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A Really Cool Peek At Miyazaki-San

Published at:  Feb 24, 2003 8:51:57 AM CST

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.



Miyazaki fans aren’t just enthusiastic. They’re evangelical. When Guillermo Del Toro had the production office for HELLBOY set up in Sherman Oaks, every surface of his private office seemed to be crammed with miniatures and DVDs and sketchbooks and toys, all devoted to the creations of Miyazaki, and when you talk to Del Toro about TOTORO or PORCO ROSSO or SPIRITED AWAY, he is almost beside himself with unmitigated glee.



So when someone tells me they were working with Babelfish and a Google search, I can believe it. How else would you be spending your weekend?



Hey Harry,

Well, with word that Studio Ghibli is now hard at work after their hiatus from working on 'Spirited Away,' many of Hayao Miyazaki's fans (myself included) are now wondering about his adaptation of Diane Wynne Jones' novel 'Howl's Moving Castle.'

After reading the novel, I found it a great way to see fantasy and elements beyond 'The Neverending Story' and 'Harry Potter.' Of great curiousity was how Miyazaki was planning to depict the Wizard Howl's structure. Well, thanks to the chain store Lawsons and the translator 'Babelfish,' I came across the following image on the Lawsons site that shows a 3D representation:














Unfortunately, Babelfish can't translate what it says up there, but hopefully, the picture will speak a thousand words. This design is not at all what is described in the original novel, where the Castle was more like a common castle with billowing smoke around it's base as it moved throughout the countryside.


OR CLICK HERE

This is the original site (Babelfish can be found at Altavista to translate the page). The model of the 'castle' is part of a Ghibli exhibition at a museum being shown in Japan.

Sincerely,

uruseiranma

Lead Editor-Countdown to Howl's Moving Castle & Countdown to Spirited Away

Thanks, man. Any news about this film is good news.



"Moriarty" out.








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    Readers Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 9:17:20 AM CST

    Here's what the Japanese says

    by qualopec

    Well, some of those kanji were beyond me, but basically it says the thing in the picture is a small (thing) based on the drawings of (somebody) and they are using the small model in the picture as a basis for a bigger version that will be 5 meters tall...

    Cool!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 9:29:26 AM CST

    When will

    by robertsan21

    this movie be released?

    the model of the castle looks cool

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 11:24:29 AM CST

    Summer 2004

    by ll1234

    And if previous films are a guide, sometime in July.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 12:41:39 PM CST

    Woo hoo!

    by heleno

    This is fantastic news - Diana Wynne Jones' books are close to the top of the "work I want to see well-adapted" list. Hopefully, Howl will kick ass, and then they can go on to make The Lives of Christopher Chant (or one of the other Chrestomanci books), the faintly tragic and very filmic Homeward Bounders, the effects extravaganza Tale of Time City, and my personal favourite, the quasi-Shakespearean Magicians of Caprona. Yay!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 12:55:34 PM CST

    Further translation...

    by king leer

    Qualopec got it basically...

    A transliteration and translation. Corrections very welcome (don't jump on me!)

    Miyazaki kantoku no kaita e wo motoni tskutta mini mokei desu. Kono mokei wo motoni zentaka 5m no mono wo seisaku chuu desu.

    Based on the artwork of director Miyazaki, this mini-model was built. Based on this model, a full-height 5m version is now under construction.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 1:00:39 PM CST

    Cool...

    by spiegeltrui

    Model looks good. With the theatrical release of Spirited Away postponed until april 24th here in The Netherlands, I now have two Miyazaki movies to look forward to.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 1:06:34 PM CST

    didn't Miyazaki already make a "Castle in the Sky"?

    by wankeroo

    Doesn't Matter. I want as many castles as Miyazaki can churn out! I want Miyazaki hooked up to a machine that gives him prolonged life and the ability to work without sleep! It'll feed and drug him through a tube in his vein and maybe, if we're lucky, we'll get one more film out of him before he keels over and dies! ... Just kidding Mr. Miyazki ... please don't die ... please ... (music from Nausicaa flashback is playing) ...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 1:56:32 PM CST

    Why this model is featured now...

    by king leer

    The model will be part of a large Studio Ghibli exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, featuring plastic models from the entire Ghibli library, up to and including next year's Miyazaki release "Hauru no Ugokujou" (Howl's Moving Castle). Not sure if that's the official Japanese title.

