Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation (Paperback)

~ Helen McCarthy (Author) "Hayao Miyazaki was born into a well-to-do family living on the outskirts of Tokyo in January 1941..." (more)
Key Phrases: poisoned forest, key animation, key animators, Studio Ghibli, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Director Hayao Miyazaki ranks among the most interesting and original figures currently working in world animation. His charming children's films My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service enjoy a rapidly growing audience in the U.S., and his brilliant Princess Mononoke, which broke box-office records in Japan, was released theatrically in the U.S. in November of 1999. Although storybook adaptations and a few Japanese volumes about individual films have appeared in the U.S., a major study of his work in English is long overdue. Miyazaki's many fans will enjoy Helen McCarthy's Hiyao Miyazaki and Mark Schilling's Princess Mononoke: The Art and Making of Japan's Most Popular Film of All Time, but neither is fully satisfactory.

McCarthy, who has written extensively about anime, offers an overview of the artist's career in animation and manga. She discusses each film in detail, with character descriptions and plot synopses, but she writes as a fan (rather than a critic or historian), and her text overflows with superlatives. Miyazaki is an exceptionally talented director, and his work merits a more discerning evaluation. McCarthy is also surprisingly careless about details: the ill-fated Japanese-American collaboration, Little Nemo, was in the works far longer than six years; and she describes the boar-god Nago in Mononoke as being wounded by a "ball of stone" when it's a actually an iron bullet. The latter may seem like nitpicking, but the hero's search for the source of the iron sets the plot of the film in motion. Finally, like Schilling's Princess Mononoke, Hiyao Miyazaki would have benefited from more careful proofreading; for example, McCarthy misspells the name of animation giant Winsor McCay. The extensive, but by no means complete, bibliography is a useful resource. --Charles Solomon

Review

"It is good at last to have a book in English about this master of film." -Roger Ebert -- -Roger Ebert

"It is good at last to have a book in English about this master of film." -Roger Ebert -- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880656418
• ISBN-13: 978-1880656419
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,563 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good intro for new-comers, good reference for fans, September 29, 1999

By A Customer

This book provides a detailed look at the theatrical films made by Hayao Miyazaki (in Ms. McCarthy's assessment, the "Kurosawa of animation", director of such masterpieces as _Nausicaa of the valley of the wind_, _Laputa: the castle in the sky_, _My neighbor Totoro_, _Kiki's delivery service_, _Porco Rosso_, and _Princess Mononoke_).

After an introductory chapter giving a brief biography of Hayao Miyazaki and an overview of how animation is done, the book devotes a chapter to each of Miyazaki's films (those listed above, plus his _Lupin III: the castle of Cagliostro_).

Each chapter describes the context in which the film was made, and has sections describing the major characters, giving a detailed summary of the plot, and concluding with a critical assessment, placing the work in the context of Miyazaki's other films.

A concluding chapter talks about merchandising.

The book includes an extensive bibliography and filmography listing Miyazaki's written, drawn, and animated works.

Along the way, one learns about aspects of Japanese culture that shed new light on scenes in Miyazaki's works (e.g., in Japanese culture, cutting one's hair is a statement that one is committed to a path that may end in one's death --- which illuminates scenes in _Mononoke_, _Laputa_, and the Nausicaa manga; lost little Mei in _Totoro_ is sitting by idols dedicated to a god who protects small children, sending a subliminal message to _Totoro_'s Japanese viewers). Fans of Miyazaki's manga works will be a bit disappointed that they are given short shrift in this book (the title says *animation*, after all). Fans will also find a thing here and there to quibble about, but nothing really significant.

There are many illustrations. The book opens with a section of color plates --- one or two images from each of the movies discussed, and each chapter includes several illustrations. The color plates are reproduced very well, the gray-scale images are okay.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Shallow Interpretations, November 1, 2002

By	"janjan47" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Although I appreciated Helen McCarthy's inside information from interviews and her filmography list, I found her analysis of these films very superficial. In short, I feel that any avid fan of Miyazaki could have written this book: it is simply a collection of facts and, as the other negative reviewer said, gushing about the films. There is no in-depth, intellectual engagement with Miyazaki's work.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent fan book celebrating Miyazaki, December 11, 2003

By	Zack Davisson "All Good Things" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Hayao Miyazaki : Master of Japanese Animation" is an OK book, and stands out only in the "beggars can't be choosers" world of English books about Miyazaki. Helen McCarthy deserves praise for getting this book out in the first place, and it is certainly not terrible.

The book is full of justifiable praise for Miyazaki, and is clearly intended to be a fan book rather than a critical analysis of his films. Each film gets its own chapter, with a heavily detailed plot synopsis of each film (completely unnecessary to those who have actually seen the films) making up the bulk of the book. Lists of characters and character backgrounds are also included. There are several blatant factual/story errors in her interpretation, which makes me think a better editor might have been useful.

There is some attempt at critical analysis, and it is appreciated, but more depth would have been better. There is a touch of history about Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, and a smap of detail about animation technology, but not enough to provide any real insight or background. I cannot say that I came away from this book with a deeper appreciation of his films.

As a fan book, it is strangely lacking in pictures and rare information. Photographs of interesting Ghibli products would have been appreciated, or rare character sketches or anything that cannot be gleaned from the films themselves. In many ways, that is its main failing. If you have the movies, there is no need for this book.