Meeting Someone I Admire Yoshifumi Kondo x Aoi Hiiragi Synopsis: Originally born as a manga, “Whisper of the Heart” has been given a new life through animation in this film. A discussion between the original author and the director, both of whom admire each other’s works, took place just before the movie’s completion. Aiming for …
Meeting Someone I Admire: Yoshifumi Kondo x Aoi Hiiragi Interview Read More »
By Suzuki Toshio A Tattered “Ribon” Manga Found in a Mountain Lodge in Shinshu Miyazaki’s father-in-law had a studio in Shinshu. Since long ago, the Miyazaki family would frequently visit there during summers. After starting Studio Ghibli, it became an annual custom for us to visit that mountain cabin during our summer vacations. Not only …
The Night the 45-Year-Old Rookie Director Kondo Yoshifumi Cried Read More »
The Sound that Connects the World and Time By Fujimoto Yukari Books have time folded within them. The cover of a book is a gateway to another time and space painted in the past. When that cover is opened, one can enter another world different from reality. To the world of fairy tales, of fantasy, …
Yoshifumi Kondo -When told that I’ve captured the ‘normalness’ of the child, I felt like I understood my place- Interviewer: This time, before the storyboarding, was there also a script written in text? Kondo: “I don’t think there was a proper one. There was only something that Mr. Miyazaki had roughly written on draft paper. …
What We Wanted to Convey in this Film-Yoshifumi Kondo Read More »
Why Girls’ Manga Now? — The Aim of This Film — Hayao Miyazaki As the chaotic image of the 21st century becomes clearer, the social structure of Japan is creaking and starting to sway. We are definitely entering a period of change where yesterday’s common knowledge and theories are rapidly losing their power. Although young …
Isao Takahata By the side of the pond, in a cave, a fourteen-year-old boy lives with his four-year-old sister, all alone. Maybe they’re playing a game of adventure or house, collecting dead wood for fuel, and drawing seawater for its saltiness. They bathe in the pond, and while swimming, they catch water snails. It’s summertime. …
“Grave of the Fireflies” and Modern Children (1988) Read More »
Yōji Yamada The reality where humans stand up. I met Isao Takahata after watching the animation film “Gauche the Cellist” (1982) and having a dialogue about it. Since then, we’ve known each other for over thirty years. Later on, at the “Iwasaki Chihiro Art Museum”, he served as a council member and I as a …
It’s Okay to Be Weak, Toward Becoming a Kind Country Read More »
When I was around six or seven years old, a VHS videotape dubbed with “Kiki’s Delivery Service” arrived from my grandmother who lived far away. As a child who wholeheartedly believed in fairies and the magical world depicted in the story, I was naturally captivated by Kiki’s adventures, flying on a magic broomstick and talking …
Family Landscape – Brother of Hayao Miyazaki (1990) By Miyazaki Shirou Four brothers, all boys. Hayao Miyazaki. Born on January 5th, Showa 16 (1941). Blood type O. He was born into an ordinary family, the second son of four brothers, all boys. And I’m the youngest, the fourth son. Now, Hayao Miyazaki has become a …
Family Landscape- Brother of Hayao Miyazaki (1990) Read More »
The Fascinating Characters of “Totoro” When I was going to watch “My Neighbor Totoro” for the first time, I thought I would definitely leave halfway through. I grew up in the Midwest of the United States, always watching animated films produced by Warner Bros and Disney, and shows like “The Muppet Show”. “Totoro” was the …