    The exhibition runs from June to September. Lawson (one of the big convenience store chains over here) is one of the sponsors and selling tickets.

    I'll be checking it out.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 5:43:20 PM CST

    hope it's better than spirited away

    by drudgejr

    i dont care what you say, spirited away was crap compared to miyazaki's other works. i'm going to guess that this will be better

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 6:37:41 PM CST

    Hayao Miyazaki really needs to retire...

    by fd resurrected

    I love the films and the legend, but Miyazaki-san should retire for good after completing Howl's Moving Castle. He planned to retire after Princess Mononoke but delayed the plan after pleadings from fans so he made what is quite possibly one of his best films Spirited Away. After that masterwork he might take retirement but then he went ahead and work on Howl's Moving Castle. My guess is he's a real workaholic, which I understand and admire. It's great to be a workaholic to keep the endlessly creative mind preoccupied but it can be stressful and sometimes maddeningly physical. I worship Miyazaki, not as a legend but as a human being with an unique PHILOSOPHICAL approach to filmmaking much like Terrence Malick and Stanley Kubrick (my other two favorite directors). Malick brings huanting dream-like aesthetics, Kubrick shows that optimism and pessessism are yin and yang with an intellectual's point of view and Miyazaki proves that children and adults alike can be enthralled and enchanted by fantasy while forgetting about the depressing pessissism of the real world (with apologies to Lewis Carroll and J.R.R. Tolkien). That said, Miyazaki should take the opportunity to retire and perhaps work on a new ambitious epic manga for publication like he did Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind that led to his career as a writer, storyboard artist and director and the rest is history.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 10:07:04 PM CST

    I don't understand people who don't like "Spirited Away."

    by noriko takaya

    And I don't suppose that I ever will. I can understand those who didn't like Star Wars Episode II, even though I enjoyed it, and I can see where their complaints come from. I can understand those who don't like Ranma 1/2 or who cannot stand Farscape. But not liking Spirited Away? I've had this debate with someone else who didn't like it and it's like trying to discuss Chinese arithmatic with a Martian. Well, to each his own. Me, I can't wait to see this new one of Miyazaki-san's. I will buy the novel just so I can get some idea of what I am in for. I had never heard of it before now. From the description I read on amazon.com, it sounds just as magical as Mononoke Hime, another favorite of mine. In a just world, Miyazaki would be running Disnay, not just letting them distribute his films. Toppu o Nerae!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 24, 2003 11:36:45 PM CST

    I loved Spirited Away

    by superninja

    I think it was a beautiful children's story. It's more of a fable, unlike some of the deeper themes in his other movies. This book is a perfect vehicle for another Miyizaki movie, but it's another fantastical fable.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 25, 2003 12:43:01 AM CST

    The only person...

    by zone zero

    That can tell Miyazaki to retire is Miyazaki. Although if he does, we should let him. But let him make the decision, please?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 25, 2003 4:03:03 AM CST

    I second that... How can someone dislike "Spirited Away?"

    by pablojakaffo

    The film is filled with such wonders and unlike a lot of animated features, it's actually intelligent. No character I saw in this picture ever came off to be stupid or brainless. We need more hard and extraordinary artists such as Miyazaki making films which open up our minds.

    And I'm still baffled at someone who would say "Spirited Away" is crap compared to Miyazaki's other works. ?????????????? "Spirited Away" is on level with the other films and doesn't seem to loose its seem. Plus I question someone who uses the word, "crap," even when referring to a Miyazaki feature. If you didn't like Miyazaki's films, so be it. That's your taste. However, they're not crap. Get used to it. Crap is known as those current animated features Disney Studios makes (with "Lilo & Stitch" an exception) and those saturday morning cartoons with horrible music and obnoxious characters. What ever happened to people who opened up their minds and imagined?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Feb 25, 2003 9:51:42 PM CST

    Umm...any news on this movie is good news.

    by ribbons

    Unless it's bad news. Why, pray tell, is any news on this movie good news? Because AICN, in its venerable opinion, has already decided that it's going to like it? Yeah, you show those Hollywood phonies. Cause your opinion is much more valuable.

    Reply to Talkback

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