Son of Miyazaki: A Goro Miyazaki Retrospective

YouTube essayist and documentary filmmaker Steven McCarthy returns once again with another look at Studio Ghibli, this time examining the career of Goro Miyazaki, the son of founding director Hayao Miyazaki who was responsible for Tales From Earthsea, From Up on Poppy Hill and Ronja the Robber's Daughter. This video goes into detail on these films, including production, overarching themes and public reception.

Goro Miyazaki doesn't get enough love from the fans. Part of that is due to the family name and the curse of having a famous father (ask Julian Lennon), and part of that is simply experience, as we have so few works to examine and study. If he continues to create animated films and television series and develop his own unique voice as an artist, those qualities will begin to dominate the conversation.

McCarthy does an excellent job moving that discussion forward, highlighting his strengths and weaknesses, his difficult relationship with his father, and the qualities that make Goro his own man. He may yet define the next generation of Studio Ghibli, bringing it into the modern era of 3D computer graphics animation while retaining the qualities of the hand-drawn tradition.

Once again, great video and great work. McCarthy promises this will be his final Ghibli documentary for a while, as he pursues other topics. I look forward to seeing his future projects. Somebody give him some grant money so he can create a feature length movie.

Toshio Suzuki Discusses New Hayao Miyazaki, Goro Miyazaki Projects

Japanese movie website Eiga Natalie reported on Wednesday that Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki has discussed details on Hayao Miyazaki's new film project. In the letter, Suzuki describes the movie as a "hand-drawn action-adventure fantasy". He also states that he understood Miyazaki's motivations for returning from his retirement after reading the story outline. He concludes by promising that Studio Ghibli will continue to make movies "until the day it fails."

Suzuki also revealed that Goro Miyazaki, the director of Ronja the Robber's Daughter, is working on a new CG animation project. The details of this project, including possible involvement by Studio Ghibli, were not revealed.

Thanks to Anime News Network for their reporting and translation.

Goro Miyazaki's "What is Animation Layout?" - French and English Translation

In 2008, Goro Miyazaki drew a one-page comic for Studio Ghibli's layout exhibition in Japan. The comic, "What is Animation Layout?" shows us how layout and storyboards fit into the production of animated movies. I wrote a post about this in 2012, showing the comic in its original Japanese. Now, thanks to the fine folks at Buta Connection, Goro-san's piece is now fully translated into French and English.

I continue to be amazed at how Goro-san draws himself: an almost-entirely empty face. He looks like Charlie Brown after one too many plastic surgeries. He's a blank slate, receding into the background against the dominant personalities of his father, Hayao Miyazaki, and the great Isao Takahata. The reluctant director as a living enigma...just who is Goro Miyazaki? This is the question he must answer, for himself and the outside world, if he is to become a successful filmmaker.

You will need to click on the comic panel to view in full-screen. It's a bit scrunched up as part of the post, as you can see above. Much thanks to Buta Connection, as always, and enjoy!

Goro Miyazaki Discusses Ronia

Goro Miyazaki spoke to Japan's Asahi Shimbun today, discussing his career in landscape architecture, animated movies, and his complicated relationship with his famous father. He also discusses his latest project, the NHK anime series, Ronia, the Robber's Daughter.

Some excerpts from the full interview:

Q: You made your debut abruptly as an animated film director when you made Tales from Earthsea (2006). Don’t you think you were given that opportunity precisely because you are Hayao’s son?

A: I don’t know, really. As always, it was [Toshio] Suzuki, the producer, who came up with the proposal, but I have no idea if that was because I am Hayao Miyazaki’s son or was for other reasons.

My father was strongly opposed. He said, for one thing, “How hard do you think I worked as an underling before I was finally a director? It’s reckless for an amateur to be one.”

For another, he said, “If you direct a movie even once, you will be called a director for the rest of your life. Do you understand what that means?”

I replied, at that time, that I didn’t understand. Only later did I realize what that meant. My father was right.

Q: Ronia shows in careful detail how the protagonist girl interacts with her father. In Tales from Earthsea, a boy, who is the main character, stabs his father with a sword in an opening scene. But father-child relations seldom constitute a leitmotif in Hayao Miyazaki’s works. What do you think?

A: I read the original Ronia when I had just become a father myself, so how the robber father rejoiced when Ronia was born came very vividly to me. That is the source of my creative drive.

But apart from that, what you said probably has to do with the fact that I have to remain conscious of my own father, even now.

I used to believe that imagery was there as a means of expressing narratives. But the works of my father have made me realize strongly that imagery has a side that is not about narratives or about logic, and can exist on its own if only it comes with a certain sort of sensuous persuasiveness or an instantaneous pleasure.

