When legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki decided to come out of self-announced retirement a few years after making 2013’s “The Wind Rises,” it didn’t come as a shock to his longtime producer, close friend and Studio Ghibli president Toshio Suzuki. But the news, which meant that the studio would have to reopen and bring in new staff, didn’t make Suzuki especially happy, either.
“I wasn’t surprised, but I did feel disappointed,” Suzuki said in an email interview. “I want my second life back! Even after he announced his retirement, as we saw each other every day, I realized that Miyazaki’s feeling of wanting to make another film was getting stronger, so I was resigned to it.”