Hayao Miyazaki Coming Out Of Retirement For One More Film?

No bones about it, Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is one of the greatest animators ever. Some may go as far as saying he’s one of the best in any genre, we can’t argue he’s made some delightful, beautiful films. His work at Studio Ghibli has help establish the studio’s brand name as a global force in animation, that good better than Disney.

Back in 2013 Miyazaki-san announced his ‘retirement’ just after the studio’s last film The Wind Rises before they went into hiatus. Since then the legendary filmmaker has been involved in several short films including the 2018 Boro The Caterpillar. His son Goro did direct the Studio’s returning film Earwig And The Witch which saw them dip into creating a film purely in CGI. Sadly the film has received mixed reviews, so it seems his father is coming out of retirement for one final film.

In a recent interview with New York Times, Miyazaki-san he will return for one final project, How Do You Live? The newspaper questioned his motives for returning, only to reply “Because I wanted to,”. He also stated “I am making this movie because I do not have the answer.”

Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki also said in the same article that Miyazaki came up with the idea a year after his retirement. He first tried to talk him out of returning , stating his best work was behind him. Only to give in stating “The whole purpose of Studio Ghibli is to make Miyazaki films.”

Goro Miyazaki, Miyazaki-san’s son also said “Hayao Miyazaki, he wasn’t able to stay away that long. He needed to create something in order to live, basically. So he started with making a short film for the (Ghibli) museum, and then he went on to making his new feature-length film.”

How Do You Live? is based on the 1937 novel by Genzaburo Yoshino, which was one of Miyazaki’s favourite childhood books. A story about s a mischievous 15-year-old boy in Tokyo, whose father has recently died, described by Suzuki as a “fantasy on a grand scale”. Details of when this anime will be expected to be released, are unknown though 2023 has been mentioned.