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Comment by Andrew_nenakhov | Hacker News Reader

This must be fifth time he plans to film last movie before retirement.

(Not that I mind, we don't have enough Ghibli movies.)

His son Goro Miyazaki's movies haven't been as well-received as his own movies, I guess he can't let his baby go knowing it won't do as well without him.

I found this exchange between a then-retired Hayao Miyazaki and a Japanese tabloid reporter very funny: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/11/hayao-miyazaki-asked-about...

I love how he drops an offhand comment about inflation, as if to say “clearly anyone with half a brain knows that nominal box office records are essentially guaranteed to be broken, I can’t believe we actually need to say that out loud”

It sounds a bit like Jiro[1]. Sometimes I wonder if that striving for perfection until you die is as admirable as it is damaging, because it doesn't let the next generation get the necessary experience that they need.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiro_Dreams_of_Sushi

They said his son’s sushi is just as good, he’s less fearsome and is cheaper in the same documentary you posted.

Yes, the documentary makers noticed (also the part where the Michelin stars were actually earned on a day his son was in charge of the kitchen), but did the regular public? I suspect that was the main point

He said the younger generation didn’t get experience, which is why it’s false.

The NHK “10 years with Miyazaki” is brutal, the tv crew follows him walking out of his son’s film.

To be fair it was bad, it lacks depth and imagination that Hayao has

The most important point, that I enjoyed watching it, was still there.

Goro has had a lot of issue going out of his father shadow and making a name for himself. He didn't really want to be a director in the first place. But after his first movie being a clear copy of his father style, he really started to develop his own identity and his recent productions have been quite innovative and interesting, he even dabbled in full 3d animation which was a big no no for a lot of the old guard of animation in Japan.

He is reportedly working on a new feature film, and I am actually more exited for his project than his father one (but I still would love for a new Hayao movie).

He has 4 works to his name, and I have a bit of a difficulty to attach them to your timeline.

- Tales from Earthsea

- Ronja, the Robber's Daughter, (3D animated, made to look like drawings)

- From Up on Poppy Hill (which I'd excuse anyone from mistaking for a Hayao movie)

- Earwig and the Witch (3D, made to look like cgi)

Basically, from Ronja, I feel like he really started to do his thing and was successful at it. Ofc, From Up on Poppy Hill is a notable exception, and if I remember correctly he worked with his father on this one, but the themes are very much Goro's.

I reckon that he (or more likely Toshio Suzuki, the real brain behind Ghibli) veered "modern" from the start, but understood after the first efforts that Ghibli as a brand must satisfy a core of conservative fans who just want more of the same. So now he's doing something close to "one for me, one for the studio", to balance out the inevitable backlash.

I think he is not as talented as his father but good enough to carry on the family business.

That's in itself a very Japanese thing - making a big declaration, that you "will retire for good, no coming back, ever", but let 3-4 years pass and you're back as if you've never made the declaration. Also happens a lot with Japanese pop bands, they do huge "farewell" shows, there is monthlong talk about how they'll split and pursue other careers, but what actually happens they just take a 1-2 year break. I've come to the conclusion that the "we retire" trick is simply a marketing ploy because it gets the attention of the Japanese domestic audience like nothing else.

It's not strictly a Japanese thing. How many times has Ozzy Osbourne retired now?

Yeah, it's really a boomer thing. That generation just refuses to give up - a blessing and a curse.

It's more a thing of creative people, not boomers. Artist of all trade are retiring and coming back all the time, independent of their age. I would assume that they just have a drive to fulfill, which does not get satisfied enough in retirement. And they simply retire when they feel burned, and come back when they have recharged and found new inspiration.

It is a very Japanese culture thing in which loyal workers to a company are retired or promoted at middle age and they come out of retirement to work at convenience stores or menial jobs because they aren’t given social security. Repeated retirements aren’t Japanese though.

He's like Daniel Day Lewis at this point. He's could stop now and have had a full life, but some movies just call to you.

It’s weird because I remember being young when he said that the first time, how old is he now?

He's worse than Brett Farve

Yet better in nearly every way.

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