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Home , Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Monkey Punch, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away

The Newsletter No. 87 Autumn 2020 25 The Review

Hayao Miyazaki Exploring the early work of ’s greatest

Mari Nakamura

Reviewed title : Exploring the Early Work of Japan’s Greatest Animator

Raz Greenberg. 2018. New York: Bloomsbury Academic ISBN 9781501335945

Still from ‘ (2001)’. Reproduced with permission. © .

tudio Ghibli, led by Hayao Miyazaki volume filling this gap in the literature in Yōichi Kotabe, Yasuji Mori, and Yasuo Ōtsuka. and foreign literature as well as Miyazaki’s and the late , is one of the English. In this book Greenberg aims to offer Greenberg also discusses how Miyazaki was own life. Miyazaki’s later works, most notably Smost celebrated Japanese “‘Miyazaki in context’ in its reflection of how profoundly influenced by ’s The , however, depict far studios and has attracted a global audience Miyazaki grew within the emerging post- Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird (1952) and Lev darker and pessimistic visions, and Greenberg for over 30 years. Many books and articles World War II Japanese animation industry Atamanov’s The Snow Queen (1957) in terms suggests that his later works reflect the have been written in English about Studio and how his rise within the same industry is a of conceptual, visual, and narrative styles. sociopolitical uncertainty of Japan in the Ghibli’s works, including Susan Napier’s very important part of his country becoming The second chapter examines Miyazaki’s 21st century. from Akira to Princess Mononoke an animation superpower” (pp.xii-xiii). role in the animated adaptations of classic Here I would like to offer three brief (Palgrave, 2001), Helen McCarthy’s Hayao children’s literature in the 1970s, including critiques of this fascinating study of Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation The book showcases the richness of styles, , of the Alps (1974), 3,000 Leagues Miyazaki’s early work. First, although (Stone Bridge Press, 1999), Thomas Lamarre’s narratives and themes in Miyazaki’s works in Search of Mother (1976), and Anne of Green Greenberg emphasizes Miyazaki’s role Anime Machine (University of Minnesota Press, and how his creativity has evolved over the Gables (1979) as well as the original short in the animated adaptations of classic 2009), and Rayna Denison’s edited volume 50 years of his career. It starts by tracing filmsPanda! Go Panda! (1972, 1973). children’s literature in the 1970s and links Princess Mononoke: Understanding Studio Miyazaki’s early life – his childhood dream Miyazaki’s first trip abroad was an important them to his later directorial productions at Ghibli’s Monster Princess (Bloomsbury, 2018). of becoming a artist, his encounter source of inspiration, and his great love for Studio Ghibli, more compelling and nuanced Yet until very recently, Miyazaki’s early work with Tōei Animation’s first featured animated the European landscapes were integrated discussion of the animation production of has been less explored by scholars outside of filmPanda and the Magic Serpent (1958) into these shows. Linking these early television these shows is needed. Miyazaki did play Japan. A notable exception is Susan Napier’s – and his early years as an animator at series and short films to Miyazaki’s later a key role in these projects by being in recent groundbreaking autobiography, Tōei, the first large-scale films with Studio Ghibli, Greenberg argues charge of scene design and layout, but it Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art (Yale University in Japan, between 1963 and 1971. The first that Miyazaki started practicing new forms was director Takahata’s idea to approach Press, 2018). Raz Greenberg’s new book, chapter examines many works that Miyazaki of narratives, styles, and themes through film and animation in a more realistic way Hayao Miyazaki: Exploring the Early Work was involved in and the studio veterans he these projects. The third chapter focuses by depicting the protagonist’s everyday life of Japan’s Greatest Animator, is a welcome collaborated with, including Takahata, on Miyazaki’s directorial debut feature film in Heidi and other series (3,000 Leagues (1979) as well as the and Anne), according to both Miyazaki’s preceding animated television series Lupin and Takahata’s writings. Second, including the Third (1971, 1972), which are based on the more primary sources – most notably, foundations of the country. By means Amudhan R.P. (Chennai), Paromita Vohra popular action manga by . publications by Takahata and Studio of “guerilla on a borrowed (Mumbai) and the filmmaking partners The fourth chapter offers a close study of Ghibli’s Producer – would Super 8 camera, improvised editing and Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar Miyazaki’s largest manga project, Nausicaa be fruitful for contextualizing Miyazaki’s underground exhibition” (p.2), Patwardhan (Mumbai). Monteiro and Jayasankar also of the Valley of the Wind (1982–94), and the career and works. These publications by developed his unique form and practice of co-authored a major contribution to the 1984 feature film