The Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame announced on Thursday that it is inducting Studio Ghibli co-founder and Oscar-winning director Hayao Miyazaki this year. The other four inductees this year are artist Frank Frazetta, author Leigh Brackett, author Olaf Stapledon, and director Stanley Kubrick.

Miyazaki rose to prominence in the 1970s on such television anime series as Lupin III, Future Boy Conan, and Sherlock Hound. He directed his first feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, in 1979. He then adapted the beginning of his Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga into an anime film in 1984, before he and fellow director Isao Takahata founded Studio Ghibli.

With Ghibli, Miyazaki helmed the feature films Laputa - Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and finally, The Wind Rises. He also co-produced Takahata's directorial efforts and directed smaller projects such as the "experimental film" On Your Mark and Ghibli Museum shorts such as Mei and the Kitten Bus and Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess.

Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film in 2003. Miyazaki retired from directing feature films last year.

The Hall of Fame was founded in 1996 to honor "the lives, work, and ongoing legacies of science fiction and fantasy's greatest creators." It moved from the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to its current home at the EMP Museum in Seattle in 2004. Its previous honorees have included Ray Bradbury, James Cameron, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Robert A. Heinlein, Ursula K. Le Guin, George Lucas, E.E. Smith, Steven Spielberg, and Jules Verne. Miyazaki is the first Japanese inductee.

[Via Boing Boing]

Thanks to Brian Ruh and Daniel Zelter for the news tips