I often ask myself what is the vehicle of expression for the sensuosity in my father’s works, and what he has that I don’t have. I also believe that there must be, on the contrary, something that I do have but he doesn’t. Well, life would be easy if I knew what that something was.

I could define it as a goal to create works that would parallel Miyazaki’s anime works from 30 years ago.

But Hayao Miyazaki is a genius who never stops updating himself. When I have climbed several steps, I find him going still further. I will probably never be able to overtake him, and I am telling myself these days that it’s just useless to try to overtake him.

Q: You have left Studio Ghibli to make Ronia, and in doing so, you are using computer graphics to create a likeness of the touch of hand-drawn anime. What do you have to say about that?

A: When Takahata and Miyazaki were creating TV anime series 40 years ago, the art was still evolving, and it involved a variety of trial and error. But the methodology of hand-drawn animated films has been established and is now fully mature.

If I were to create hand-drawn TV anime series now, I would only be following a path carved out by Hayao Miyazaki and others as a latecomer. Well, I wouldn’t like that.

Expression by computer graphics remains incomplete, so both the workers and myself believe that there still remains something that we could do.

It is generally believed that hand-drawn anime is superior to computer graphics when it comes to expressing emotions, but anime artists who use computer graphics maintain a sound ambition to believe that they could achieve something if they tried. They are, I believe, young of heart.

Goro Miyazaki-UPDATE: We Got Punk'd by Generacion Ghibli

UPDATE: I have just been informed from Generacion Ghibli that tis news story, which first appeared on their Spanish website, was an April Fools Joke. We all got Punk'd, kids!  Sorry!

For The Record: We have no official word on Goro Miyazaki's future plans after the Ronia TV series ends. Hopefully, he stays with Studio Ghibli, but nobody's talking about the studio's future.

Ronja the Robber's Daughter - A Tale of Revenge, Obsession, and Father's Sons

Now, this is going to be interesting.  This I did not expect.

First, a little history lesson.  Back in 1971, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata left the Toei Doga studio, where they began their careers, and followed colleague and de-facto "older brother" Yasuo Otsuka to A Productions.  Otsuka was involved in his pet project, Lupin III "Series One," and Takahata and Miyazaki were brought in as the new "director's team."  But that's not the reason they came to the studio.

Takahata and Miyazaki came to A Pro because they wanted to produce an anime series based on Pippi Longstockings, the beloved Astrid Lindgren children's story.  The two had worked tirelessly on the project, especially Miyazaki, who created character designs, layouts, and artwork.  After assembling a considerable amount of pre-production work, they paid Lindgren a visit to secure the rights.

Lindgren, in one of the all-time great gaffes, turned them down.  She refused to allow them to create Pipi Longstockings.  It was a slighting the young Hayao Miyazaki never forgot, and seemingly never forgave.  When they returned to Japan, the two filmmakers brought back most of the old Toei crew, and poured all that frustration and disappointment into a new 30-minute short film. Panda Kopanda, which was released to theaters in 1972.  Much of the story elements, layouts, and character designs (particularly Mimiko, the little girl) were taken directly from the abortive Pipi project.  A second Panda Kopanda film, The Rainy Day Circus, was created the following year.

If you look closely, you can see the Pipi Longstockings character pop up in Miyazaki's work - Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Mononoke, House-Hunting (a short film created for the Ghibli Museum).  Father Miyazaki, in case you haven't yet noticed, is a very driven and stubborn man.  It goes with the territory.

And now son Goro, the heir apparent to Studio Ghibli, is directing a new television series...based on another one of Lindgren's stories.  Just try and convince me that Father Miyazaki's fingerprints aren't all over this one.  As I've said, this is going to be VERY interesting.

Ronia the Robber's Daughter is a joint collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Polygon Pictures, a CGI animation studio best known for their work on Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, The Sky Crawlers, Pokemo, and Transformers Prime.  There's a great amount of speculation how, exactly, Ronia will look.  How much will be traditional 2D, and how much will be 3D CGI?  The only media released thus far is a promotional image, shown above.  This does suggest a visual style in the Ghibli tradition, aiming back, as they always do, to Heidi, Girl of the Alps. 

One suggestion is that this production will resemble Ni no Kuni, the Playstation 3 role-playing videogame that combined 3D polygons with 2D animated scenes created by Studio Ghibli.  Perhaps the characters will utilize a "cel-shaded" look?  Perhaps the environments will be rendered with 3D polygons, texture-mapped with Ghibli's artwork?  Nobody really knows yet.  We don't yet know the full relationship between the two studios, or the goals of their collaboration.

