New Ghibli Movie ‘Ged War Journal’ directed by Hayao Miyazaki’s Son despite protest from father

While we’re on the topic of linking to blogs, Kaiju Shakedown, an official blog of Variety magazine (meaning he gets paid for it, I guess), has been one of my favorites lately. I’ve always been a firm believer that close, obsessive scrutiny of a nation’s pop culture can tell one a lot about that nation’s people, so Grady Hendrix’s posts, written with that true Variety-style sarcastic wit, always entertain and inform.

So it was the Shakedown where I learned about Ghibli Studios’ latest feature “Ged War History” (English title is apparently not finalized), directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki’s son, Goro:

But father Miyazaki was against it! In an unsuccessful effort to find out why, I translated the first diary entry from Goro’s blog. This first appeared in the comments section of Kaiju Shakedown, but I will reproduce it here:

Introductory remarks — My father was against this

My father, Hayao Miyazaki, was against me directing “Ged War Journal” [tr: my guess at a literal translation of the movie’s title].

This may sound abrupt. However, first, I would like to make this clear.

Also, to speak truthfully, to open a diary on the Internet and come out in front of everybody was not necessarily my desire. If I had something that I wanted to tell [everyone] with my own voice, that would be, “I want you to watch the work I have completed.” That is all.

My desire as a director is to “have people watch ‘Ged War Journal’ with direct feeling and no idle thoughts,” that is all.

However, once the promotion for ‘Ged War Journal’ begins, for better or worse, the adjective “Hayao Miyazaki’s son” will be applied to its director, myself. In response to that, the conclusion that producer Toshio Suzuki reached was, of course, to “respond with the product itself” but also “in order to compete with the product itself, we should acquaint people with Goro Miyazaki as an individual person, not ‘Hayao Miyazaki’s son.'”

After mulling over all that I too agreed with that view. In short, I decided to try to experiment, even if the order is backwards, to have people watch the work ‘Ged War Journal’ without preconceptions by expressing what I was thinking as a director through this diary.

I chose the internet as the method [to express my thoughts] because it is the medium that can connect with people most directly. Of course, ideas such as accepting media interviews or press conferences, as has been done before, were also considered. However, I felt that in order to carry out the above-mentioned experiment, I would be able to express my ideas in a more frank manner by not working through the filter of the media.

I will not brashly state here the reason why my father was against [me directing this film] as I stated in the beginning. I think I should reveal that as I describe the path which led me to work as a director and the daily production status.

Finally, there are two reasons why I took on the direction of ‘Ged War Journal.’ That I felt attraction toward the story of ‘Ged War Journal’ is the first. The second is that I noticed something in me, that it was difficult to brush away the feelings I had toward animation that I had pretended not to notice until now, for reasons including the relationship with my father.

I don’t want to talk specifically about the content of the movie before it is released, but the theme that I wish to express through the movie come out clearly:

“What is it to live honestly these days?”

That is the way of life that I wish I could be like, and it is also the theme of this diary.