HAYAO MIYAZAKITokyo, born 1941
Animator. Studio Ghibli. A man who burned a whole drawer of his own drawings because they looked too much like somebody else’s.
This is one entry from Robo’s Notes, open to read. Not a summary, not an article. The file exactly as he keeps it: what formed him, who was in the room, what he did before anybody was watching.
“We were never satisfied with our work. We wanted to go further and deeper.”
Hayao Miyazaki, 15 May 2018 memorial address for Isao Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli
FORMATION NOTES
Family
Had money
His father’s business was successful, and during WW2 he felt guilty for living in comfort while many had to starve and suffer hardships.
His home life was not good growing up . “I’ve always felt the need to apologize for my existence…I have no pleasant memories from my childhood before entering the university I felt only humiliation and I worked to forget everything and almost forgot….” Creating a fictional world saved him!
Mother Sickness
Mother felt ill with spinal tuberculosis, so his family had to pick up the weight of what his mother could not do.
“Many of my movies have strong female leads…They won’t need a savior”
So his female characters were typically strong showing his mothers ways and character affected him.
Father:
During World War II, he helped run the family business, Miyazaki Airplane, which made parts for Japanese military aircraft
it helps explain why airplanes, flight, war, machines, beauty, and guilt show up so often in Miyazaki’s work. He grew up around aviation, but also grew up with the moral shadow of World War II. That tension is all over films like The Wind Rises, Porco Rosso, Nausicaä, and Castle in the Sky.
Frustrations with him
As he grew up, he started to look back with frustration at his father’s ways. He accused his father of profiting from the war and that his dad bribed officials and was not the most honest entrepreneur.
At his fathers funeral: “All those gathered agreed that he never said anything sublime or inspiring in his entire life”
Pissy Perfectionist
Start here
It is evident in his documentaries that nothing ever seems right. He is extremely demanding of himself and his team. He carries the frustration of a genius who has perfection on his mind.
He is very critical of himself.
During the rise of computer graphics and AI, he had this to say to his team
“It is very unpleasant; you can make horrible things if you want, but I want nothing to do with it. It’s an awful insult to life.”
An insult to life is extreme!
Please note that making a five-second clip takes a week when drawn by hand.
Burned an entire drawer of doodles
As a child and teenager, Miyazaki deeply loved Tezuka’s early post-war tragedies (like early Astro Boy). But when he tried to create his own manga past the age of 18, people told him his drawings looked like Tezuka’s
When people said his drawings looked like Osamu Tezuka’s, he burned them: “Burned all the doodles I had stored up, a whole drawer full”
They weren’t flawless. They were too much a copy. Let’s burn the entire thing down in response and restart. We have high standards around here
I also love that fact that he started over by practicing drawing fundamentals.
Corrects his mentor
At thirty-seven, in 1978, even his mentor’s drawings could fall below his expectations. Discussing Future Boy Conan, Ōtsuka recalled: “He didn’t like what I produced; he said he’d do it all himself.”
Admiration did not suspend his judgment.
Forced compromise bothered him
He experienced “psychological defeat” for six months after The Castle of Cagliostro because scheduling constraints forced compromises.
In his mind, he had to release what was substandard to the public.
Not a natural talent. His standards exceeded his early ability.
His skill had to be developed.
A colleague recalled: “He wasn’t dexterous, and he really had to work to achieve what he has.” Another animator remembered their teacher, Yasuji Mori, saying that Miyazaki’s future wife, Akemi Ōta, “has more talent.”
Miyazaki believed ability could improve through effort.
He wrote that drawing could be developed through serious practice, while emphasizing the importance of developing “your own viewpoint.”
The connection to perfectionism
These accounts suggest a gap between Miyazaki’s early ability and the quality he wanted to produce. His persistence kept him working; his exacting standards gave that work a demanding target. He repeatedly criticized, revised, and reworked what fell short, including his own work.
“Self-satisfied people are boring” - Hayao Miyazaki
We never thought our films would be popular… We just made what we wanted… if we tried to please, we would be long forgotten.” -hayao miyazaki (studio Ghibli)
“We were never satisfied with our work. We wanted to go further and deeper.” - Hayao Miyazaki, 15 May 2018 memorial address for Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli
Early Signs
Showed a gift for drawing at an early age
When in jr high, he had the inspiration to do animation, he never drew people but airplanes and tanks, showing the impact the war had on him and his dads work
Toei Animation was often seen as Japan’s answer to Disney. This matters because the studio produced The Tale of the White Serpent, the film that first awakened Hayao Miyazaki’s desire to pursue animation. Years later, Miyazaki’s first animation job was at that same studio. He began at Toei in 1963 as an in-between animator, doing the small but necessary drawings between the major action poses. (The New Yorker (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/01/17/hayao-miyazaki-anime-studio-ghibli-profile))
Went Opposite of what was expected
Being from the middle class, his wanting to become an animator was looked down upon. It was looked as child’s play, not a serious profession. Though he loved it he still chose to go to college for a political economy. It would’ve been more respected
Acorn moment
Left the animation studio he started in …he realized he wasn’t going to develop further with the current job and studio he was in
Obsession / His kids and wife hurt
He sacrifices family time to work. He didn’t spend time at home with his kids. He would come home after they were asleep and rarely spent weekends with them. His wife whom he also sacrificed had to play both mother and father. He repented later in life that he owed her an apology, and also his little boy.
Boldness
Within his first year at Toei, Miyazaki did not just keep his head down and draw. He became deeply involved in the studio’s labor union and, by 1964, was serving as its general secretary.
That detail matters because it shows something about his formation early: he had the courage to challenge the system he had just entered. He was still a young in-between animator, but he already had the boldness to speak up, organize, and fight for better conditions.
THE REST OF THE SHELF
Robo keeps every life he takes apart in one place, filed A to Z, and it grows every time he learns something worth keeping. The rest of it is for members.