Known as the founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki had gathered universal acclaim for his breathtaking animations. Now, he’s coming out of retirement.
Miyazaki’s son and fellow Studio Ghibli filmmaker Goro said his father’s retirement became aimless that his father “needed to create something in order to live, basically.”
Hayao Miyazaki first announced his retirement in 2013, however, returned in October 2017 to make a new film for his grandson.
“Miyazaki is making the new film for his grandson. It’s his way of saying, ‘Grandpa is moving on to the next world, but he’s leaving behind this film,'” Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki said in 2017.
Hayao Miyazaki coming out of retirement is the best thing that’s happened in 2020/2021 combined 🥰
— amymact (@amymact) February 6, 2021
While Goro Miyazaki’s Earwig was already released on February 5, his father’s How Do You Live? is still years away from its release date. In 2020, Suzuki said that production on the film would last another three years because of the hand-drawn animation style being used on the feature, as reported by Indiewire.
I swear, you can do a drinking game with this guy. Every time Hayao Miyazaki announces his retirement and it ends up being temporary, take a drink. https://t.co/3ekoZhjpYL
— Eric! #FreeMelee (@IAmArique) February 5, 2021
Earwig adapts a novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, who also provided the source material for the 2004 film Howl’s Moving Castle. The latest Ghibli film tells the story of a 10-year-old, orphaned witch’s daughter, and her experiences with her supernatural origins after being adopted by another magical woman.
The Ghibli film is available to stream on HBOMax. To celebrate his return to filmmaking, dive into this image series of Miyazaki in an art block:
hayao miyazaki coming out of retirement is the best news of 2021 so far ngl
— mia (@constipatedrat) February 4, 2021