I have no idea what Ronia will look like.  I'm honestly surprised that Goro-san and Ghibli are working in television.  This is Ghibli's first TV production since the 1993 movie Umi ga Kikoeru (I Can Hear the Sea), and certainly the first long-form series since the Takahata-Miyazaki heyday of the 1970s.  I wonder what Goro had in mind when he took on this project?  And I wonder just how much influence his father had in orchestrating this production?

Once again, I am left wondering about Goro Miyazaki.  Who, exactly, is this man, beyond a famous father's son?  His identity, his very character, remain an enigma to me.  Perhaps I am clouded by the memories of other sons of famous fathers, like Julian Lennon or Dwezil Zappa, men who were cursed to live forever in their father's shadows, struggling to resolve that inherent conflict and create a unique identity for themselves.  The image of Father Miyazaki literally hounding over his son's shoulder, during the production of From Up on Poppy Hill, haunts me.

Is Goro trying to understand his father, trying to walk in his shoes as Dwezil is now doing with his touring "Zappa Plays Zappa" concerts?  Is he following, meekly and obediently, the family tradition?  Is he obeying the dictates of a stern, demanding father?  Is he still learning the craft, paying his dues, having earned the throne without properly earning it?  Just what exactly is happening here?

Perhaps I am over-thinking this; perhaps not.  Such speculations happen in the vacuum of information.  It certainly speaks well of Goro Miyazaki that we keep him in our thoughts.  We're all rooting for him.  We want him to triumph.  It's all such fascinating melodrama.  The man has become his own exhibition, his own living art.

From Up on Poppy Hill Opens in Minneapolis

Update 4/1/13: In addition to the English-language version, a Japanese-language soundtrack should be included when Poppy Hill moves to the Lagoon Edina Theater on April 5.  Thanks to GKids for sharing the news.

Goro Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli movie, From Up on Poppy Hill, arrives today at the Lagoon Cinema in Minneapolis.  It's working its way through the indie circuit, courtesy of GKids, the fine folks responsible for the Studio Ghibli Film Festival last year.  It is also playing in select cities in the coming weeks.  I honestly don't know if or when the Blu-Ray (already available in Japan) will ever see an American release, so this is your only chance to see this movie in 2013.

As far as box office performance, it's probably best not to think about it too much.  This movie will barely make a million or two during its (very limited) theatrical run in the US, far less than the average Hollywood studio cartoon will make on any given showing.  It's fairly clear that our best chance for seeing Studio Ghibli reach mainstream success in our country has passed.  Ponyo was about as good as it gets, and it's all niche from there.

Don't let that discourage you.  Millions of people mindlessly slog through another season of American Idol, while ignoring the Miles Davis records on your shelf.  The fun stuff, the truly interesting stuff, that's hidden away, harder to reach, off the beaten path.  It has always been thus.  And part of the joy of discovery lies in seeking out these hidden gems.

If you're able to see Poppy Hill, I strongly encourage you to do so.  I'm looking forward to seeing how far Goro-san has progressed from Earthsea, if he is closer to finding his own unique voice, for seeing the latest chapter in the Miyazaki Family Saga.  Personally, my favorite Ghibli movies are Omohide Poro Poro and Mimi wo Sumaseba, so I have high expectations for this film.  I still find it astonishing that naturalist, neo-realist animation does not exist in the West.  Why is that, I wonder?  And what would have to happen to change that equation?  Right now, I'm pretty much out of answers.

I always tell people to run to the theaters anytime a Ghibli movie plays there.  We won't know when, or if, we'll have another chance.  Hayao Miyazaki's Kaze Tachinu and Isao Takahata's Kaguya Hime open in Japan this year, but there's little to no chance that Disney will pick up either title for distribution.  These aren't Disney cartoons, and there are no toys to sell.  So don't take anything for granted, kids.  Get to the theaters and see this movie while ya still can.  Mozel tov!

Goro Miyazaki Comic - "What is Layout?"

Goro Miyazaki illustrated this one-page comic as part of Studio Ghibli's Layout Exhibition in 2008.  Halycon Dreams, one of my favorite animation/film sites, shares this comic from the exhibit's program guide.

In 2008, of course, Goro-san was engaged Tales From Earthsea.  Should we be surprised that his avatar in this comic is...a faceless man?  Very much like his movie, this comic lacks personality; the artist is still very much a student, green behind the ears.  It will take time for the faceless artist to emerge as an individual with a unique voice.  Perhaps we are now beginning to see this with Poppy Hill.

