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Q: What is the first anime Miyazaki worked on?
The
first job for Miyazaki as an animator was in-betweening in "Wan
Wan Chushingura", in 1963. However, the first movie Miyazaki
showed his creative brilliance in was "Gariba no Uchu Ryokou"
(Gulliver's Space Travels) in 1965. He was still a lowly in-betweener,
but he proposed changes in the script, and animated the changed scenes.
At the end of the story, Gulliver was supposed to rescue a robot princess
of the Robot Country. Miyazaki changed it so that the shell of the princess
cracked open, and a human princess appeared from it . This changed the
whole meaning of the movie. Now, the robots were people trapped in robot
bodies, and they regained their humanity with Gulliver's help.
Availability (in Japanese)
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Q: What is "Horus: Prince of the Sun"?
"Taiyo no Ouji Horus no Daibouken" (The Great Adventure of Horus: Prince of the Sun) is one of the classic masterpiece anime in Japan. Released in theaters in 1968 by Toei Doga (Toei Animation Studio), it was epoch making in many senses.
"Horus"
was the first movie Takahata ever directed, and Miyazaki worked as a key
animator. It was made by young idealistic staff members, who wanted to
make something totally different from Disney and previous "Toei Kid's
stuff". It was made during the height of a huge labor dispute at Toei
Doga, and the story and the production process reflected the situation.
The theme of the movie is "the unity among people". The staff
members tried to make "Horus" in a "democratic" way,
meaning many ideas from all the staff members, including Miyazaki, were
incorporated. In fact, Miyazaki's contribution was so great that they had
to create a new job title, "Scene Design" just for him.
It
took more than three years to complete "Horus", way beyond the
initial schedule of eight months. Although it was highly acclaimed critically
and many organizations recommended it, Toei only ran it for 10 days (!).
As a result, "Horus" was the lowest grossed anime in the Toei
history. Takahata was demoted because of this, and was never again allowed
to direct a movie at Toei Doga. However, it was embraced enthusiastically
by many young Japanese, such as university students (considering that anime,
or manga movies as they were called, were considered "kid's stuff"
more than now, this is really something). The theme of this movie, "the
importance of being united," really appealed to those who were in
the student/union movement.
"Horus"
is the origin of Miyazaki anime in many senses. The beginning of the movie
is very similar to "Future
Boy Conan", Miyazaki's first TV series. With his incredible strength
and strong love towards the heroine, Horus is definitely the prototype
of Conan, and Pazu from "Laputa".
The heroine, Hilda, is the archetype of Miyazaki heroines. Hilda is probably
one of the most complex heroines in Japanese animation history. She is
very strong, though unfortunately, her strength was mostly shown through
her evil side. She carries both good and evil inside of her, and in Miyazaki's
later works, she is reincarnated as pairs of heroines: Nausicaa and Kushana
in "Nausicaa",
Lana and Monsley in "Conan", Clarisse and Fujiko in "Cagliostro",
etc. "Horus" has been dubbed into English and shown on TBS back
in the early to mid 1980s, titled as "Little Norse Prince".
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Based
on Charles Perot's book, "Nagagutsu wo Haita Neko (Puss in
Boots)" was made in 1969 by Toei Doga. It is considered a masterpiece
of comedy anime in Japan. Miyazaki did key animation for it, and provided
numerous ideas for it. The last 20 minutes of it is considered to be the
prototype of "Cagliostro".
Since
"Puss" was so popular, Toei Doga made two more sequels, but Miyazaki
was not involved. The main character, Pero the cat, eventually became the
mascot character of Toei Doga. You can still see him on posters and other
merchandise from Toei Doga.
"Puss" received "The Most Entertaining Movie" award at the Moscow Movie Festival, Children's Movie Division.
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Q: What is "The Flying Ghost Shop"?
"Sora
Tobu Yuureisen (The Flying Ghost Ship)" is a movie made in 1969
by Toei Doga. Miyazaki did key animation. Miyazaki proposed to put scenes
in which tanks march and shoot in the middle of Tokyo, and he animated
them. He wanted to show what would happen if a military power started using
its force in the middle of a town. This motif was also used in "Lupin
III: Farewell Beloved Lupin".
Availability (in Japanese)
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Q: What is "Doubtsu Takarajima"?
"Doubutsu
Takarajima (Animal Treasure Island)" is an animated feature film
by Toei Doga made in 1971, for which Miyazaki worked as a key animator.
Based on Stevenson's "Treasure Island", most of the characters
appear as animals, except Jim, the boy and Kathy, who is a typical Miyazaki
heroine. It's a fun, slapstick adventure film.
Capt. John Silver is a mean-looking pig, and he might be a distant ancestor of Porco .
Availablity (in Japanese)
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"Panda
Kopanda (Panda, Panda Cub)" is a 30 minute movie made in 1972.
Miyazaki did the original idea, script, layouts, and key animation, and
Takahata directed it. The story is about a little girl, Mimiko, who was
left alone while her Grandma was away. But soon, a big, fuzzy, warm Papa
Panda (Papanda-San is his name) with a cute, little baby Panda (Kopanda
in Japanese) came to Mimiko's house. Since the house had a beautiful bamboo
forest (Pandas eat bamboo), they decided to live with her. The three became
a family and did a lot of things together and lived happily ever after.
This
movie is considered a "Totoro"
prototype. Miyazaki said it was the first anime he made specifically for
children (especially his own), and he made "Totoro" since he
wanted to make such a movie again. Papa Panda really looks like Totoro
with its round design and its big smile. Mimiko sort of looks like Mei
with her pig tails. But she is older than Mei, and like Satsuki, Mimiko
is independent and resourceful, and takes good care of Kopanda (Pan-Chan
is his name) just as Satsuki takes care of Mei. With its gentle storyline,
cute round characters, even a song which sounds like the Totoro song, it
is definitely the origin of Totoro.
It was made when Japan was swept by "Panda fever" (Two Pandas came to Japan from China). There is also a sequel, "Panda Kopanda: Rainy Circus", made by the same staff members in 1973.
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