May 25 to 30 is Studio Ghibli Week at Polygon. To celebrate the arrival of the Japanese animation house’s library on digital and streaming services, we’re surveying the studio’s history, impact, and biggest themes. Follow along via our Ghibli Week page.
You may have seen the image. The white-haired visage of legendary Studio Ghibli animator Hayao Miyazaki, emblazoned with a bold quote: “Anime was a mistake.” And you may have asked, “Did he actually say that?”
The short answer is no. But the long answer is … kinda?
Miyazaki is a humanist artist, creator of some of the most touching, gentle, and hopeful films in the animated canon. He’s also a guy with no obvious inhibitions about expressing his opinion, and in a daily series for Ghibli Week, we’re going to highlight some of the things the reclusive director has famously disdained.
In 2014, Japanese news site the Golden Times posted a series of screenshots from a video interview with Miyazaki, in which he is talking while sketching a young girl, arms splayed out at her sides. The subtitles, subsequently translated into English by Sora News 24, read:
You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, “Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life.” If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it.
Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves. Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!
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Otaku is a more loaded term in its native Japan than in the United States, not merely meaning “nerd with obsessive interests,” but sometimes including connotations of “destructively antisocial.” On the other hand, Miyazaki’s longtime friendship with Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno certainly shows that he isn’t totally prejudiced against the fan mentality.
Nevertheless, the irresistible irony of a master of Japanese animation throwing shade on the social recluses who are drawn to it generated a lot of memes, many of which exaggerated the general thrust of his statement by simplifying it down with fake quotes.
So is Hayao Miyazaki disappointed with the state of modern anime and fandom? Yes. Does he think anime was a mistake? Only in some (frankly, very funny) memes.
Хаяо Миядзаки — изгой, личность.
Человек, который выделяется из толпы, иногда по неправильным причинам.
Некоторые люди не любят его из-за этого (в частном порядке), а другие любят Хаяо Миядзаки за его грубую честность и приверженность своему ремеслу в аниме.
Это одна из причин появления мема и цитаты Хаяо Миядзаки «аниме было ошибкой».
Люди намеренно неверно истолковали его сообщение или просто хотели привлечь к себе внимание. Так и случилось то, что случилось.
Было ли аниме ошибкой?
Некоторые мемы немного отличаются, но многие из них похожи на фразу «аниме было ошибкой», вот и все.
Некоторые расширяют это до «аниме было ошибкой, это не что иное, как мусор» с лицом Хаяо Миядзаки, взятым из интервью.
Что Хаяо Миядзаки на самом деле сказал
Как цитирует эскапистский журнал:
«Вот видишь, умеешь ли ты так рисовать или нет, умея придумать такое дизайн, это зависит от того, можете ли вы сказать себе: «О, да, девочки такие существуют в реальной жизни. Если вы не проводите время, наблюдая за реальными людьми, вы не сможете этого сделать, потому что никогда этого не видели. Некоторые люди всю жизнь интересуются только собой.
Знаете, почти вся японская анимация почти не основана на наблюдениях за реальными людьми. Его производят люди, которые терпеть не могут смотреть на других людей. И именно поэтому индустрия полна отаку!» — Хаяо Миядзаки
источник: Хаяо Миядзаки: аниме страдает из-за того, что индустрия переполнена «отаку»
Давайте сломаем то, что Хаяо Миядзаки на самом деле имел в виду его высказывания.
Отаку не хватает реального опыта
Миядзаки никогда не говорил, что отаку не хватает опыта в реальном мире, но это то, что он имел в виду своими словами.
Давайте сосредоточимся на это часть его интервью:
«Вот видишь, умеешь ли ты так рисовать или нет, умея придумать такое дизайн, это зависит от того, можете ли вы сказать себе: «О, да, девочки такие существуют в реальной жизни. Если вы не проводите время, наблюдая за реальными людьми, вы не сможете этого сделать, потому что никогда этого не видели. Некоторые люди проводят свою жизнь, интересуясь только собой».
Именно в этой части цитаты Хаяо Миядзаки говорит больше, чем кажется.