Oh, and did you spot the cameos of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata at the very end?  For some reason, this reminds me of Ghibli's DVD documentary about the Ghibli Museum, which largely featured Takahata alongside Goro Miyazaki.  Interesting, isn't it, that Poppy Hill could just as easily be one of Paku-san's movies.

Ah, well, I'm just speculating out loud.  I'm putting way too much thought into what is a very nice comic by Goro Miyazaki.  But he's still very much an enigma to our eyes; we're still trying to figure this guy out.  Who is he?  Why is he here?  What does he have to say?  And would any of this matter if his father didn't own the store?  Goro himself is still in the process of solving these riddles.  That's part of the fun in watching him.

Thanks again to Halcyon Dreams for getting all these terrific Ghibli books.

In Defense of Goro Miyazaki's Earthsea

I liked this comment from W.Eric so much that I decided to give it a post of its own.  It's a passionate defense of Goro Miyazaki, and his Tales From Earthsea, and debates like this are the very reason this blog is a success.  Welcome words for the Earthsea defenders out there:

Goro Miyazaki swung for the stands and he made it! His father had decades to develop his opinions and theories on direction and timing. Goro had maybe a year? Earthsea was a triumph in its own right. To take a totally green director with ungodly time constraints and throw a project at him based on beloved novels that have been around for generations is crazy. Of COURSE he’s going to break some rules, take some much needed shortcuts and step on some toes. Yes, it pays homage and takes inspiration from earlier works, yes it is missing some of the quiet moments and extra bits of animation familiar with the bigger studio works. However, it has a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, the colors and details of the drawings are very unique – Goro even wrote Therru’s song! What a risk taker Goro was in scripting the prince to murder his father. Yes, it offended some, but he was making the story his own and THAT took TRUE LEADERSHIP.

I make less than 30k per year, but my wife and I were so taken by the footage of this new director’s project that we flew to Japan to watch it in the theater. We cried at how beautiful it was. So taken were we that two years later, we flew to Calcatta Italy, the town Goro researched for his architecture. None of Hayao’s works have had THAT much influence.

You and my wife and I are clearly all worship at the altar of Ghibli. You have an incredible site and wonderful information. But please, have some faith in Goro, I truly believe he’s going to bring the heat soon.

Earthsea, Horus, and Ghibli at the Crossroads

I wanted to include a few more posts about Goro Miyazaki's Tales From Earthsea for the sake of those of who who have bought the newly-released DVD and are fans.  I'd also like to go a little more in depth on some of the movie's influences and where Goro-san looked for inspiration.

When he was assigned to direct Gedo Senki, the first movie Goro looked towards was, interestingly, The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun.  There are a few sequences that steal from Horus outright, and while this was something that made me cranky years ago, I aim to feel more generous and understanding today.  When discussing Tales From Earthsea, it's always critical to observe that, in 2006, this was the only movie Goro Miyazaki was ever involved in.  Literally, his first movie in any capacity.  Anyone in his shoes, with no experience nor any developed artistic voice, would resort to stealing everything from the back of trucks.

Here's an example of what I'm thinking about - the fight scene with the wolves.  This is an early scene in Earthsea, just after the title credits roll.  Arren, the hero (of sorts), on the escape after his little Jim Morrison stunt of "killing his daddy" (ahem, cough), is being pursued by a pack of viscous wolves.  Arren is chased over the sands, he is knocked off his horse, he is surrounded and outnumbered.  Then, suddenly, an unknown agent intervenes.  The wolves scatter and disappear.

Any true anime fan knows where this scene comes from.  This is the opening scene in Horus.  It's just about the greatest action scene in anime history.  And it was key animated by Yasuo Otsuka....and Hayao Miyazaki.  Ding, ding, ding!

I've mentioned this scene more than a few times on this blog over the years; I don't think I've ever done a shot-by-shot analysis, but this is a sequence that demands to be studied shot-by-shot, almost drawing-by-drawing.  It's not just a fast, thrilling moment of action.  It's the fluid, three-dimensional lines of motion, the way Horus and the wolves run across the frame, into the background, charging the camera, rotating in circles, up hills, around boulders.  Isao Takahata, the revolutionary director, treats his camera as an object in physical space, and moves with an eerily 3D quality that seems almost impossible in a pre-CGI world.  Every time I watch, I'm astonished.

The Horus opening also carries a sound musical rhythm, like all great action sequences do.  You don't simply throw as much junk at the screen and blind the audience.  No, that's the cheap method, the fallback position of hacks and poseurs.  Action must have a musical quality, a fast beginning, a slow refrain, pauses to build tension, and then explosions of energy at the climax.

