Oscar-winning Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature film in a decade will be released in July next year, its distribution company has said.
The 81-year-old Miyazaki, who co-founded celebrated anime house Studio Ghibli, came out of retirement to make the movie, titled “How Do You Live?” And for some people who grew up watching Ghibli films, this is on another level of comfort.
Miyazaki had originally retired after the release of his 2013 historical drama The Wind Rises, but returned to work in 2016 to work on How Do You Live, a film inspired by — but not a direct adaptation of — a 1937 children’s novel by Yoshino Genzaburo. It tells the story of a 15-year-old boy as he goes on a journey to discovery spiritual growth, poverty and the meaning of life with the help of his uncle, whose advice is communicated to him from a journal.
Oscar-winning animator has long called “How Do You Live” one of his favorite books and announced in 2017 he planned to adapt it for screen. An English translation of the book was published for the first time in 2021 with an introduction by Neil Gaiman.
The studio also released some artwork from the film, a loose charcoal-and-watercolor sketch, apparently of a bird-like creature. Miyazaki is working on How Do You Live at a deliberately slow pace; the first 36 minutes of hand-drawn animation took three years to make. Producer Toshio Suzuki has said that Miyazaki decided to come out of retirement so he could dedicate one last film to his grandson.
Studio Ghibli, which was founded by Miyazaki in 1985, has been busy of late, recently opening a theme park based on Miyazaki’s works, which features rides and attractions inspired by films such as “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Princess Mononoke.”
Just recently, the studio also collaborated last month with Lucasfilm on a Baby Yoda animated short, bringing together Grogu from “The Mandalorian” and the anthropomorphized coal dust bunnies from Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away.”
The movie, tentatively titled How Do You Live, will open in theaters in Japan on July 14, 2023.
