Hayao Miyazaki, director of Studio Ghibli, revealed on Saturday the title and expected release timeframe of his supposed “final” film project. The title was revealed to be Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka (How Do You Live?), and he expects it to take three or four years to complete. This is the project Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki has commented on, saying that they might not even be able to finish it while Miyazaki is still alive.
The film is going to be based on Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 masterpiece of the same name. The story follows a 15-year-old boy’s daily life, as he tries to find his identity in our ever-changing world. The boy is under the guidance of his uncle who is a university graduate; This, at the time, was extremely rare and impressive. The book explores a lot of important topics, such as friendship, discrimination, racism, bullying, and more. Today this book ranks as the second most popular book of all time in Japan.
Miyazaki has previously written an article on this book and how it has been influential not just to the general public, but to himself as well. It was also mentioned that this book has a lot of meaning to the protagonist of his upcoming film, which may infer that we won’t be seeing a 1:1 adaptation. Comparatively speaking, this movie will be more rooted in reality than most of his other films, likely in a similar fashion to The Wind Rises.
Earlier this year in May, Studio Ghibli had put out a job notice, stating that they were looking for animators to work on “Hayao Miyazaki’s final feature animation film.” Those who were chosen received three-year contracts that started on October 1st.
Hayao Miyazaki has directed many iconic films in the past, with his first project (Yuki no Taiyou Pilot) having aired back in 1972. He is responsible for movies such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and many more.
While Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) has recently become the highest grossing anime film of all time, Miyazaki’s Spirited Away remains the highest grossing film ever at the Japanese box office.
What are your thoughts on Hayao Miyazaki’s final film? Do you think this will really be the last one he makes? Let us know in the comments or on social media!
