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‘Irreplaceable’: will Hayao Miyazaki, Japan’s animation auteur, ever retire?

The Boy and the Heron’s Oscar win has prompted debate over whether the 83-year-old could put down his pencil

Photograph: Koji Sasahara/APThe thought of a complete break from the company he co-founded in 1985 appears as unappealing to the man himself as to his legions of fans in Japan, where 95% of people aged 16-69 say they have watched at least one of his films. In 2015, supporters of the then prime minister, Shinzo Abe, were angered by Miyazaki’s response to a speech in which the conservative politician said Japan should not have to continue apologising for its wartime conduct in Asia. In 2013, Miyazaki said he would no longer make feature-length films, citing the difficulty of living up to his own impossibly high standards – an announcement one American critic likened to “an unexpected death notice”.

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