Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, Miyazaki Hayao, born January 5, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan) is a prominent director of many popular animated feature films. He is also the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company.
He remained largely unknown to the West, outside of animation communities, until Miramax released his 1997 Princess Mononoke. By that time, his films had already enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan and Central Asia. For instance, Princess Mononoke was the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan. His later film, Spirited Away, had that distinction as well, and was the first anime film to win an Academy Award. Howl's Moving Castle was also nominated but did not receive the award.
Miyazaki's films often incorporate common themes, such as humanity's relationship to nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. The protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women; the villains, when present, are often morally ambiguous characters with redeeming qualities.
Miyazaki's films have generally been financially successful, and this success has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney. In 2006, Time Magazine voted Miyazaki one of the most influential Asians of the past 60 years.
Miyazaki, the second of four brothers, was born in the town of Akebono-cho, part of Tokyo's Bunkyō-ku. During World War II, Miyazaki's father Katsuji was director of Miyazaki Airplane, owned by his brother (Hayao Miyazaki's uncle), which made rudders for A6M Zero fighter planes. During this time, Miyazaki drew airplanes and developed a lifelong fascination with aviation, a penchant that later manifested as a recurring theme in his films.
Miyazaki's mother was a voracious reader who often questioned socially accepted norms. Miyazaki later said that he inherited his questioning and skeptical mind from her. His mother underwent treatment for spinal tuberculosis from 1947 until 1955, and so the family moved frequently. Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro is set in that time period and features a family whose mother is similarly afflicted.
Miyazaki attended Toyotama High School. In his third year there, he saw the film Hakujaden, which has been described as "the first-ever Japanese feature length color anime". His interest in animation began in this period; however, in order to become an animator, he had to learn to draw the human figure, since his prior work had been limited to airplanes and battleships.
After high school, Miyazaki attended Gakushuin University, from which he would graduate in 1963 with degrees in political science and economics. He was a member of the "Children's Literature research club," the "closest thing to a comics club in those days".
In April 1963, Miyazaki got a job at Toei Animation, working as an in-between artist on the anime Watchdog Bow Wow (Wanwan Chushingura). He was a leader in a labor dispute soon after his arrival, becoming chief secretary of Toei's labor union in 1964.
In October 1965, he married fellow animator Akemi Ota, who later left work to raise their two sons, Gorō and Keisuke. Gorō is now an animator and filmmaker, and has directed Tales from Earthsea at Studio Ghibli. Keisuke is a wood artist who has created pieces for the Ghibli Museum and who made the wood engraving shown in the Studio Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart.
Hayao Miyazaki's dedication to his work has often been reported to have impacted negatively his relationship with his son Gorō.
Miyazaki has illustrated several manga, beginning in 1969 with Puss in Boots (Nagakutsu wo Haita Neko). His major work in this format is the seven-volume manga version of his tale Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which he created from 1982 to 1994 and which has sold millions of copies worldwide. Other works include Sabaku no Tami (砂漠の民, People of the Desert?), Shuna no Tabi (シュナの旅, The Journey of Shuna?), The Notebook of Various Images (雑想ノート, Zassō Nōto?), which was the basis of his film Porco Rosso).
In October 2006, A Trip to Tynemouth was published in Japan. Miyazaki based it on the young adult short stories of Robert Westall, who grew up in World War II England. The most famous story, first published in a collection called Break of Dark, is titled Blackham's Wimpy. The rival Royal Air Force crews in the story fly Vickers Wellington Bombers, the nickname comes from the character J. Wellington Wimpy from Popeye comics and cartoons.
