Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation: Films, Themes, Artistry [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Director Hayao Miyazaki ranks among the most interesting and original figures currently working in world animation. His charming children's films My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service enjoy a rapidly growing audience in the U.S., and his brilliant Princess Mononoke, which broke box-office records in Japan, was released theatrically in the U.S. in November of 1999. Although storybook adaptations and a few Japanese volumes about individual films have appeared in the U.S., a major study of his work in English is long overdue. Miyazaki's many fans will enjoy Helen McCarthy's Hiyao Miyazaki and Mark Schilling's Princess Mononoke: The Art and Making of Japan's Most Popular Film of All Time, but neither is fully satisfactory.

McCarthy, who has written extensively about anime, offers an overview of the artist's career in animation and manga. She discusses each film in detail, with character descriptions and plot synopses, but she writes as a fan (rather than a critic or historian), and her text overflows with superlatives. Miyazaki is an exceptionally talented director, and his work merits a more discerning evaluation. McCarthy is also surprisingly careless about details: the ill-fated Japanese-American collaboration, Little Nemo, was in the works far longer than six years; and she describes the boar-god Nago in Mononoke as being wounded by a "ball of stone" when it's a actually an iron bullet. The latter may seem like nitpicking, but the hero's search for the source of the iron sets the plot of the film in motion. Finally, like Schilling's Princess Mononoke, Hiyao Miyazaki would have benefited from more careful proofreading; for example, McCarthy misspells the name of animation giant Winsor McCay. The extensive, but by no means complete, bibliography is a useful resource. --Charles Solomon

"It is good at last to have a book in English about this master of film." -Roger Ebert

Artist-writer-director-producer Hayao Miyazaki is often called "the Walt Disney of Japan." His animated theatrical features have been smash hits in Japan, and many, including "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Kiki's Delivery Service," are already familiar to American audiences. Now, with Disney-Miramax's imminent release of "Princess Mononoke, ," Miyazaki's masterwork and one of the top-grossing film in all Japanese history, this "animation master" is about to take America and the world by storm.
Mixing first-hand interview and personal insights with critical evaluations of art, plot, production qualities, and literary themes, McCarthy provides a film-by-film appraisal that examines technique as well as message. She reveals Miyazaki to be not just a master of the art of animation, but a meticulous craftsman who sees his work as a medium for shaping the humanistic and environmental concerns of our times.
An overview of the artist and his early career is followed by in-depth examinations of seven major Miyazaki films: "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Castle of Cagliostro, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso," and "Princess Mononoke." Included are design and technical data, story synopses and character sketches, personnel and filmography data, and critical evaluation. Illustrations throughout, in color and black and white, show the detail and vigor of Miyazaki's art.
Written for anime fans as well as students of film, literature, and popular culture, McCarthy's book raises animation criticism to a whole new level and is an essential guide to the work of a world-class filmmaker.
London-based Helen McCarthy is author of "Anime! A Beginner's Guide to Japanese Animation, The Anime Movie Guide," and (with Jonathan Clements) "The Erotic Anime Movie Guide." She appears frequently on radio and TV and at conferences around the world.

Offers an inside look at the works of Hayao Miyazaki, featuring preliminary sketches and scenes from his films.

I've wanted to write this book for ten years. This is why...
Hayao Miyazaki is the greatest living maker of animated films. I say 'maker' and not simply 'director' because in over thirty years he has done almost every job connected with the creation of animation except photography and composing the music score, from in-betweener to producer, even taking in lyricist along the way. He is also a master illustrator, a genius of the comics field, a prose author of real stature and a compelling speaker. Is it any wonder that I wanted to write a book on him as soon as I saw my first Miyazaki feature?

The real surprise is that nobody else got there before me. Miyazaki has so many admirers among the animation establishment that, even though his name may be new to average moviegoers, people like critic Roger Ebert, Disney producer Hans Bacher, and French comic giant Moebius, have known and admired his work for years. It's a privilege to have been able to meet the man himself, see the studio he created, and write about his career.I also think it's perfectly fitting that this book is the first to be devoted to the work of a single Japanese animation director in the English language.

I really hope that more books on Miyazaki will follow - the work of such a many-faceted artist should be seen through more than one writer's eyes. I also hope that more books on other directors, writers and artists in the anime field will be written in the next few years. So far, since I wrote the first book on anime in English (Anime! A Beginner's Guide to Japanese Animation) in 1993, we've seen a number of guides and overviews, but until now there have been no English language studies of the work of individual creators or studios. More and more students at all levels up to doctoral are writing about anime, but the vast majority have few or no language skills outside their English mothertongue, and there is still a shortage of reliable, detailed information in English. If we are to build a proper body of criticism of anime in English, we need more books on its makers, their working methods and styles. If we could clone Frederik L.Schodt, all would be well; as we can't, the rest of us will just have to get down to work and write some more!

For me, writing this book was not just the realisation of a ten year dream, it was also a perfect excuse to revisit some of my favourite movies (including my alltime favourite, My Neighbour Totoro). If any of Miyazaki's films show in a town near you, go to see them. Drive a hundred miles if you have to. Yes, you'll be able to buy the video, but the sheer pleasure of seeing them on a big screen is worth any effort.

Please let me - and my publisher, Stone Bridge Press - know if you enjoy this book, and what else you would like to see in print about Miyazaki, his colleagues or other Japanese animation creatives. I am very aware that as writers, editors and publishers, those of us with an interest in anime are still opening up a new frontier. There are so many distant horizons for us to explore. The work of Miyazaki's studio, Studio Ghibli, is the mountain peak, the central feature of the Japanese animation landscape. I hope I can help you climb the mountain and enjoy the view.