Studio Ghibli art from HAYAO MIYAZAKI films

      I read Hayao Miyazaki's Nauisicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga comic when it was published in English by VIZ and rented the Japanese laser disk to watch the animated adaptation. Ended up buying imported disks to watch My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Porco Rosso. All brilliant films directed by Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli. Furthermore, all but Kiki were original stories. I worked backward and found earlier TV episodes of Sherlock Hound and Lupin III were outstanding as well. So I eagerly awaited new films and was thrilled when Spirited Away won the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar in 2003. My friends brought back souvenirs for me from the Ghibli Museum. All Hayao Miyazaki's Ghibli films are now available on US region 1 DVD's from Walt Disney Home Entertainment. For more detailed information in English, I recommend the fansite Ghibliwiki, formerly Nausicaa.net.
      Hayao Miyazaki came to the San Diego Comic-Con 2009 to promote the American release of his latest film Ponyo on August 14, 2009. Following the con, my brother Stuart and I and our friend Armando met up with John, comic artist Josh Middleton, and his wife at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences building on Wilshire Blvd. in LA for The Marc Davis Celebration of Animation: Hayao Miyazaki. We lined up in the afternoon for the 7:30 pm event at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre and ended up with front row center section seats, just about 15 feet from the three seats for John Lasseter, Hayao Miyazaki, and the translator. There was a handsome program for the event.
      John Lasseter came out first and introduced two clips. The first was Sheeta's escape from the film Laputa Castle in the Sky. John used the original English title and said Pixar staff often watched the scene for inspiration as they worked on the rescue scene from A Bug's Life. The second clip was the bus stop scene from My Neighbor Totoro. After the clips, John brought in Hayao Miyazaki to a long standing ovation. He started by asking Miyazakisan how his economics and political science degree helped his animation career. Miyazakisan dipped his head into his hand in embarassment as he admitted he drew as much as he could during college and barely earned his degree. John remarked in amazement that Miyazakisan completed his first feature film Lupin III Castle of Cagliostro in only four and one-half months. They spoke of their first meeting when the Japanese artists came to America in prepartion for a co-production of Little Nemo. John made his first visit to Japan for the Hiroshima festival and made a stop at Studio Ghibli to visit Miyazakisan during production of My Neighbor Totoro. John said he was admiring the wonderful background paintings when Miyazakisan brought out a surprise cel to show him. John said: "It was the catbus. A cat that's a bus and a bus that's a cat." Later, Miyazakisan explained Japanese folklore believes cats turn into supernatural creatures in old age and eat humans. That's the origin of the catbus. As for Totoro, Miyazakisan explained many cultures have tales of supernatural creatures which only young children can see. He had drawn an image of a child waiting at a bus stop with such a creature, but he faced a dilemma. The child must be young enough to be innocent, but old enough to wait alone for a parent at the bus stop. After 10 years, the solution of two sisters came to him. [Update: the Academy has posted a video clip ofMiyazakisan answering this question.] As the evening came to an end, John introduced a final clip which he said was Miyazakisan's own favorite: the first delivery from Kiki's delivery Service.
      The Academy has an Anime! High Art - Pop Culture exhibit which runs through August 23, 2009. Many were from the collection of Mike and Jean Glad. I recognized two cels which once hung at San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum: Lupin III, Fujiko, Goemon, and Inspector Zenigata in the cockpit of the seaplane from Miyazaki's Albatross, Wings of Death and Kiki in her attic apartment above the bakery from Kiki's Delivery Service. I own cels similar to a couple seen at the Academy: the Boss pirate holding a machine gun and Marco's red Savoia S.21 and Curtiss' blue R3C-0 seaplane fighter flying side by side as they toss small objects at each other after running out of machine gun bullets.