Filmography
Director, screenplay, and storyboards:
~Yuki's Sun 1972 (Pilot film for a never-realized anime series)
~Future Boy Conan, 1978 anime series
~The Castle of Cagliostro, 1979 film
~Sherlock Hound, 1982 anime series
~Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, 1984 film
~Laputa: Castle in the Sky, 1986 film
~My Neighbor Totoro, 1988 film
~Kiki's Delivery Service, 1989 film
~Porco Rosso, 1992 film
~On Your Mark, 1995 music video for Chage and Aska
~Princess Mononoke, 1997 film
~Spirited Away, 2001 film (winner, Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, 2002)
~Howl's Moving Castle, 2004 (nominee, Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, 2005)
~Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, 2008 film
Future projects:
~Film Guruguru,(Ongoing short film project exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum
~Unnamed Hayao Miyazaki-directed Documentary (TBA
Shorts:
~The Whale Hunt, 2001 (Short film exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum)
~Koro's Big Day Out, 2001 (Short film exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum)
~Mei and the Kittenbus, 2002 (Short film exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum)
~Imaginary Flying Machines, 2002 (Short film exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum)
~Ornithopter Story: Fly! Hiyodori Tengu Go!, 2002 (Short film exclusive to the ~Studio Ghibli Museum)
~Monmon the Water Spider, 2006 (Short film exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum)
~House-hunting, 2006 (Short film exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum)
~The Day I Harvested A Star, 2006 (Short film exclusive to the Studio Ghibli Museum)
Scene design, layout:
~Heidi, Girl of the Alps, 1974 anime series
~3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, 1976 anime series
~Anne of Green Gables, Episodes 1-15, 1979 anime series
Concept, screenplay, storyboards, scene design, key animation:
~Panda! Go, Panda!, 1972 short film
Screenplay, storyboards, scene design, art design, key animation:
~Panda! Go Panda! and the Rainy-Day Circus (パンダコパンダ 雨降りサーカスの巻, Panda ~Kopanda: Amefuri Sākasu no Maki?), 1973 short film
Screenwriter, storyboards, executive producer, sequence director:
~Whisper of the Heart, 1995 film
Story consultant, key animation, storyboards, scene design:
~Animal Treasure Island (どうぶつ宝島, Dōbutsu Takarajima?), 1971
Key animation, storyboards, scene design:
~Hols: Prince of the Sun, 1968 film
Organizer, key animation, storyboards:
~Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (アリババと４０匹の盗賊, Aribaba to Yonjūbiki no Tozuku?), 1971
Key animation, storyboards, design:
~Puss 'n Boots, 1969 film
~Flying Phantom Ship, 1969 film.
.:RUMIKO TAKAHASHI:.
Rumiko Takahashi (高橋 留美子, Takahashi Rumiko, born October 10, 1957) is a Japanese mangaka.
Takahashi is one of the wealthiest women in Japan. The manga she creates (and its anime adaptations) are very popular in the United States and Europe where they have been released as both manga and anime in English translation. Her works are relatively famous worldwide, and many of her series were some of the forerunners of early English language manga to be released in the 1990s. Takahashi is also the best selling female comics artist in history; well over 100 million copies of her various works have been sold. She has twice won the Shogakukan Manga Award: once in 1981 for Urusei Yatsura, and again in 2002 for InuYasha.
.:OSAMU TEZUKA:.
Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫, Tezuka Osamu, November 3, 1928 – February 9, 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years.[1] His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the god of Manga."
Tezuka was born the eldest son of three children on November 3, 1928, in Toyonaka City, Osaka. He was tormented by his classmates because of his skinny build, small stature and wavy hair, a genetic trait which appears in 3% of the Japanese population. His nickname was gashagasha-atama (gashagasha is slang for messy, atama means head). His mother often comforted him by telling him to look to the blue skies, giving him confidence. His mother's stories inspired his creativity as well. Tezuka grew up in Kobe and his mother often took him to the Takarazuka Theatre in the city of Takarazuka. The Takarazuka Revue that performed at the theatre was one made up in its entirety of women, therefore male characters were also played by women (these women that only played the parts of male characters were labeled as "otokoyakus"). The Takarazuka Revue specialized in romantic musicals aimed at a female audience and fan-base, thus having a large impact on the later works of Tezuka.
Tezuka also loved the environment, especially insects, and wished that all humans would take care of it. His animation production company was named Mushi (insect) Production.[4]
He started to draw comics around his second year of elementary school. Around his fourth year, he created his pen name, by adding the Chinese character denoting "insect" at the end of his name, making his written name different while the pronunciation remained identical. He came to the realization that he could use manga as a means of helping to convince people to care for the world. After surviving World War II, he created his first piece of work (at age 17), Diary of Ma-Chan and then Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island), which began the golden age of manga, a craze comparable to American comic books at the time.
Works
The distinctive "large eyes" style of Japanese animation was invented by Tezuka, who based it on cartoons of the time such as Max Fleischer's Betty Boop and Walt Disney's Bambi and Mickey Mouse. As an indication of his productivity, the Complete Manga Works of Tezuka Osamu (手塚治虫漫画全集, published in Japan) comprises some 400 volumes, over 80,000 pages; even so, it is not comprehensive. In fact, his complete oeuvre includes over 700 manga with more than 150,000 pages. However, the vast majority of his work has never been translated from the original Japanese and is thus inaccessible to people who do not read Japanese.
