His retirement from feature filmmaking may or may not be final, but Hayao Miyazaki certainly isn’t putting down the brush. A week ago we brought the news that the director has moved from the big screen back to manga, beginning work serializing his own. Following samurai swordfighting stories set in Japan’s Warring States Period, not many more details were given, but today brings our first look.
Crunchyroll got their hands on some images from Japanese public television network NHK’s profile on the director, which features a drawing of his Wind Rises hero, as well as a few snaps of his manga. It’s not a whole lot to go on, but we’re all for this “retirement” if it means more art from the animation mastermind.
In other Studio Ghibli-related news, following a three-minute trailer for the next film from Grave of the Fireflies director Isao Takahata, we have a prologue for The Tale of Princess Kaguya (Kaguya-hime no Monogatari), running double the length. Following a bamboo cutter who slices open a stalk to find a thumb-sized baby inside, one who grows into a princess named Kaguya, check out the beautiful animation below, followed by the Miyazaki tease.
The Wind Rises hits U.S. theaters in February, while The Tale of Princess Kaguya arrives to Japanese theaters this month, with no U.S. distribution yet.