Hayao Miyazaki Is Canceling Retirement Again and Directing A CG-Animated Short

Hayao Miyazaki in his studio in Studio Ghibli documentary "The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness"

Hayao Miyazaki, the legendary Japanese retired/unretired anime/animation director, writer and manga-ka who is indelibly associated with hand-drawn filmmaking, revealed that he is putting his sixth attempt at retirement aside in order to take on directing his first wholly computer-animated short film project developed and created at his Studio Ghibli in Tokyo, according to reports by Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and other trades.
Celebrated for his hand-drawn approach to film such as Spirited Away, winner of the 2003 best animation Oscar and Japan’s highest-grossing movie of all time, Miyazaki also confirmed rumors that he has begun experimenting with CG animation.
"I have just begun work on a new anime," Miyazaki announced at a press conference held at the studio on Monday, THR reports. “It's a wonderful project. I’m working with some of my usual staff, as well as some staff from the computer graphics world.”
Miyazaki-san's new venture, Kemushi no Boro will be a roughly ten-minute computer-animated short, centered on the story of a caterpillar named Boro, displayed for screening exclusively at the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. The director describes the film as "a story of a tiny, hairy caterpillar, so tiny that it may be easily squished between your fingers." He first noted his concept for the story nearly two decades ago, before Princess Mononoke was released. Miyazaki said his producer Toshio Suzuki has predicted the film will take about three years to make according to a report on Anime News Network, but the director added that he's working hard in hopes of completing it sooner. It is not clear what stage the film's production is at, or how much longer it will take to finish it.
Miyazaki, 74, has announced his retirement from feature film directing on several occasions, most recently after the completion of The Wind Rises. When asked about how he has been spending his time since "retirement," the globally acclaimed filmmaker said, "I'm still working very hard. The only difference is that I come to the studio 30 minutes later than I used to and go home 30 minutes earlier."
The director also used the opportunity to denounce Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to expand the role of the Japanese military and urged the leader to make a clear and unambiguous apology for Japan's role in World War II.
"It must be made very clear that aggressive war was a complete mistake, and that we have deep regret for the great damage it caused the people of China," Miyazaki said. There are many people who want to forget this, but it is something that must never be forgotten."
“[Hayao] gets bored when his goal is maintaining [the Ghibli Museum], so he needs things to fiddle around with,” his son Goro Miyazaki said at an event last month as explanation for why his 74-year-old father was making a CG film.
Goro is also working with computer animation nowadays as he directs the Ghibli TV series Ronia The Robber’s Daughter. Last fall, when the elder Miyazaki was asked for his thoughts about his son switching from hand-drawn to CGI, he responded that the technique was beside the point.
“I think talent decides everything,” Miyazaki said. “More than the method, what’s important is the talent using it. There’s nothing inherently wrong or right about a method, whether it be pencil drawings or 3-D CG.”
In that same interview, Miyazaki said he felt lucky that he’d managed to avoid using a computer throughout his career. From the looks of it though, it’s never too late to teach an old dog some new tricks.
Previous exclusive shorts for the museum (nine to date) include the My Neighbor Totoro semi-sequel Mei and the Kittenbus, and a story similar to Boro‘s vibe: Monmon the Water Spider.