adaptation he directed. key members of Studio Ghibli and their political filmmaking. His 1975 film Kraanti increasingly vibrant study of independent This chapter examines how the world of perspectives give insight into the studio and Ki Tarangein (Waves of revolution) is documentary filmmaking in India (A Fly in Nausicaa was built upon a wide range of its creative process. Third, as Greenberg paradigmatic for the conscious positioning the Curry: Independent Documentary Film themes and tropes from Japanese and foreign acknowledges, Miyazaki’s sources of of filmmaking practices outside the Films in India, SAGE, 2015). literature and films. For example, Nausicaa’s inspiration are indeed wide-ranging across Division of India, i.e. the “nationally dominant However, instead of focusing primarily character was inspired by the two literary time and space, from literary classics to state-run documentary production and on the textual level of their films, Kishore classics The Lady who loved Insect from Heian children’s literature, from sci-fi to distribution agency” (p.2). explores the specific practices, relationships, Japan (794–1185) and Homer’s Odyssey, manga to animation, and from his childhood Subsequently, the term ‘independent’ techniques, and evolving structures that form while the post-apocalyptic world drew from memories to adult experiences travelling in was for a long time primarily associated around mode of filmmaking American and British science fiction novels Japan and abroad. Yet, what is less discussed with politically conscious (if not activist, of the directors in focus. All these aspects and films, including Brian Aldiss’s Hothouse is another important source: scholarly work. see Arvind Rajagopal and Paromita Vohra, contribute to a changing notion and meaning (1962), Frank Herbert’s (1965), and For example, Princess Mononoke is described On the aesthetics and ideology of the of cultural production and the relation Douglas Trumbull’s film Silent Running (1972). as a historical set in Muromachi Indian documentary film: A conversation, between visual culture, cultural producer, Greenberg suggests that Miyazaki’s tendency Japan and Miyazaki’s “own take on the BioScope 3(1), 2012: 7–20) and privately and society. Throughout the five chapters to create strong female protagonists in his famous Beauty and the Beast legend” (p.136), produced documentary films that were of her book, the author draws on a wide films can be traced to Nausicaa. Greenberg but perhaps it is much more than that if we distributed and screened outside the range of cultural, sociological and media also finds a link between Nausicaa and the consider how Miyazaki was influenced by the organized structures of the state or theory and thus offers new perspectives on heroines of influential works such as Panda works of archeologist Eiichi Fujimori, botanist commercial film theatres. But, as Kishore a field of research that for a long time had and the Magic Serpent and The Snow Queen Sasuke Nakao, and historian Yoshihiko convincingly argues, the distinction been under-theorized. Luckily, a number of as well as Heidi and Anne. Amino for many years. Princess Mononoke between independent and ‘mainstream’ important books and academic articles have The fifth and sixth chapters explore can also be read as an alternative historical or ‘commercial’ productions has become begun to fill this gap since the last 10 years or Miyazaki’s career as a feature- imagination beyond the ‘national history’, increasingly blurred (under which category so. Students and scholars who are interested at Studio Ghibli: (1986), My as a Japan and its people that Miyazaki would, for instance, NGO-sponsored in Indian documentary film studies or who Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service rediscovered and rebuilt. films be classified?) during the last four wish to deepen their understanding of the (1989), (1992), and later works In short, this book is a must-read for decades, and the same holds true for multiple ways in which individuals continue Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away anyone interested in Hayao Miyazaki and the diversification and blurring of genre to resist through an array of aesthetic and (2001), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), anime as well as animation studies and film boundaries. Accordingly, Kishore selected sociocultural practices will find this book (2008) and (2013). Greenberg studies. It is an accessible book that invites filmmakers for her study who reflect the very insightful and interesting to read. finds many affinities in stylistic and thematic the reader into the worlds of Miyazaki contemporary diversity of individuals, elements between Ghibli productions and the and his sources of inspiration through the position(alities), artistic forms and aesthetic Nadja-Christina Schneider, works that Miyazaki was involved in before careful analysis of his works. practices of independent contemporary Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Ghibli, including strong female characters, filmmaking in India: Rahul Roy (New Delhi), Germany rich background designs, and complex Mari Nakamura, Leiden University, narratives that were inspired by Japanese The Netherlands