Если вы не поняли сути, он говорит если у вас нет опыта работы с типами персонажей или ролями, которые вы изображаете, результаты будут говорить сами за себя.
Вы можете сравнить это с университетским профессором, который никогда не продавал продукт за всю свою жизнь, давая бизнес-советы о том, как продавать продукты.
Как они могут давать советы, если никогда этого не делали и не знают, КАК это делать?
Это неквалифицированный совет от неквалифицированного человека.
Точно так же, если «отаку» становится автором манга или аниме, только потому что они фанаты…. Скорее всего, они создадут вещи, в которых не разбираются.
Если они это сделают, результаты отразятся на конечном продукте персонажей, их поведении, послании и истории.
Связанный: 15+ аниме-персонажей, которые являются настоящими отаку и слабаками
Прекрасный пример, подтверждающий мою точку зрения
Все мы знаем Сакуру Харуно из серии Наруто. Она известный персонаж, как никто другой, и вызывает споры по уровням большинство женских персонажей никогда не достигают.
Но вопрос: ПОЧЕМУ она противоречива?
Одна причина в том, что того, как написан персонаж Сакуры. Автор понятия не имел, что он делал с Сакурой (иногда). И это показало.
Поклонники утверждают, что много женских персонажей в Наруто в какой-то степени такие. На первый взгляд хорошо написано, но по сравнению с мужскими персонажами они смехотворны по качеству.
На это есть аргументы.
Это прямой результат опыта автора Наруто в реальном мире и отсутствия достаточного контекста.
Сакура и то, как она написана, является веским доказательством. Он хорошо прописывает мужские персонажи, но не так много женских.
Я сомневаюсь, что это несчастный случай.
Связанный: 34+ случая, когда Сакура Харуно была полезна в сюжете Наруто!
Мировоззрение Хаяо Миядзаки
Чтобы быть творцом, писателем, автором, художником и т. д., КОНТЕКСТ — это святой Грааль. Воображение может завести вас так далеко, только если вы не можете понять или по-настоящему понять персонажа, которого создаете.
Я уверен, что именно это он на самом деле имел в виду в своем «утверждении», касающемся отаку и аниме-индустрии.
Я не слежу за Миядзаки таким образом, но что интересно, многие вещи, которые я десятки раз говорил об аниме-индустрии (недостаток усилий, дешевый фан-сервис, неполноценность и т. д.), — это то же самое, что он сам сказал.
«Остальная часть этого эссе посвящена его опасениям, что Японская анимация деградировала до уровня «дешевой еды в полете», как у Диснея». — Хаяо Миядзаки
Миядзаки — единственный, кого я знаю, кто не приукрашивает это.
Я действительно думаю, что есть основания для того, чтобы «Отаку» и создатели аниме в целом создавали отличное аниме, не имея самого реального опыта.
Воображение — еще один инструмент, чтобы это произошло, но, как я уже упоминал, реальный мир и способность связать вещи.
Я бы сказал, вот почему у вас так много:
- гарем
- Фан-сервис
- Эччи
- Трафареты
И аниме-шоу в наши дни с большим количеством этих тропов или жанры. По крайней мере, по сравнению со временем Миядзаки, наступающим в индустрии.
Вот почему гаремы и аниме с фан-сервисом (в некоторой степени) имеют одни из худших обзоров и рейтингов по сравнению с аниме, которое ДЕЙСТВИТЕЛЬНО трогает ваше сердце. Аниме, в котором создатели намного лучше понимают своих персонажей.
Это в конечном итоге просачивается в конечный продукт, когда мы его просматриваем.
Что вы думаете о Миядзаки? правда сообщение?
Он был прав?
–
Рекомендуется:
42+ величайших цитат Хаяо Миядзаки о жизни и аниме
Фильм о поезде Mugen собрал 298 миллиона долларов, автору заплатили 19,201 XNUMX доллар
Hayao Miyazaki is an outlier, an individual.
The kind of person who stands out in a crowd, sometimes for the wrong reasons.
