Hayao Miyazaki's films have achieved global recognition substantial enough that he is commonly mentioned in lists of major contemporary filmmakers. The reception has produced a particular set of associations — magical creatures, environmental themes, strong young protagonists, ghibli aesthetic. These associations are not wrong but they miss what the films actually do most distinctively.
I want to think through what Miyazaki's films reward when watched with sustained attention, distinct from what they offer in casual viewing.
What Miyazaki films are commonly understood to be
The popular reception of Miyazaki frames his films as:
- Beautifully animated children's films
- Environmentally themed fantasy
- Stories featuring strong young female protagonists
- Magical and whimsical
- Examples of Japanese animation excellence
None of these characterizations is inaccurate. They are also incomplete in ways that miss substantial parts of what the films offer.
What sustained attention reveals
Watching Miyazaki films repeatedly across years reveals patterns less visible in single viewings.
The patient attention to natural detail. The animation lingers on rain falling, wind moving through grass, light changing across surfaces. These passages do not advance plot. They establish a particular relationship to the natural world that runs through all the films.
The dignity of ordinary work. Characters perform small mundane tasks — cooking, cleaning, making things — with sustained attention from the camera. The films treat these activities as worthy of attention rather than as transitions between dramatic moments.
The treatment of time. Many sequences take time that contemporary commercial cinema would compress or skip. Characters sit. Wait. Travel. The pacing reflects a different conception of what cinema time should do.
Moral complexity in apparent fantasy. Antagonists in Miyazaki films are rarely simple villains. They typically have understandable motivations and partial validity even when in conflict with protagonists.
The relationship between humans and nature. Often framed as environmental theme but more accurately characterized as a particular cosmology in which natural and human worlds are continuous rather than separate.
These elements are present in casual viewing but often filtered out by viewers focused on plot and visible character development.
The artistic discipline that produces the films
Miyazaki's working method is famously detailed. He personally produces or supervises the storyboards for his films at a level of specificity unusual in contemporary animation. Studio Ghibli's production process emphasizes specific principles:
Hand-drawn animation maintained as core practice. Despite computer animation's dominance elsewhere, Ghibli has maintained primary commitment to hand-drawn work. The aesthetic results are distinctive.
Long production timelines. Ghibli films typically take 3-5 years to produce, with substantial time spent on individual sequences that contemporary commercial animation would handle more quickly.
Attention to specific cultural references. The films draw on specific Japanese cultural traditions, locations, historical periods. This specificity is part of what makes them distinct from generic fantasy.
Resistance to franchise extension. Most Miyazaki films are stand-alone works rather than parts of franchises or sequel series. This commitment is unusual in contemporary animation economics.
These production choices reflect specific aesthetic and ethical commitments. They produce films different from what other production approaches would produce.
The films arranged by what they actually do
Reading Miyazaki's major films through what they actually focus on, beyond their plots:
My Neighbor Totoro (1988): The childhood experience of being in a place. Most of the film consists of children exploring, playing, waiting. The plot is minimal. The film is about a particular kind of attention to childhood and to specific landscape.
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989): The work of building an independent life. The magic is the surface; the substance is a young person learning to support herself, to build relationships in a new place, to recover from a loss of confidence.
Princess Mononoke (1997): The intractable conflicts between human civilization and natural systems. The film resists easy resolution. The conflict between Lady Eboshi and the forest gods is treated with full sympathy for both sides.
Spirited Away (2001): Working through dislocation and loss. The protagonist's journey is fundamentally about learning to function in a foreign and difficult environment, with parallels to immigration and growing up.
Howl's Moving Castle (2004): The relationship between aging, identity, and choice. The protagonist physically ages and de-ages throughout the film as her psychological state shifts.
Ponyo (2008): The relationship between human civilization and ocean ecology, treated through children's sensibility but with serious environmental implications.
The Wind Rises (2013): The complicated relationship between artistic dedication and the uses to which art is put. The aircraft designer protagonist is brilliant and devoted to his work; that work becomes military equipment.
The Boy and the Heron (2023): The processes of grief, generational connection, and creative practice itself.
None of these films is fully captured by their plot summaries. The films work at multiple registers simultaneously.
What the films reward across viewings
Miyazaki films reward repeated viewing in ways that shift what one perceives.
First viewing: The plot, the major characters, the visual spectacle.
Second viewing: The careful pacing, the attention to detail in specific sequences, the moral complexity.
Subsequent viewings: The thematic depth, the connections across films, the specific cultural and historical references.
This pattern is consistent with how serious art typically rewards attention. The films are not exhausted by first viewings; they continue to reveal aspects on subsequent viewings.
What gets missed in popular reception
Several substantial elements of Miyazaki's work are commonly missed:
The seriousness with which the films treat their themes. The popular reception often emphasizes whimsy and magic. The films themselves are often quite serious about complex subjects (war, environmental destruction, family dynamics, mortality).
The specifically Japanese cultural context. The films draw on specific Japanese aesthetic traditions, religious concepts, landscape references, historical moments. Western audiences often process these as generic fantasy elements.
The pacing as deliberate aesthetic choice. The slow sequences are not flaws or padding. They are central to what the films do. Casual viewing often experiences them as longueurs.
The moral and political complexity. Films like Princess Mononoke and The Wind Rises engage with complicated moral questions in ways that the popular reception of "magical animated films" obscures.
The transmission challenge
The films are easily watched but harder to fully receive. The aesthetic principles and cultural context that make them what they are operate at registers that casual viewing tends to filter out.
This is true of much serious art. The work rewards attention; the attention requires deliberate cultivation.
For viewers wanting to engage with Miyazaki films more substantially, several practices help:
- Watch films multiple times
- Read substantial criticism (Susan Napier's work is excellent)
- Understand the broader context of Japanese animation history
- Pay attention to specific sequences that seem unimportant
- Notice what the films choose to give time to
A closing observation
I find Miyazaki's films interesting partly because they demonstrate what serious art can achieve within the commercial animation format. The films succeed commercially while operating at substantial artistic depth. The combination is unusual and instructive.
The popular reception of the films is largely positive but partial. The deeper engagement is available to anyone willing to give the films sustained attention. The reward for that attention is substantially greater than what casual viewing offers.
The films will continue to be made, and unmade, by viewers who decide what kind of attention to bring to them. The films themselves continue to reward whatever quality of attention they receive.
