Hayao Miyazaki
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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He remained largely unknown to the West, outside of animation communities, until Miramax released his 1999 Princess Mononoke. By that time, his films had already enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan and East Asia. Miyazaki's 2001 Spirited Away is the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan; Princess Mononoke had also briefly retained that distinction.
Miyazaki's films often incorporate common themes, such as humanity's relationship to nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. The protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women; the villains, when present, are often morally ambiguous characters with redeeming qualities.
Miyazaki's films have generally been financially successful, and this success has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney. However, Miyazaki does not see himself as a person building an animation empire, but as an animator fortunate enough to have been able to make films with complete creative control. In 2006, Time Magazine voted Miyazaki one of the most influential Asians of the past 60 years.
Anime directed by Miyazaki that have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award have been Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in 1984, Castle in the Sky in 1986, My Neighbor Totoro in 1988, and Kiki's Delivery Service in 1989.
