Japanese animation filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, born January 5, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan,

is renowned for his lyrical and allusive creations. The director of Miyazaki Airplane,

a company that produced components for Zero fighter planes, was Miyazaki's father.

The family company gave Miyazaki a passion for flying, which was evident in almost

all of his works. He began working as an entry-level animator at Toei Animation,

a part of the Toei studio and Asia's largest producer of animation, in 1963 after

completing his studies in economics at Gakushuin University in Tokyo. He made friends

with Takahata Isao and Ota Akemi while he was a student at Toei. After a year of courtship,

the former became his wife, and the latter, his lifetime companion, business partner, and

collaborator. Working on projects like the television show Okami shonen Ken (also known as

"Wolf Boy Ken") and Takahata's film directorial debut, Taiyo no ji: Horusu no daiboken,

Miyazaki rose up the ranks at Tei (1968; Little Norse Prince). Miyazaki and Takahata

continued to work for various studios throughout the 1970s after leaving Toei in 1971.

Highlights from this time period included the animated shorts Panda kopanda (Panda! Go Panda!)

and Miyazaki's first feature, Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979; Lupin III:

Castle of Cagliostro), an action picture starring the gentleman thief Lupin and his cohorts.

In Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind), a monthly manga (Japanese cartoon)

strip he created for Animage magazine, Miyazaki's distinctive style became increasingly obvious.

The narrative followed Naushika, a princess and hesitant warrior, as she traveled across a world

that had been devastated by the environment. Its popularity motivated Miyazaki and Takahata to

form a more long-term cooperation and led to the creation of the 1984 movie of the same name.

In 1985, they established Studio Ghibli together. The next year saw the release of Tenku no shiro

Rapyuta (Castle in the Sky) by Miyazaki in Japan and Warriors of the Wind, a remake of Nausicaä,

in the US. Before Miyazaki would give another Western release some thought, more than a decade would pass.

However, Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki continued to create works for the local market. Along with Takahata's.

Hotaru no haka (Grave of the Fireflies), his Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) had its premiere in 1988.

Although both movies earned positive reviews from critics, the studio's financial success was largely due to the

spectacular sales of Totoro goods. Majo no Takkyubin (1989; Kiki's Delivery Service), which chronicles the maturation

of a young witch, and Kurenai no Buta (1992; Porco Rosso), an action film about a World War I flying ace who has

been cursed with a pig face, were the next two works by Miyazaki. These triumphs paved the way for 1997's

Princess Mononoke smash Mononoke-hime, which broke box office records in Japan.

Some of Miyazaki's recurrent themes, such as the tension between natural order and human advancement and the permanence

of the spiritual realm alongside the ordinary, were explored in this movie. Additionally, it created one of the more memorable visuals

in animation when it portrayed kodama (Japanese tree ghosts) as white humanoids with clanging heads.

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001; Spirited Away), a film by Miyazaki, earned best Asian film at the

Hong Kong Film Awards, best animated feature at the 2003 Academy Awards, and the top award at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival.

It overtook Titanic as the highest-grossing movie in Japanese history and won best picture at the 2002 Japanese Academy Awards in his home

country of Japan. A typical, albeit perhaps spoilt, young girl named Chihiro slips away from her parents and discovers a magical and

supernatural world in the movie. She is forced to fend for herself there while going by the name Sen in an effort to restore her

name and return to the human world.

With Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004; Howl's Moving Castle), Miyazaki followed the phenomenal success of Spirited Away. It tells the tale

of a young girl who is cursed with the body of an old lady and her journey to a fabled moving castle. Disney released a restored DVD

edition of Nausicaä in 2005. This DVD was the first time the movie was marketed in its original form in the US, with both the new

professionally produced English dub and the original Japanese sound track.

Ponyo (2008), which was marketed to a younger audience than the majority of Miyazaki movies, was the biggest foreign box office

success in Japan in 2008. Later, Miyazaki co-wrote the screenplays for the Studio Ghibli films Kokurikozaka kara (2011; From Up on

Poppy Hill), a coming-of-age story adapted from a manga series, and Karigurashi no Arietti (2010; The Secret World of Arrietty),

which was based on Mary Norton's children's novel The Borrowers.

Goro, Miyazaki's son, directed the latter movie.

Isao Takahata was a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who lived from October 29, 1935,

until April 5, 2018. He was a co-founder of Studio Ghibli and received praise for his work as a

director of Japanese animated feature films on a global scale. Takahata, who was born in

Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, joined Toei Animation in 1959 after earning his degree from

the University of Tokyo. With the help of his friend and coworker Hayao Miyazaki, he

worked as an assistant director for several years before going on to direct The Great Adventure

of Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968). He continued his partnership with Miyazaki, and under Nippon

Animation directed the television series Heidi, Girl of the Alps (1974), 3000 Leagues in Search of

Mother (1976), and Anne of Green Gables (1979). Takahata, Miyazaki and others formed Studio Ghibli in

1985, where he would direct Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1991), Pom Poko (1994), and

My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999). With the help of his friend and coworker Hayao Miyazaki, he worked as

an assistant director for several years before going on to direct The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince

of the Sun (1968). His final production as a filmmaker was The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013),

which was almost nominated for an Oscar at the 87th Academy Awards in the category of

Best Animated Feature Film.