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Hayao Miyazaki spends retirement from anime by…spending every day at his animation studio

5 Comments
By Casey Baseel

Some people have a hard time adjusting to life after retirement. Whether it’s the stockbroker who can’t stop checking the market reports or the English teacher who feels the need to correct his grandchildren’s grammar, sometimes old habits die hard.

Maybe that’s why even after announcing his retirement from making feature films, anime legend Hayao Miyazaki has been making frequent visits to Studio Ghibli, the production house where he served as director for so many years.

And by frequent visits, we mean that the guy is there every single day.

Along with Miyazaki, veteran producer Toshio Suzuki was one of the founding members of Studio Ghibli. Now 65 years old, Suzuki is in the process of transitioning to a less hands-on role with the studio, but is still co-producing its newest film, "When Marnie Was There," which is set to premiere this month.

Suzuki recently made an appearance at a cross-promotional event for the new movie, this summer’s two Tokyo-area Ghibli art exhibitions, and cell phone service provider au. While there, he mentioned that despite announcing his retirement from film last September, Miyazaki can still be seen around the Ghibli offices each day.

“I really wish he’d stop showing up,” Suzuki said with a laugh.

Still, Miyazaki only said he was finished making full-length movies. He never said he was going to stop working per-se,and we know he’s penning some sort of historical manga. Maybe hanging around Ghibli, where he was the driving force behind so many hits, just gets his creative juices flowing. It’s not that he comes in and acts like he’s still running the place or anything, right?

Actually, he does. Miyazaki may have a host of incredible talents, but keeping his opinions to himself clearly isn’t one of them. According to Suzuki: “He says he’s going to leave the young staff members to their work, and not tell them what to do, but in reality, right after he gets to the studio, he’s dishing out orders.”

Suzuki himself seems to have a bit more faith in Ghibli’s new generation, as he praised "Marnie" director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and co-producer Yoshiaki Nishimura for their artistic and technical talents. “Considering their careers are only half as long as those of Miyazaki and ['Grave of the Fireflies' director] Isao Takahata, they’ve done a really great job.”

Still, all the animation fans who aren’t quite ready for a completely Miyazaki-free Ghibli will probably rest easier knowing that Miyazaki himself apparently isn’t either.

Source: Yahoo! Japan

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki retires as producer -- Miyazaki’s next project and reaction to latest Ghibli film revealed in interview with Toshio Suzuki -- Ghibli pixel art gives us so much warm nostalgia we’re sharing it with you

© RocketNews24

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5 Comments
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Retiring doesn't mean you stop, sit and look at the wall, it means you have more time for the things you love and Miyazakis love is Studio Ghibli obviously!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Suzuki should just contact a TV broadcasting company and sign a contract for Miyazaki to travel around the world and report various movie production companies starting with Disney. That should get him out of Suzuki-san's hair for a while. When he comes back send him on a lecturing stint of what he found during his visits at those studios and compare it with what he had been doing at Ghibli. LoL

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"Miyazaki ... not tell them what to do, but in reality, right after he gets to the studio, he's dishing out orders." ROFL. Fantastic ...

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Hayao Miyazaki is a gift to humanity. I wish there were more Japanese like him.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I think Miyazaki is no longer directing and producing animated features himself--but he makes the knowledge from all those years of animation work available to the other people now working at Studio Ghibli now.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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