Studio Ghiblihas revealed in a newannouncementpost that their next feature film, tentatively titled How Do You Live?, from famed director Hayao Miyazaki, will hit theatres in Japan on July 14th, 2023.
Miyazaki had previously asserted his intent to retire from filmmaking in 2013, following the completion and release of his movie that year, The Wind Rises. However, four years later, he revealed that he was indeedworking on a new film, confirming the title and originating idea for How Do You Live?.
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Studio Ghibli has now revealed a release date for the film alongside a new visual. Miyazaki was credited for writing the script of the new film, as well as directing it, with further staff and cast for the movie to be announced later.
Notably, while Miyazaki is also credited for the ‘original work’ of the new movie itself, that story was confirmed to be derived from a previous work of the same name: Genzaburō Yoshino’s 1937 novel, also titled How Do You Live?. That novel, released in English in October 2021 by Algonquin Young Readers, told the story of a fifteen-year-old in pre-World War II Japan and his coming-of-age journey through observing his world.
Miyazaki has stated that the novel is a story that has great meaning to the protagonist of his forthcoming film. Apparently unable to contain his interest in working on the project, Miyazaki had supposedly starteddrawing storyboards for How Do You Live? back in July 2016. Since receiving the more formal green light, producer Toshi Suzuki at Studio Ghibli stated in aDecember 2020 interviewthat the animation for this movie was half-finished.
Miyzaki has long been famed for his inability to stop working. His desire to return to anime films was made public just three years after his alleged retirement following The Wind Rises, declared in a television special appropriately titledThe Man Who Is Not Done: Hayao Miyazaki. At the time, he had been working on a computer-generated short for the Ghibli Museum titled Boro the Caterpillar. However, he revealed then that he was not satisfied with the short status, proposing and pushing for a feature-length product then. From that initial desire, through those storyboards he’s been drawing since 2016, we might finally see the latest fruits of this unceasing anime icon come next July.