When he was younger, Tezuka's arms swelled up and he became ill. He was treated and cured by a doctor which spurred him on to study medicine at Osaka University. However, he began his career as a manga artist while a university student, drawing his first professional work while at school. At a crossing point, he asked his mother whether he should look into doing manga full time, or whether he should become a doctor. This was an especially serious question since, at the time, being a manga author was not a particularly rewarding job. The answer his mother gave was, "You should work doing the thing you like most of all." Tezuka decided to devote himself to manga creation on a full-time basis. He graduated from Osaka University and obtained his medical degree, but he would later use his medical and scientific knowledge to enrich his sci-fi manga, such as Black Jack.
His creations include Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu in Japan), Black Jack, Princess Knight (the first shōjo, or girl-oriented, manga/anime series), Phoenix (Hi no Tori in Japan), Kimba the White Lion (an uncredited inspiration for Disney's The Lion King), and Adolf. His "life's work" was Phoenix—a story of life and death, concerning an eponymous phoenix whose blood endows those who drink it with immortality.
In January 1965, Tezuka received a letter from Stanley Kubrick who had watched Astro Boy and wanted to invite Tezuka to be the art director of his next movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Tezuka couldn't afford to leave his studio for an entire year to live in England, so he refused the invitation. Tezuka couldn't work on it, but he loved the movie, and would play its soundtrack at maximum volume in his studio to keep him awake during the long nights of work.
Tezuka headed the animation production studio Mushi Production ('Bug Production'), which pioneered TV animation in Japan.[4] The name of the studio derives from one of the kanji (虫) used to write his name.
Many young manga artists once lived in the apartment where Tezuka lived, Tokiwa-so. (As the suffix -so indicates, this was probably a small, inexpensive apartment.) The residents included Shotaro Ishinomori; Fujio Akatsuka; and Abiko Motou & Hiroshi Fujimoto (who worked together under the pen name Fujiko Fujio).
He was a personal friend (and apparent artistic influence) of Brazilian comic book artist, Maurício de Sousa.
In 1994 the city of Takarazuka, Hyōgo, where Tezuka grew up, opened a museum in his memory. Stamps were issued in his honor in 1997. Around the beginning of the 21st century, his son Makoto Tezuka created Tezuka Productions to help extend Tezuka's manga series with new issues beyond his death, and also posthumous works. Also, beginning in 2003 the Japanese toy company Kaiyodo began manufacturing a series of highly detailed figurines of Tezuka's creations, including Princess Knight, Unico, the Phoenix, Dororo, Marvelous Melmo, Ambassador Magma, and many others. To date three series of the figurines have been released. A separate Astro Boy series of figurines has also been issued, and enjoying continuing popularity for fans throughout Japan are annual Tezuka calendars with some of Tezuka's most famous artwork.
The content of Tezuka's work has met modern criticism for its allegedly racist depictions of blacks and southern-east Asian people, notably those of countries such as Vietnam.[citation needed] These depictions ranged from drawing them in an exaggerated manner to showing the places they came from to be poor and underdeveloped. Yet, Tezuka constantly proclaimed that he had a never-ending love for the Earth and believed strongly in the sanctity of human life. There was evidence of this in certain manga such as Buddha, where other races, including whites, were drawn in an abstract, caricatured style and came from strange, far-away countries.
Style:
Tezuka is known for his imaginative stories and stylized Japanese adaptations of western literature. He loved reading novels and watching films that came from the West. His early art style was basic and inspired by Disney, whom he greatly admired. Tezuka used cinematic camera angles and panning in his early works and beyond, creating the illusion of watching a movie. His work, like that of other manga creators, was sometimes gritty and violent. However, he stayed away from graphic violence in some titles such as Astro Boy.
Awards:
1958 Shogakukan Manga Award for Manga Seminar on Biology and Bīko-chan[11]
1975 Bungeishunjū manga Award
1975 Japan Mangaka Association Award - Special Award
1977 Kodansha Manga Award for Black Jack and The Three-Eyed One[12]
1983 Shogakukan Manga Award for Hidamari no Ki[11]
1985 Hiroshima International Animation Festival for Onboro-Film
1986 Kodansha Manga Award for Adolf[12]
1989 Nihon SF Taisho Award - Special Award
1989 Zuihōsho 3rd class
