Hayao Miyazaki’s Masterpieces You Shouldn't Miss
Hayao Miyazaki’s magical world of animation
Well, Miyazaki is known to everyone. I mean, everyone who watches animation movies - more specifically Japanese animation films.
By any chance, if you don’t know who Hayao Miyazaki is, now you know.
Hayao Miyazaki(born in Tokyo, on 5 January 1941) is a Japanese anime director whose magical animation films will take you back in time.
Miyazaki is an economics grad turned into an animator. After completing his study in economics, he joined as an entry-level animator at Tōei Animation in 1963. There he met fellow animators Takahata Isao and Ōta Akemi. Well, the bonding between the trio worked splendidly, as Takahata became his lifelong friend and business partner while Ōta Akemi became his wife.
Later in 1985, Takahata and Miyazaki launched Studio Ghibli and started making animation films that no one has ever seen before. The story, animation, music — they made all in utmost sophistication.
No wonder, Miyazaki’s works got worldwide recognition. In 2003, Spirited Away won the Oscar in the Best Animated Feature Film Category. Moreover, Miyazaki received an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 8, 2014.
He is considered the master of Japanese animation. His works enhance our imagination. Today, I will name a few of Miyazaki’s masterpieces that you will love watching. All of the movies are directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
So, forget your age. Sit back, relax, and explore the incredible world of Hayao Miyazaki.
Spirited Away
Chihiro, a 10-year-old girl, went outing with her parents and suddenly stumble upon a strange place. It’s like an abandoned amusement park with no living beings. There Chihiro’s parents found some fresh foods and started eating immediately. But things went wrong — while eating, they turned into giant pigs.
Chihiro became frightened, and when the dark comes, the whole place got crowded with supernatural beings. Now what?
Kiki’s Delivery Service
13-year-old girl Kiki is a witch, and now it’s time for her to spend a year alone in another city far away from her parents. So, she, with her talking cat, Jiji, moves to a seaside town.
In the town, Kiki gets the job of a food delivery girl. She uses her broomstick to fly and deliver bakery foods to different destinations. Her flying courier service is doing great. In the meantime, a young human boy gets attracted to Kiki, but she feels too insecure about it.
Then, one day, on her way to deliver food to a house, suddenly Kiki lost his magic power to fly. Will Kiki get his magic-power back? Who knows!
My Neighbor Totoro
Two schoolgirls Satsuki, and her younger sister, Mei, settled into an old country house with their father. Their mother was in a nearby hospital, and it would take time to recover.
One day — while playing in the woods — the girls discovered and befriended the wood spirits — especially the giant cuddly creature knows as Totoro. And they entered into a magical world, unlike anything.
It is to mention that Totoro is the mascot of Studio Ghibli.
Princess Mononoke
Humans are taking control of the forest. They are destroying and consuming everything in nature. So, a battle starts between the gods of the forest and the cruel humans where Ashikata and Princess Mononoke get involved. Who will win in this fierce battle?
It’s a fantasy film set in the late Muromachi period of Japan (approximately 1336 to 1573 CE). The term, Mononoke (物の怪), is a Japanese word for supernatural, shape-shifting beings that possess people and cause suffering, disease, or death.
Porco Rosso
Italy in the 1930s. When any wealthy cruise ship sails towards the Adriatic Sea, it is terrorized and attacked by the sky pirates. They come by planes out of nowhere and rob everything.
No one is brave enough to fight them but only a man named Porco Rosso — a former World War I flying ace who somehow turned into a pig during the war.
Will this pig-man save the ships from the vicious sky pirates? How will the battle go in the sky? And who is this spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo?
To Conclude
It doesn’t matter how heavy your life is with all the works, depression, and complexities. If you want to forget all the cruel reality and enter into a wonderful world, start watching the films right away.
You will be young again — you will revisit your memory, getting lost in an incredible world of innocence and nostalgia.
I bet Miyazaki’s unique storytelling and breathtaking animation will take you into another world. You will grow a different lens — a magical one — and see the world around you with more curiosity and wonder.
Happy watching!
If you want to know more about Japanese animation, read the following article published in The Masterpiece.