I don't think the wolf scene in Earthsea is nearly as well conceived or laid out.  The compositions are relatively simple, basic, functional.  Movement is purely one-dimensional, a pan, a point-of-view angle.  There's one shot where Arren is knocked off his horse, and he tumbles and spins to the ground, then skids to the ground below.  I think that's a terrific movement, but it's the only really thrilling part of the scene.  The wolves look scary, but they're never really menacing.  There's no real tension, no real sense of danger.  Arren shares none of Horus' wild recklessness, and that's a very odd omission, now that I think about it.  After all, here is a character with a murderous side, an obsessive side.  But Arren never brings those qualities out.  He just mopes about and feels sorry for himself.  If he had an iPod, I get the feeling it would contain nothing but Morrisey songs.

This scene only serves to highlight Earthsea's fatal flaw: the director has absolutely no experience.  He's a third-string quarterback suddenly thrown onto the field in the middle of the game.  The poor guy can barely hold onto the ball.  This is a desperation move by the coach, in this case, Toshio Suzuki - can't you see that?

Yes, I think both action scenes define, to a great extent, the character and nature of these two movies.  Perhaps it says something about the talent of the respective teams, and if that's the case, then Ghibli is in more trouble than we realize.  Look at the talent pool behind Horus - Isao Takahata, Yasuo Otsuka, Hayao Miyazaki, Yoichi Kotabe, Reiko Okuyama, Akemi Ota, Yasuji Mori.  True, Horus is Takahata's film, his vision, but he had group of peers possibly unequaled in anime history.

Studio Ghibli, on the other hand, is Miyazaki's house.  The staff is remarkably talented, but they're anonymous, they don't stand out.  There isn't an equivalent of an Otsuka or a Takahata or a Mori to seek inspiration and, yes, rivalry.  Miyazaki-san is the shogun of his castle.  I think this cuts to the very heart of the studio's crisis, as they have struggled for years to find a suitable successor.  It's a struggle of identity.  When Miyazaki is in charge, everything gels.  When he's absent, everything falls silent.  You can see it on the screen for yourself.

If Ghibli can become nothing more than Hayao Miyazaki's backing band, then what happens once he's gone?  The band has no reason to exist, because it has no voice of its own.  And now you know why the studio is standing at the crossroads.  The one man who will decide Ghibli's fate?  None other than Goro Miyazaki.

Goro Miyazaki's 44th Birthday

A belated Happy Birthday to Goro Miyazaki, who turned 44 last Friday, January 21.  He is currently in production as director of Studio Ghibli's next feature, Kokuriko-Zaka Kara, which is currently scheduled for a summer release.  Let's hope that Goro-San has a terrific 2011.

Oh, and if this next movie crashes and burns like Gedo Senki did, you'll be remembered as the guy who killed Studio Ghibli.  So, no pressure at all, Goro-San.  No pressure at all.

Video - Nisshin Seifun - Goro Miyazaki's Cat Commercial

Did I show this before?  I forget.  I can't tell you how much fun I'm going to become once senility kicks in.  In any case, enjoy Goro Moyazaki's latest directorial short, with animation by Katsuya Kondo.  May Ghibli long champion hand-drawn animation.  To hell with all the CGI junk.

Photos - Goro Miyazaki's Nisshin Cat Commercial

I captured a few screenshots of Goro Miyazaki's new Studio Ghibli short.  Thank God for the "print screen" button, and reflexes sharpened by a week of playing Street Fighter 2.  I hope you enjoy these, and feel free to steal and share.

I really love this hand-painted and hand-drawn style.  It's very Japanese and very old fashioned.  The red butterfly is an especially attractive touch.  Another blow for traditional 2D animation!

Goro Miyazaki's New Animation Short

Goro Miyazaki is back with a new animation short.  This television commercial is a celebration of Nisshin Seifun Group's 110th birthday.  Nisshin and Ghibli began working together in 2008, as co-sponsors of the Ghibli Museum Library, which has brought many beloved and influential animated films from around the world to Japan.

This 30-second commercial, presented in a hand-drawn calligraphy style, is available online.  The website has few links, but, naturally, everything is in Japanese.  I've included the above screenshot so you know what page to look for.  I think you'll be able to find your way.

There is also an interview page with Toshio Suzuki.  I'd really appreciate it if we could translate the text into English.  My Japanese is just barely at the level of a three-year-old.  If anyone in the community could help out, that would be wonderful.

Goro Miyazaki directed this short and drew the storyboards.  Katsuya Kondo handled the animation, and his five-year-old daughter sang the song.  It's a cute, charming little moment of bliss, nothing major.  It's just a lazy cat yawning and chasing a butterfly around - a joyful moment of zen.

