Saturday, September 7, 2013

Hayao Miyazaki retires at age 72. May he enjoy his remaining years.

Hello again. I know that my Endless 8 marathon is spilling into September at this point. I have things planned after that, but the internet connection has been quite buggy lately. And, I've had some family drama of my own that I'd rather not discuss here. In the meantime, here's another piece of anime news.

Hayao Miyazaki, the legendary anime filmmaker, announced his retirement last week at age 72. As one of the principal filmmakers of Studio Ghibli, he has directed such great films as Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and the Academy Award-winning Spirited Away; the film that solidified my anime fandom.

With his retirement on the table; I respect his decision and all that he has done to make anime accessible to everyone. He is an inspiration to a great many people.

His film, As The Wind Rises, is currently in theaters in Japan; and receiving massive critical raves and box office success. It should arrive stateside under Disney's deal with Studio Ghibli within a few months' time.

Filmmaking at Studio Ghibli will be continued by his coworkers and his son, Goro Miyazaki; who just made a film called From Up on Poppy Hill; which I recommend seeing if you haven't already. It is a film about a young girl finding love in postwar Japan; and the love could be her long-lost brother. They work together to cope with their families and to help save an old school building from being demolished to make way for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

That will be all for now. I have Endless 8 Parts 6 and 7 written, I just need to post them and write the final part so I can be done with that arc and do some recaps to detox from it of anime I enjoy. See you around.

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