Hayao Miyazaki, director of Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, when shown examples of AI-generated animation in 2016, responded: “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”

Economic constraints in production are often said to be the main reason, but it seems to me that something spiritual is also missing. It would be stupid to turn my back on the times in which we live and act arrogant about it all, but I always find myself thinking that the old cartoon movies were indeed more interesting and exciting than what we

—You have always said that what you want to make is “films” and not “anime.” But what is popular abroad seems to be anime. What do you see as the problem with anime? MIYAZAKI: The major source for Japanese animation is manga, whose greatest characteristic is its method of expression centered on emotions. In order to express emotions, space and time