Some people don’t like him because of it (in private), and others love Hayao Miyazaki for his raw honesty and commitment to his craft in anime.
That’s part of the reason why Hayao Miyazaki’s “anime was a mistake” meme and quote came about.
People misinterpreted his message on purpose, or they just wanted attention. And so what happened came to be.
Was anime a mistake?
Some memes are a little different, but many are along the lines of “anime was a mistake”, simple as that.
Some extend it to “anime was a mistake, it’s nothing but trash” with Hayao Miyazaki’s face taken from an interview.
What Hayao Miyazaki actually said
As quoted by the escapist magazine:
“You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, ‘Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life. If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it. Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves.
Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!” – Hayao Miyazaki
Source: Hayao Miyazaki: Anime Suffers Because the Industry is Full of “Otaku”
Let’s break down what Hayao Miyazaki really meant by his statements.
Otaku’s lack real world experience
Miyazaki never said Otaku’s lack real world experience, but it is what he meant by his words.
Let’s focus on this part of his interview:
“You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, ‘Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life. If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it. Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves”.”
It’s in this part of the quote where Hayao Miyazaki says more than he seems to be.
If you didn’t get the gist of it, he’s saying if you have no experience with the types of characters or roles you’re portraying, the results will speak for itself.
You can compare it to a university professor who’s never sold a product in their entire life, giving business advice about how to sell products.
How can they give advice if they’ve never done it, and have no knowledge of HOW to do it?
It’s unqualified advice from an unqualified person.
In the same way, if an “Otaku” becomes an author of manga or anime, only because they’re a fan…. They’ll likely create things they have no understanding of.
If they do that, the results will show in the final product of the characters, their behaviors, the message and the story.
Related: 15+ Anime Characters Who Are Straight Up Otaku’s & Weebs
A perfect example to make my point
We all know Sakura Haruno from the Naruto series. She’s a famous character like no other, and is controversial on levels most female characters never reach.
But the question is: WHY is she controversial?
One reason is because of how Sakura’s character is written. The author had no idea what he was doing with Sakura (at times). And it showed.
Fans argue that a lot of female characters in Naruto are like that to some extent. Well written on the surface, but compared to male characters they’re laughable as far as quality.
There’s arguments to that.
This is a direct result of the Naruto author’s real world experiences, and not having enough context.
Sakura and how she’s written is hard proof. He writes male characters well, but not so much female.
I doubt that’s an accident.
Related: 34+ Times Sakura Haruno Was Useful In Naruto’s Plot!
Hayao Miyazaki’s mindset
To be a creator, writer, author, artist, etc, CONTEXT is the holy grail. Imagination can only take you so far if you can’t relate or truly understand the character you’re creating.
I’m sure this is what he really meant by his “statement” relating to Otaku and the anime industry.
I don’t follow Miyazaki like that, but what’s interesting is a lot of things I’ve said dozens of times about the anime industry (lacking effort, cheap fan service, half-assed, etc) is the exact thing he’s said himself.
“The rest of that essay is about his fear that Japanese animation has been degraded to the level of being a “cheap in-flight meal” like Disney works.” – Hayao Miyazaki
Miyazaki’s the only one I know of who doesn’t sugar coat it either.
I do think there’s a case for “Otaku’s” and anime creators in general making great anime without having the most real world experience.
Imagination is another tool to make that happen, but as I’ve mentioned already – real world experience and being able to relate matters.
I’d say that’s the reason why you have so many:
- Harem
- Fan service
- Ecchi
- Cliches
And anime shows these days with a lot of those tropes or genres. At least compared to Miyazaki’s time coming up in the industry.
That’s why Harems and anime with fan service (to an extent) have some of the worst reviews and ratings compared to anime that REALLY touch your heart. Anime where the creators understand their characters a lot better.
That ends up leaking out in the final product when we view it.
What do you think about Miyazaki’s true message?
Was he right?
–
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About
«Anime Was a Mistake» is a troll quote misattributed to Hayao Miyazaki, one of the most popular and influential Japanese artists and film directors in anime history, that conveys a strong sense of disdain towards the art of anime and its fanbase at large, including those who identify themselves with weeaboo and otaku subcultures.
