The days have probably begun to blur for more than a few of you guys over the last months as COVID-19 continues to rampage throughout the world. Japan’s numbers have been steadily decreasing and measures are beginning to ease up over here, but we know most places aren’t so lucky. We thankfully do have one piece of good news that might help you hold onto your sanity for a little bit longer or at least will give you something to look forward to; Hayao Miyazaki and a core team of animators at Studio Ghibli have been able to keep up production on his latest throughout the Corona wave despite all the delays and cancellations happening elsewhere.
The news about Miyazaki and his team’s continued output comes straight from Ghibli’s producer in charge Toshio Suzuki courtesy of a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. It’s been previously reported that the team can animate about 12 minutes per year of the upcoming How Do You Live? which is moving at snail’s pace since the whole film’s being done by hand. Suzuki stated it’s been about 3 years since production began and, with that, around 36 minutes of the film have been completed! He hopes it will take another three to four years.
You might have forgotten that Miyazaki has been working on How Do You Live? for a while now. The man has announced his retirement and his subsequent coming out of retirement so many times it’s hard to keep track, especially at his advanced age. All reports indicate though he’s still as sharp as a tack, and as impassioned ever to keep working hard. Hopefully, by the time the movie actually comes out, the COVID 19 catastrophe will be safely in the past. Until then, it’s good to know we have some light at the end of the tunnel.
Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘last’ film How Do You Live? has no set release date.