Goro continues to be carefully cultivated at Ghibli.  He's being put through film school and he's paying his dues.  Father Miyazaki insisted last summer that his son must work his way up the chain like everybody else, but there's no denying that Goro-san remains the studio's heir apparent.  His second directorial feature will be the ultimate test, and a critical moment for Ghibli's future as well.  No pressure at all.

Goro Miyazaki Short on Yomiuri Online

Yomiuri Online has already posted their latest commercial, created by Studio Ghibli and directed by Goro Miyazaki. You can watch here. I'm looking around for an embed copy anywhere online, and I'll post as soon as I can find one.

Fatherhood and the Family Crown

Again, Twitch has an excellent transcript on their site here from Saturday's Ponyo press conference featuring Hayao Miyazaki with John Lasseter. In this exchange, Goro Miyazaki's Tales From Earthsea is mentioned, prompting this exchange:

Question: You mentioned Tales from Earthsea. Miyazaki-san, since your son directed that film, and it occurred before Ponyo, what has he been doing since in carrying on the family tradition? And Mr. Lasseter, I didn’t realize you had already prepared a version of that. I thought there was a rights issue with the Ursula Le Guin estate. What is the status of that?

Lasseter: We’re just kinda wading through that, and there’s a time limit. It will be released at some point.

Question: But the version is ready to go?

Lasseter: It’s ready.

Miyazaki: My son is now in childrearing.

Lasseter: Which is very important to Miyazaki-san.

Miyazaki: That’s a very important process.

Question: Is there anything more to be said about your son’s interest in animation?

Miyazaki: It’s a difficult question, but I don’t see myself creating a directors dynasty, unless he can crawl up to be a director on his own. It’s up to him. The first hurdle right now is raising his children.

This is a very sensitive subject, as you can see from Lasseter's efforts to deflect the issue (that's what friends do, after all). Besides, Hayao Miyazaki is here to discuss his latest film, Ponyo, not to be caught up in the complicated relationship with his son, Goro. But I am very impressed with his answer. Read in light of news about Goro's Studio Ghibli film short, we have been given a new insight into the inner workings of the studio.

At this point, I think it's safe to say that Goro-san will not be directing any feature film at Ghibli in the immediate future. One thing Gedo Senki revealed, painfully, I think, was his complete inexperience as a filmmaker. That was not only his first movie as director, it was his first movie. And I think that was somewhat obvious. Japanese audiences turned out for Earthsea, making it the year's highest-grossing domestic movie, but that was largely due to loyalty for Father Miyazaki. The backlash against the son, both for his film and his remarks about his father, was very real, and I don't think that's going to be easily forgotten.

Goro has lost the public goodwill, and he will need to win them back. He will have to work and struggle to earn his father's throne and become the heir to Studio Ghibli. That's what the issue is really all about. In retrospect, I believe it was a mistake for Toshio Suzuki to place Goro in the director's chair so soon, all but declaring him the studio's heir apparant. Goro needs time to grow, to learn, to develop a style, to master the skills of a filmmaker, director, and leader.

Toshio Suzuki's business sense has always been spectacular, and his influence on the direction and style of Ghibli's movies is far greater than most Westerners realize. He knows how to push Miyazaki's buttons. He knows how to get things done. There literally wouldn't be a Studio Ghibli without him. And he may yet be proven right by choosing Goro; he may yet be vindicated. For the hope of the studio, I hope this is so. I think he just moved too fast, too soon. Perhaps everyone was blinded by the family name without careful consideration. Isao Takahata's calm teaching at the end of My Neighbors the Yamadas echoes in the hallways: don't overdo it.

Now it appears that Goro will have his apprenticeship period, with the film short being the latest example. There was also an exhibition at the Ghibli Museum where he storyboarded and assembled a story based on a famous Japanese poet. It was not an actual movie project, but much closer to a class assignment at film school. That is precisely the direction he needs to take. And it's very clear that Father Miyazaki's wishes shall be honored. Perhaps this is a period of adjustment for him, as well.

I have no doubt that, on some level, Father Miyazaki is happy to have Son Goro continue the family tradition. After all, Goro was the director of the Ghibli Museum since its founding, and his wife also works at the studio. The younger son, Keisuke Miyazaki, created the woodcut carving of a violin craftsman for Mimi wo Sumaseba. And Akemi Ota Miyazaki, the wife and mother, haunts her husband's work, like Julietta Massina and Frederico Fellini.

I'll bet you weren't expecting this kind of family drama, huh? You just wanted to watch movies about Totoros and goldfish. Such are the lives of great artists.

