【New Subscription 'Shinchosha QUE'】Goro Miyazaki's 60-Minute Candid Interview Now Available!

Starting July 8, Studio Ghibli's new short animation 'Night in the Witches' Valley' will be screened at Ghibli Park in Aichi Prefecture. This is a co-directed work by Goro Miyazaki and Akihiko Yamashita, who previously served as animation director for 'Howl's Moving Castle.' For Miyazaki, this marks his first directorial project since 'Earwig and the Witch' (2020), six years ago. On this occasion, we spoke with Miyazaki, who also oversees the entire Ghibli Park project and serves as a managing director at Studio Ghibli, about his current thoughts and future plans, including his personal reflections. (Compiled by Makoto Kanazawa)

Goro Miyazaki (at Studio Ghibli)

Since its opening in 2022, Ghibli Park has featured the 'Orion Theater,' a space dedicated to screening video content. While short films originally made for the Ghibli Museum have been shown there, Miyazaki shares his perspective:

"There was always a part of me that wanted works created for the Ghibli Museum to be seen at the museum itself. When Ghibli Park first opened, people often said it lacked attractions. But Studio Ghibli is a company built on visual storytelling, so I began to think that the films themselves could become attractions. That's when I started considering creating short films specifically for Ghibli Park," says Goro Miyazaki (hereafter same).

Thus was born 'Night in the Witches' Valley.' For director, they enlisted Akihiko Yamashita, known for his key animation work on 'Spirited Away' and as animation director for 'Howl's Moving Castle'—a central figure in 21st-century Ghibli productions. Miyazaki laughs as he explains how the idea of co-directing came about:

"Hayao Miyazaki said, 'I'm not doing it. I've lost interest in animation.' Honestly, I didn't want to do it either, but no one else would step up (laughs). To commission a work, you need a project proposal, so I came up with several ideas and started looking for someone willing to actually create it. When I asked my old friend Yamashita, he said, 'Doing it alone is a bit…' So I suggested we do it as co-directors."

The setting of the film is 'Witches' Valley,' an actual area within Ghibli Park. This choice was intentional.

"I wondered how visitors would perceive a place in Ghibli Park they had 'just seen' or 'are about to see' if it became the stage for a story. If they could feel that the Witches' Valley they just walked through might transform like this at night—then the same location would appear differently. I wanted visitors who come to Ghibli Park in real life to mentally experience an attraction just by watching the film."

Ghibli Park has now completed its second phase of construction, with all originally planned facilities in place. Yet Miyazaki reflects on the difficulty of maintaining and evolving the park:

"We've realized that simply repairing broken things or cleaning dirt isn't enough to sustain it. We must treat the space as if people actually live there, continuously changing its contents."

For example, clothing displays within Ghibli Park should change with each season, and food offerings should vary by season as well, Miyazaki continues. Furthermore, there are works where 'dirt adds character' and others where 'aging doesn't fit the world,' so ongoing, tailored changes are key to preserving the site's freshness.

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Will Goro Miyazaki return to directing feature-length animations in the future? And what kind of exchanges took place between him and his father, director Hayao Miyazaki, regarding the 'Panorama Box'—a project Hayao spent three and a half years creating? On Shinchosha QUE (pronounced 'kyu'), we present a 60-minute interview titled 'Goro Miyazaki Speaks Candidly,' delving into his current mindset and creative journey.

【Read the full interviews here!】

Goro Miyazaki Speaks Candidly: His Current Creative State and Why He Returned as Director After Six Years with 'Night in the Witches' Valley' https://que.dailyshincho.jp/node/18528/

Goro Miyazaki's 60-Minute Talk: The Message He Wants to Share with Children Today and His 'Bond' with Father Hayao Through the 'Panorama Box'

https://que.dailyshincho.jp/node/18531/

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