An Unmade Film Shaped Hayao Miyazaki
This article explores how Hayao Miyazaki's creative stagnation in 1980 led him to seek inspiration from alternative comics like 'Rowlf' and 'Arzach'. These influences helped him move beyond traditional hero-villain narratives and shaped his future cinematic masterpieces.
Why it matters
Understanding the artistic evolution of a legendary director provides insight into the creative process and the cultural cross-pollination that defines modern animation.
79 5 19 Share A Hayao Miyazaki concept sketch for Rowlf , courtesy of the book Nausicaä Prehistory Welcome! It’s a new Sunday edition of the Animation Obsessive newsletter. Here’s the agenda for today:
In 1980, Hayao Miyazaki turned 39 years old. He was just shy of middle age, but he’d made almost none of the work associated with his name today.
He felt kind of washed up. Miyazaki’s debut feature The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) had flopped at the box office, and he viewed it as a rehash of his past projects. “I don’t think I added anything new,” he admitted. He saw his creations as stuck. 1
“With every piece I made it was obvious that I was just trotting out everything I had done before [laughs],” he said. “Nineteen eighty was my year of being mired in gloom.”
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