Goro Miyazaki's New Studio Ghibl Film

Goro Miyazaki is back, and you may be surprised. Comic Natalie reports that Goro has directed an animation short for Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun. Studio Ghibli has created a number of commercials for the newspaper, which can be seen on the the Ghibli Short Short DVD. This latest short will debut August 1 on Japan TV.

It's well known that Goro-san was working on his next directoral film, but I'm sure most of us assumed it would be the formal follow-up to Tales From Earthsea. This move is a surprising development, and, frankly, a welcome one. The young Miyazaki needs to pay his dues properly, instead of merely being dropped into the director's chair like a prince. He needs to learn the skills and develop his own style. Gedo Senki made this all too clear. His role in the future of Ghibli will be crucial, so he needs to get this right.

It helps tremendously that Studio Ghibli does so well with their shorts. Too few Westerners are aware of this side to the studio, which is often more adventurous and experimental than the feature films.

One more important piece of news: Hayao Miyazaki was in charge of production for this short. This is a remarkable development, given the strained relationship between father and son, and again strongly suggests that Goro is being properly tutored by the old masters. Father Miyazaki will not grant a family dynasty for the studio; son Goro will have to earn his father's crown the old-fashioned way. I sincerely hope he directs a few more short films. The experience will do him good.

In case you're wondering, the visual style of this ad is inspired by Japanese manga artist Sugiura Shigura. Isao Takahata paid homage to him in Pom Poko, as I'm sure you can see by that first screenshot. This style is very classical, in keeping with Ghibli's tradition of nostalgia; it also continues the hand-drawn style of Ponyo, rejecting any "computer" look. I'm also reminded of the silent-era cartoons from the Fleischer Bros, which were a great influence on Japanese animators, and Father Miyazaki in particular. I'm really looking forward to seeing this in motion. It's going to be terrific and it may turn a few heads.

It's the hardest thing in the world to follow in the footsteps of a famous parent. For Goro Miyazaki, it's doubly difficult, as both parents were groundbreaking animators, and Hayao Miyazaki has become the biggest filmmaker in the world. Those are very long shadows. But this short demonstrates that he's taking the right steps, making the right moves, and hopefully learning the right lessons. The son is too smart to have Gedo Senki, that childish tantrum of a picture, wrapped around his neck. I'm counting this latest short film as a win for Goro Miyazaki.

Get your Tivo's ready and keep your eyes on Youtube and Daily Motion. I'll have Goro Miyazaki's film online as soon as it's available.

Heartfelt thanks to GhibliWorld for breaking the news to the English-speaking world.

Next Studio Ghibli Film in 2010

According to the diary on their website, Studio Ghibli's next feature film will be released in 2010.

This is to be expected, and if history is any judge, the film will be officially unveiled late in the year. Hopefully, the first teaser trailer will be unveiled as well.

The mystery, of course, should keep Ghibl Freaks everywhere busy: who is the director? Will it be Isao Takahata, whose return to the director's chair after a decade-long retirement is greatly anticipated? Or will it be Goro Miyazaki, who must prove himself as a film director with his sophmore effort, and properly earn his father's throne? We don't know yet, but the answers are coming soon enough.

Love and Theft and Goro-San

(This is a continuation of an excellent discussion about Goro Miyazaki and Tales From Earthsea. What began as a set of snarky gags by me evolved into a more thorough discussion on Goro, his movie, and the issue of originality, theft, and the artist's vision.)

Bono has this great line from Achtung Baby, "Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief." And that's true of just about everyone. But it's doubly true of the young and growing artist.

That's just the nature of the game. You study hard, and as you slowly absorb your influences, your work evolves from copying the old to innovating the new. I know this from my own experience, and as much as I hated it in my 20s, I knew the process would take a lot of time.

There was an art teacher from Chicago who caused me no shortage of grief for his assertion that an artist shouldn't be taken seriously before they turn 30. Oh, boy, did I hate that. But now that I'm a bit older, I can appreciate his wisdom. True vision requires a period of gestation. Before your unique vision emerges, you are really just copying your idols and repeating the lessons of your teachers.

I've been a writer almost as long as I could hold a pencil, and it's really only in the past few years that I became good at it. Writing long essays was especially difficult, and it took me many years to become more comfortable with that. Thank goodness for the blogs, that's all I can say.

Now back to the Miyazaki clan, and Goro's movie, Tales From Earthsea (Gedo Senki). It's no secret that Father Miyazaki was greatly influenced by French animators like Grimault. The King and the Bird was a major inspiration for everyone at Toei Doga, as you can see from the great castle chase in Toei's 1969 movie Puss in Boots.

