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Renowned animating legend Hayao Miyazaki made an announcement earlier this morning that, after his newest work is finished, he will go into retirement for a period of two days before deciding to animate another feature length film with Studio Ghibli. According to the 74-year-old Academy Award-winning director, this process is to be repeated three more times.

Miyazaki is currently working on Kemushi no Boro (Boro the Caterpillar), a ten-minute film to be shown exclusively at the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. He plans to retire after the short film is completed sometime in 2018, before returning to work on a trilogy of films titled Kokoro wa Doko Nokorimasu (Where the Heart Lingers), a story about an old man who spent his life crafting artisan pottery, who begins to take notice that the era around him has changed and now people only appreciate generic, unrealistically cute pottery so he decides to give up his craft but can’t seem to stop no matter how hard he tries. The story is to be told in three separate parts, in between each of which Miyazaki will announce his retirement yet again, before quickly resuming work on the next film, and finally retiring for good this time I swear after completion of the final installment.

When asked about the parallels to his own life, Miyazaki scoffed and responded, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Where the Heart Lingers is a tale about craftsmanship and vigilance. It is a story about tradition and honor, and these are all concepts that can apply to anyone. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a thing in the oven.” He then briskly walked off and turned a corner out of sight.

We here at Anime Maru look forward to, dread, look forward to, dread, look forward to, dread, look forward to, and dread the legendary animator’s final three films and final four retirements.

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