Fans and artists across Japan are toasting a night of international success for the country's film industry, after anime master Hayao Miyazaki won his historic second Oscar and the famed Godzilla franchise took home its first award.
Asian productions or those with a predominantly Asian cast have advanced at the Oscars in recent years. The South Korean thriller “Parasite” (2019) made history in 2020 as the first non-English language film to win best picture, alongside three other awards.
Next came “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022), an absurdist action comedy centering on a Chinese immigrant family in America and the cultural differences they experience, which dominated last year. It won seven awards, including best supporting role for Vietnam-born Ke Huy Quan and best actress for Malaysia's Michelle Yeoh, who both presented awards on Sunday.
This year, the focus was firmly on Japanese talent.
Miyazaki's latest anime masterpiece, “The Boy and the Crane,” won best animated film on Sunday, beating out popular competitors including Disney's “Elemental” and “Spider-Man: Across the Universe.” Spider” from Sony Pictures.
It was the second Oscar for the octogenarian and his famous Studio Ghibli after “Spirited Away” (2001) make cinematic history as the first non-English-language animation to win in the same category in 2002.
“Ghibli’s reputation has grown dramatically over the past 20 years and that’s a credit to the quality of its output over nearly four decades,” said Roland Kelts, author of “Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Invaded the U.S.” , who lives in Japan, CNN .
“Perhaps it is also more significant for the Oscar Academy to show that they recognize Miyazaki's artistic genius and that they can distinguish between animation as pure entertainment (which characterizes most American animation) and animation from Japan,” he said.
Since founding Studio Ghibli in 1985, Miyazaki has become one of the country's most influential cultural icons.
Using a meticulously hand-drawn, frame-by-frame method, his otherworldly works have become synonymous with Japanese animation.
Many of his classic films, such as “My Friend Totoro” (1995) and “The Living Castle” (2005), combine fantastic elements of folklore with magic and spirituality, while dealing with deep and complex issues such as death, conflict and adolescence.
Toshio Suzuki, producer of “The Boy and the Crane,” said he called Miyazaki after the awards ceremony and received a somewhat predictable response from the low-key animator, known for his Zen-like demeanor and general aversion to the spotlight, Japan's national broadcaster reported. NHK.
“I told him, 'Congratulations!' Suzuki said. “And he said to me, 'The same word goes out to you!' And he laughed.”
In a subsequent statement, Suzuki said the film, which took seven years to make, was “truly difficult to complete.”
“Both Hayao Miyazaki and I have aged considerably. I am grateful to receive such an honor at my age,” Suzuki said.
Another breakthrough for Japan on Sunday was best visual effects winner “Godzilla Minus One,” the first film in the 70-year-old monster franchise to win an Oscar.
The Godzilla films have had a major influence on generations of filmmakers and moviegoers since the first Japanese incarnation in 1954.
Many of the dozens of Godzilla adventures released since then include themes of environmental disaster and Japan's experience as the only nation to have nuclear weapons launched against it.
The team behind the latest Godzilla blockbuster was thrilled with their victory. Special effects artist Tatsuji Nojima posted a photo on the social platform X (formerly Twitter) of a Godzilla figure next to the Oscar statuette.
“Oscar, I did it! Wow,” he wrote in a post accompanied by dozens of exclamation points.
Takashi Yamazaki, director of “Godzilla Minus One,” said his journey began four decades ago, when the fantasies of “Star Wars” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” blew his young mind.
“Somehow, I was so far away from Hollywood, and even the possibility of being on this stage seemed out of reach,” he said. “This award is proof that everyone has a chance.”
More than just awards
Fans flooded social media after Sunday's success, from politicians and the general public.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida praised Miyazaki for his “unbridled imagination and keen vision” and Yamazaki for his “exceptional technical skills and expressive capacity.”
His work resonated “with many people across borders and languages, surprising and moving them,” Kishida said in a statement from his office.
Governor Hideaki Omura of Aichi Prefecture, where a Ghibli Park based on worlds created by Miyazaki is located, said the theme park will feature new “The Boy and the Crane” installations starting April 16, according to to NHK.
Japanese social media users were delighted with Godzilla's victory in Hollywood.
“I felt like this was the moment when Godzilla was finally recognized not just in Japan, but also in the world,” wrote a profile on X.
For others, the award offered Japan a boost after a difficult start to the year.
More than 200 people died and thousands were left homeless after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck Ishikawa prefecture on January 1. The following day, five aid workers died in a plane collision en route to the disaster site.
One X user recalled how in 2011, months after a massive and deadly earthquake and tsunami rocked the northeast coast of Japan, the country's women's soccer team became the first Asian team to win the World Cup.
Likewise, this Oscar win is “something that shows a glimmer of hope in the midst of despair,” the X user added. “This is what we need right now.”
A tribute to Miyazaki's artistic genius
The award will certainly have significance for Miyazaki and his fans, too, as critics predict it could be the octogenarian animator's last film.
Miyazaki came out of retirement to make the film, which follows a young man who moves to the countryside after losing his mother in a hospital fire and encounters a magical gray heron.
The story is said to draw heavily from Miyazaki's childhood and explore themes of grief and hope in a world marked by conflict and loss.
Premiered in Japan in June, the film was a global success and topped the North American box office – grossing just under US$13 million (about R$65 million) in its opening weekend – despite deliberately not releasing any advertising campaign.
Kelts, the Japan-based author, said the second Oscar shows that the Academy recognized Miyazaki's artistic genius and that Japanese animation is far from just entertainment.
It is “often freer, more expressionistic and touches the sublime,” said Kelts, who is also a visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo.
“Absolutely worthwhile and well deserved – that an octogenarian artist could produce such epic and unceasingly energetic work is inspiring,” he said.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
