Hayao Miyazaki’s favourite childhood book: “Grandpa is moving onto the next world”
The influence of Hayao Miyazaki is everywhere in the world of animation, with many renowned artists citing him as a key inspiration for their own work. Through Miyazaki’s pioneering artistry, Studio Ghibli has built a lasting legacy—one that continues to capture the imagination of children and adults across the globe.
Many anime fans were deeply saddened when Miyazaki announced his retirement in 2013. While there were murmurs about possible future projects, the ageing master made it clear he was stepping away from filmmaking, passing the baton to a new generation of animators and filmmakers at Studio Ghibli. However, in 2023, he unexpectedly reversed that decision with the release of The Boy and the Heron. Still, despite his return, Miyazaki remains committed to the future—supporting the next wave of storytellers poised to carry Ghibli’s legacy forward.
Among this newer generation of artists, the name that stands out to many is Gorō Miyazaki – the son of Hayao Miyazaki, who has already worked on a number of projects for the studio. Gorō’s approach to animation has been criticised by many Studio Ghibli traditionalists, including Miyazaki, who did not want his son to follow in his footsteps in the first place.
Gorō has pushed forward despite all this resistance with projects such as Earwig and the Witch, Studio Ghibli’s first proper foray into the world of computer-generated 3D animation. This has raised many questions about the studio’s future and led many to conclude that the studio’s legacy is in jeopardy if artists deviate from its hand-drawn traditions.
As if to reassure those who feared for the future of Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki announced in 2021 that he was coming out of retirement for one final project—one that held deep personal meaning for him. Given his intense connection to the material and the rare chance to see the legendary auteur at work again, fans were naturally excited and eager to see what this last film would bring.
It turns out that Miyazaki’s farewell to animation was an adaptation of his favourite childhood novel – How Do You Live? by Yoshino Genzaburo. This book had a formative influence on the pioneer when he was growing up and left a deep impression on him, standing out among other iconic books he read during his childhood, such as Alice in Wonderland and The Little Prince. This adaptation, of course, would arrive as The Boy and the Heron.
How Do You Live? is a classic Japanese coming-of-age tale which tells the story of a teenager in Tokyo who tries to process the tragic loss of his father. According to Miyazaki, this final film was a farewell letter to his grandson. Through this project, Miyazaki wants to say: “Grandpa is moving onto the next world soon but he is leaving this film behind because he loves you.”
This news was welcomed by fans around the world, including admirers of the original novel. How Do You Live? is a tender story about a 15-year-old grappling with life’s big questions while coping with the loss of his father. Over the course of a year, he embarks on a personal journey filled with challenges and revelations, ultimately gaining a deeper understanding of himself and the world around him.
“Books like this are important,” Neil Gaiman wrote in the foreword of the translated version of the book. “I’m so glad Mr. Miyazaki is making his film because it means that eighty-four years after it was written, Yoshino’s novel can be read in English, in Bruno Navasky’s gentle and winning translation, and that I got to read it.”
Safe to say, he did it justice—and then some.
