Hayao Miyazaki, beloved animator and founder of Studio Ghibli, dies at X

Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator known for creating picturesque animated universes and for exhibiting true-to-life messages through his lived experiences, died on X. He was X.

Miyazaki, often referred to as the “god of anime,” co-founded Studio Ghibli, the world-renowned Japanese animation studio.

During his lifetime, Miyazaki created immersive worlds in films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo. His highest-grossing film – and Japan’s highest-grossing domestic film, Spirited Away, earned him an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003.

Miyazaki delivered inspiring messages of peace, tranquility, and emotional vulnerability in his films. His use of these concepts resonated with millions of people around the world.

One person that Miyazaki had a tremendous effect on was animation scholar Helen McCarthy.

In an interview with the BBC regarding Miyazaki’s work, McCarthy stated, "[Miyazaki’s films] are very beautiful and emotionally very honest. Audiences everywhere can relate to that. They are many-layered so that children can enjoy them, but people at later stages of life can also find meaning in them.”

In American animation, stories of happy endings and fairy-tales often come to mind, but this is certainly untrue in Miyazaki’s work. His films were often personal to him, and he centered his universes on hardships that affected him at a young age.

In Princess Mononoke, one of Miyazaki’s most prevalent films, the story’s main premise highlights the damage that industrialization has on the environment. There are many depictions of violence and death in the film – something that young American audiences traditionally have a difficult time watching. Miyazaki understood the importance of delivering these messages to the youth because he had to face it at a young age.

When he was a child, Miyazaki was forced to move away from his hometown due to firebomb raids, which required him to come to terms with the harsh realities of war.

In an interview with Commonwealth Magazine Taiwan, Miyazaki sheds light on this point, “Each of my films contains some reflections or projections of my own life and emotions. I'm not good at making up stories about things I haven't experienced myself. When I create a story plot, I consider what I would think myself and how I would feel if I were in such a situation. “

Through his experiences, Miyazaki was able to tell powerful stories of heartbreak, loss, war, and death – all through the eyes of children. He appealed to children’s vast imagination, all while capturing the attention of adults through his ability to evoke complex emotions through conveying deep themes.

Miyazaki was born in Tokyo, Japan, on January 5, 1941. He was the second of four sons of Katsuji and Dola Miyazaki.

Miyazaki’s father, an aeronautical engineer, founded Miyazaki Airplanes, a company that built fighter planes for Japan during World War II.

Inspired by his love for airplanes and aerodynamics, Miyazaki began working for his father’s company in the late 1950s.

When Miyazaki was a teenager, his interests shifted. After watching Hakujaden (Panda and the Magic Serpent), Japan’s first color anime film, and realizing how profoundly it had impacted him, Miyazaki turned to animation.

“When I saw Hakujaden, it was as if the scales fell from my eyes; I realized that I should depict the honesty and goodness of children in my work. With that as my starting point, I have spent the last 20 years trying to do this,” Miyazaki wrote in his book Starting Point in 1996.

When he set out to university, although his true passion was the arts, Miyazaki decided to study political science and economics at Gakushuin University in Tokyo for reasons of stability. But even as he chose these subjects, he remained dedicated to animation.

When he graduated, Miyazaki went on to work for Toei Animation. He worked his way up in the company and eventually was able to break free and create something new entirely, and in 1985, Studio Ghibli was born.

It was from here on that Miyazaki had set his sails to become one of the most influential animators of our time. And he did so with flying colors.

Miyazaki leaves behind his wife and fellow animator Akemi Ota, as well as his two sons, Gōro and Keisuke Miyazaki.