In 2013, a famous film director and animator, Miyazaki Hayao, has announced that he had ended his career as a feature-length film director. His final work was The Wind Rises, which was released in Japan on July 20, 2013, and it made many people captive of his world view in his own movies. In his movies, we can see many little girls (shojo). This examines how several characters have been drawn in his movies, and then, through his some works: My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Spirited Away, analyzes why he has used such characters. The question is what his message is.
Character Analysis
My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 fantasy film. This film starts from the scene that two daughters, Mei and Satsuki, and their father move out of the city into an old house in a rural area to be closer to the hospital where their mother is recovering from a long-term illness.
Kiki’s Delivery Service is a 1989 fantasy film. This film follows the story of a young witch, Kiki, who leaves her hometown in order to spend a year in an unknown town on her own while using her magical abilities to earn her living.
Spirited Away is a 2001 fantasy film. The story begins with the scene that Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are traveling to their new home when her father takes a wrong turn.
In these films, there are four main little girls: Satsuki, Mei, Kiki, and Chihiro. At first, we can see some similarities in terms of their personalities and the situation that they are placed in. Satsuki needs to play a role of a mother in the house instead of her mother who is suffering from illness. Therefore, she takes care of all housework such as washing and cooking concurrently with studying as a student. Mei is full of curiosity and doesn’t be afraid of strange creatures such as Totoro that is rabbit-like ears’ and Susuwatari that is tiny animated dust. Kiki is still a thirteen-year-old girl, but as a student witch, she tries to be on her own with her black cat, Jiji.
These personalities as a little girl seem to be rare at that time when there are often main active males in the animation and manga. A typical leading character is a hero, and even if there is a heroine, she tends to be a member of large organizations such as Crime Fighters and Pretty Soldier Sailormoon. On the other hand, heroines in the works of Miyazaki Hayao tend to try to become independent and act by themselves. (Napier, 2002: 229) According to the magazine, Eureka, these girls are characterized by BOYS who put a mask on a girl over their face. (“PANORAMIC MIYAZAKI”)
What Japanese Women Are(were) Like
Through these portraits of little girls, Miyazaki Hayao seems to break the traditional notion about what women are like. Moreover, he would expect women to be stronger than before and open up the world on equal terms with men. Watching his world through such films, these little girls gives me so much courage. When I watched them as a child, I was really happy to be born a woman because he told me how strong and wonderful women can live realistically, even though these films are fantasy. His novelty by the animation attracts people and helps them to think better of something existing by using little girls with feminine and sturdy features.
The Influence of Picture Books
He was reading (seeing) many picture books when he was a child, and still, now he is reading the books many times. Moreover, he has belonged to a kind of a study group of children’s literature. This is because in his university, Gakushuin University, there is no study group of manga he actually has wanted to become a part of. One of his favorite picture books is “The Little White Horse”, which is a 1946 low fantasy children’s novel by Elizabeth Goudge, translated by Ishii Momoko, with illustrations by C. Walter Hodges. This is a story of an orphaned teenage girl, Maria Merryweather, who is sent to the manor house of her cousin and guardian in the West Country of England. Hayao notes that
“heroin in this story tries to get the world ordered ready by her. By doing so, the world goes together. I thought we need to have such a feeling. This is a good book.” (“hon e no tobira [Door for Books]”)
Such a children's book gives him a hint for a film about little girls. When he reads picture books, he often pays attention to the cover and illustrations. Therefore, he can keep them in mind. He said that
“When I make the story, Kiki’s Delivery Service, written by Kadono Eiko, who is a Japanese author of children’s literature, picture books, non-fiction, and essays, I thought that I already have many textbooks for the image of how to draw heroine. This is because I have read many children’s literature.”
In a documentary, he expressed the process of creating his film like this:
“it is like ‘dropping a line in his brain’.” (NHK’s The Professional Way: The Secrets of Miyazaki Hayao’s Movie Making)
He tries to pick up the appropriate image from his memory by reading various picture books while believing that there must be good ‘fish’ for his animation. Not only pictures but also messages in picture books, he is fascinated with. He appreciates the concept of the message, especially by Ishii Momoko, who is a Japanese author of children’s literature and translator. He covers one of her works, Non-chan Kumo ni Noru (literally: Nobuko Rides on a Cloud). The story begins with an eight-year-old girl, Non-chan, crying and screaming for some reason. It tells us what children are like from their perspective. As you can see, Miyazaki was influenced by picture books, so his works must incorporate these elements. The reason why the main characters in his film are usually children is related to his memory of reading these books. Like Ishii Momoko tried to tell people about the world of children by using her words, he might has wanted people to find how important children are in the future through his world as seen in terms of little girls.
Miyazaki Hayao has created various feature-length films in his life so far. We can find many girls(children) in his every work, and they all have a passion for living, and try to become independent while facing difficulties even though they are still teenagers. Through his vivid film, he would show the importance of living by making childlike characters appear. It makes sense that the movie blurb of his final work, The Wind Rises, is ‘Iki-ne-ba.’ (We must try to live.)(In French, il faut tenter de vivre.）
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References
Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse (Maboroshi no Hakuba), Tokyo: Iwanamishonenbunko, 1997.
Ishii Momoko, Non-chan Kumo ni Noru (Nobuko Rides on a Cloud), Tokyo: Kobunsha, 1951.
Miyazaki Hayao, Hon e no Tobira (Door for Books), Tokyo: Iwanamishinsho, 2011.
Napier, Susan Jolliffe. “Gendai Nihon no Anime: ‘AKIRA’ kara ‘Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi’ made (Moden Japanese Anime: from Akira to Spirited Away), Tokyo: chuokoron-shinsha, 2002.
NHK Professional Shigoto no Ryugi : Eiga wo tsukuru — Miyazaki Hayao Sosaku no himitsu (NHK’s The Professional Way): The Secrets of Miyazaki Hayao’s Movie Making, 2007.
PANORAMIC MIYAZAKI: Eureka Miyazaki Hayao no sekai (the world of Miyazaki Hayao), Tokyo: Seidosha, 1997.