That castle sequence, animated in tag-team fashion by Miyazaki and Yasuo Otsuka, has been seen in Castle of Calgiostro, Nausicaa, The Cat Returns, and, of course, Goro Miyazaki's Tales From Earthsea. There are also various poses and shots that have been riffed endlessly. Needless to say, they've been stealing from Puss in Boots for ages.

And, of course, all of this points back to Grimault, who was a flashpoint for the Toei gang of the '60s. Isao Takahata claims this was the movie that inspired him to pursue a career in animation. And the roots of his genius lie in the cinema giants of the West - the French New Wave, the Italian Neorealists, Jean Renoir, Igmar Bergman, Orson Welles.

All of this brings us finally to Goro, whose movie begs, borrows, and steals from his father's work. There's good and bad in this, and I suspect if he were 20 years younger, we'd cut him more slack. He's on his first movie, and it's clearly going to take time to discover his voice.

Gedo Senki, really, is about the son who is haunted by his father's shadow. Theirs is a complicated relationship, full of ancient animosities and lost chances. And Goro certainly did himself no favors by publicly airing his grievances with his father. I think this is the real reason for the Goro backlash, and the harsh treatment of his movie.

At least, that may be the case for me. I found it very difficult to approve of his movie, when his childish tantrums overshadowed everything. The hero of the movie was a sulking, whiny teenager, and so was Goro.Then he compounds this family melodrama - "Hayao Miyazaki earns zero points as a father" - with a movie that plays like a highlight reel of Father's career. Horus, Heidi, Nausicaa, Shuna no Tabi, Puss in Boots. I'm frankly surprised the Cat Bus didn't make an appearance. Remember that scene in Pom Poko with all the Ghibli cameos? Tales From Earthsea is two hours of that.

Ahem. Not to become too critical of Goro or his movie. I happen to think he is highly intelligent, and he is closer to his father than either of them would admit. He's capable of better work than this. The key is whether he manages to learn and grow in the meantime. His Ghibli Museum exhibit, where he plans out and storyboards two stories - Ghibli sent him to film school, in other words - shows growth and promise.

I'm very surprised at how much attention Goro Miyazaki receives from the Ghibli Freaks and anime fans in general. He certainly draws the heated discussions out. So the eyes are still upon him, waiting to see if he can succeed or fail. It's his trial by fire, and if Goro-san wants to inherit his father's throne (Studio Ghibli), he will have to earn it.

Goro's next movie will be the main event. His reputation will be made or broken. I would even expect Gedo Senki's reputation to improve over time, if only because it inspires so much fierce attention. This is the one Ghibli film that everyone argues about. I wouldn't say it could become a good movie, because it isn't, and it won't. But I wouldn't be surprised to see it elevated to the level of "controversial," to become respected in the larger scope of Goro's career. It all depends on what happens next.

Tales From Earthsea is the story of Goro Miyazaki. Both are destined to share the same fate.

Tales From Earthsea on UK Film4 - Hide Your Kids

The UK's Film4 is showing Goro Miyazaki's Tales From Earthsea (Gedo Senki) today at 6:45 pm. Let's see...add in the time zone difference...and what time is it over there....

Ack! Quick! Shield your eyes! Bad movie, bad movie! No buscuit for you!

Alright, alright, in the spirit of being helpful, since yesterday was my birthday and all, I'll give you a few readings from the movie, and offer up some, um...comments. Yeah, that's it. We've got movie sign!

Is it just me, or does this dragon look like Jimmy Durante?

Uh, oh, it looks like he's going to start singing. Mariaaaaa....I met a girl named Mariaaaa....

Oh, wait. The dragon doesn't really do anything. It just sorta....flies by. Wow. That was an exciting, um....fly-by.

"Waaahh, Ricky! Get me outta this picture! Ahhh, I need a scotch."

I'm a cartoon drawing, and even I don't wanna be in this picture.

He looks like he's being given a perp walk.

This is the same way everybody looked when they walked out of the movie theater.

Oh, that reminds me of the time I super-glued my hand to my face in shop class.

"Listen, Marsalis told you to show me a good time. And I want that trophy."

So are they just gonna sit there all day? Did Morissey make this movie?

In the Director's Cut, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show up and everyone starts go-go dancing.

This is the worst High School Musical ever.

It's Gandalf and Marilyn Manson!

Okay.....um.....alright.....DO SOMETHING!!

I've seen better fights on The Maclaughlin Group. Wrong!!

So the big action sequence in this movie is a staring-down contest?

You know what this scene really needs? Eddie Murphy.

Is Goro trying to punish his father by making this movie, or is he trying to punish us?