Sublime

MIYAZAKI: Even if the buildings are interesting, the problem is what’s inside. No matter how resourcefully one builds a prison, it is, after all, a prison.

Some people also suffer from the misconception that Isao Takahata-san and I are both some sort of environmentalists, and that we will make a film out of anything as long as it has an ecological theme or message. Nothing could be further from the truth. Such a film would be like a big fat dried-up log, propped upright. What we need is a living thing

It may sound trite when I say that I make animation to entertain children, but it is not trite at all. I certainly do not make animated films just so they will be popular with children. I try to create what I wanted to see when I was a child, or what I believe my own children want to see. We have all heard folktales. You can tell when you read them

—What was the difference between what you and your staff were doing and what other studios were doing at that time? Miyazaki: Other studios may also have been pushing their limits. I do think they were all working very hard. But I think we were working the hardest. What I mean is not that we were just working hard, but that we consciously determine

viewers are apt to be more forgiving of the animated movements of animals than they are of human movement.

We are now living in a society that is wealthy yet poverty-stricken. We are able to listen to large amounts of music and watch large numbers of videos. But only a small fraction of these move us.

It may take about five years for critical assessment of this film to be made.