Miyazaki Said Something!

Hayao Miyazaki opines on the modern anime industry and what he has to say seems to be fairly sensible and meaningful. In this piece, he speaks mostly about the value of real-life perspective, how much being able to view things in motion and people that exist when one designs character, and how an inability to interface with reality is a hindrance to drawing great art.

Were you expecting that, given the headline?

I may be too easily annoyed with online journalism.

2 Comments

  1. I’ve always had somewhat mixed feelings about Miyazaki. His films are beautiful but they’re all about nostalgia and longing for the past; none of them present a coherent vision of a positive future. In particular, I will never forgive Laputa for being a blatant aesop against *space travel* of all things.

    His criticisms of anime culture are pretty relatable, though. I tend to automatically judge straight cis guys with cutesy anime girl avatars on Twitter a bit more harshly than I ought.

  2. The article is also guilty of some misinterpretation. As you would know already, “Otaku” for western fans is a silly badge-of-pride kind of term strictly for anime fans, but in its original form it’s a more negative term for obsessing over any hobby/interest. Miyazaki being an old Japanese bloke, so I’d be more surprised if he DIDN’T mean it in the original sense. In other words, I don’t believe Miyazaki means it the way the article assumes he means it.

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