a triumph of animation and is endlessly rewatchable.
Kiki’s Delivery Service
This one has everything you want from a Miyazaki movie— witches, talking cats, and aviation. Kiki’s Delivery Service is another coming-of-age story in Miyazaki’s canon as a young witch named Kiki leaves home to make a life for herself. This world is not too much different from ours except they seem pretty cool with witches coming to town. While there might be other Studio Ghibli movies that I prefer, Kiki’s Delivery Service is a fine place to start with Hayao Miyazaki.
The Wind Rises
The Wind Rises is probably the one on this short list I’d watch as a second entry in Miyazaki’s filmography. It’s about an airplane engineer who loves creating airplanes but has to face the reality that his great love brings great suffering to those around him. The only reason he’s given the money and tools to create these great achievements of aviation is because they are being used for war. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 is the catalyst that introduces the lead protagonist to his eventual love interest, a love that comes with its fair share of challenges. I admire The Wind Rises but out of these five, it’s the least accessible.
I’ve only mentioned a few titles to watch that were directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Other great directors were working for Studio Ghibli over the last forty years and I’d encourage you to look into some of those other movies as well. If you’re interested in these movies there are a few places you can watch them.
They are streaming on MAX with a subscription to the service (this is an inexpensive way to watch a lot of these movies).
You can borrow them from a local library
GKids often shows the movies in theaters over a given year
They are available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD
Even if you’ve never seen a Hayao Miyazaki movie before, it might be worth checking out The Boy and the Heron. If for no other reason than to see what could be the last movie from one of the all-time animation giants.
Didn’t know too much about Japanese animation and found that I totally enjoy the artistic story telling. Beautiful and touching. Want to watch all of them after The Boy and the Heron. Great art