What makes a good anime, by Miyazaki’s standards?

[C.T.1290]

I originally made a post on this topic in the Amino app, but so far, it didn’t get any answers, so I decided to try it on here.

As we all know, Hayao Miyazaki was a well renowned director and founder of Studio Ghibli and made some fantastic films well received by numerous fans.

However, he has been rather critical of the anime industry, and considered many works as inferior to his own, and the same thing applies to Disney films and many other Hollywood works, and he seemed pretty anti American in general.

There were many filmgoers and anime enthusiasts who were undoubtedly inspired by the works of Miyazaki, and try to make their films and shows as good as his, but they don’t seem to meet his approval. One example was his own son, whom he told to never make anime again after the supposed failure of Tales of Earthsea. Miyazaki doesn’t consider his films as anime, but something else entirely.

In any case, what would make a good anime series, according to him?

[C.A.P.]

Simple: to make animation appear to be as real and emotionally open as what surrounds us, no matter how abstract or fantastical it is.

Basically the purpose on why animation exists to begin with.

[Alaska Slim]

I think this story is demonstrative:

https://www.polygon.com/animation-carto ... -criticism

He's a humanist, who seeks to elevate his craft by using it as an invitation for us all to become more careful observers of human actions; to understand people by how they move and behave. He is disgusted when animation is not put to this service and divorces itself from any attempt to understand people better.

If it's just an aesthetic with no analog extant in the natural world, what's the point? At best, it's empty calories, visually speaking.

However, he has been rather critical of the anime industry, and considered many works as inferior to his own, and the same thing applies to Disney films and many other Hollywood works, and he seemed pretty anti American in general.

One example was his own son, whom he told to never make anime again after the supposed failure of Tales of Earthsea. Miyazaki doesn’t consider his films as anime, but something else entirely.

Some thoughts on that:

Miyazaki, Lineage, and Depth - Pause & Select

Basically, there's a dividing line between anime; which are TV productions trying to create the illusion of movement with minimal resources and an episodic format, and film, which allow for far more detailed in-between work but have to be a condensed narrative in a ~90 min timeframe.

They've developed into distinct disciplines, with equally distinct measures for how they visually try to convey a story.

That may not help with Miyazaki "not approving" of his son, but it may give context for how things you heard are being framed.