Origin
The troll quote stems from the transcript of Miyazaki’s interview with the Japanese news site Golden Times[2], published on January 27th, 2014. During the interview, Miyazaki expressed skepticism regarding the current state of anime as an art form and a cultural industry, particularly how little the new generation of animators are seeking inspiration from actually observing human behaviors and interactions in real life. On January 30th, a translation of the original interview was provided by English-language Japanese news site RocketNews24.[1]
You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, ‘Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life. If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it. Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves. Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!.
Spread
On January 25th 2015, Tumblr blog old-japanese-men posted two animated GIFs containing images of Miyazaki from 2013 documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness. They are captioned with made-up quotes expressing extreme dissatisfaction with the state of anime and otaku culture. As of March 11th 2016 the post has 271,725 notes.[9]
The next day, Imgur user Ondaheightsofdespair submitted the two GIFs of Miyazaki in a post titled «Old sage drops some wisdom.» It quickly reached the front page of Imgur, receiving over 8,800 points.[3]
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
Хаяо Миядзаки дал интервью, пока выносил мусор. Кажется, японский режиссер познал дзен
Репортер японского таблоида Flash встретил режиссера Хаяо Миядзаки, пока тот убирался у своего дома, и решил спросить его про невероятно высокие кассовые сборы аниме Demon Slayer. Ответы 79-летнего аниматора поражают безразличием и спокойствием.
В октябре в Японии вышел фильм «Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train», который продолжает сюжет одноименной манги и аниме про борющегося с демонами парня. За две недели фильм собрал в прокате около 200 миллионов долларов и вошел в пятерку самых успешных фильмов японского проката. Перед ним остаются аниме «Твое имя», «Холодное сердце», «Титаник» и «Унесенные призраками».
Аниме «Унесенные призраками», которое снято под руководством Хаяо Миядзаки, вышло в 2001 году, но до сих пор остается самым успешным фильмом японского проката. Его сборы составляют около 280 миллионов долларов. Тем не менее успех Demon Slayer заставляет говорить о том, что фильм со временем обгонит «Унесенных призраками», ведь работе Миядзаки потребовалось гораздо больше времени, чтобы собрать такую сумму.
Вот что Хаяо Миядзаки думает о кассовых сборах и происходящем в индустрии
— Сборы фильма «Demon Slayer [Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train]» приближаются к сборам «Унесенных призраками». Что вы об этом думаете?
— Я не думаю, что это имеет ко мне отношение. Хорошо, если на их рабочем месте царит мир, и сборы на это не влияют. Надеюсь, они трудятся усердно.
— Вы видели фильм «Demon Slayer»?
Не видел. Я редко что‑то смотрю, я наблюдаю за другими вещами. Не смотрю телевидение, не смотрю фильмы. Я старик на пенсии, который просто выносит мусор.
— Некоторые фанаты расстроены тем, что «Унесенные призраками» могут потерять первое место [по сборам аниме-фильмов в Японии].
— Меня действительно это не беспокоит. В мире всегда будет инфляция. Мне нужно выкинуть мусор…
— Похоже, сейчас вы работаете над [новым фильмом] «How Do You Live?». Работа идет хорошо?
— Я делаю его. Делаю его на пенсии. Спросите Toho (занимается дистрибуцией фильмов Studio Ghibli. — Прим. ред.) про это. Мне нужно вынести мусор.
Якобы равнодушное отношение Миядзаки к кино и аниме давно стало мемом
Весной 2020 года, когда фильмы Studio Ghibli впервые появились на потоковых сервисах, мы узнали, что Хаяо Миядзаки разрешил публикацию во много потому, что не совсем понимает, что такое стриминги (ну и чтобы заработать денег на новый фильм). «Он не знает, что такое стриминг, — объяснил продюсер студии Тосио Судзуки. — Он не пользуется компьютерами или смартфонами».
Миядзаки критикует разработки программистов, которые работают над жуткой сгенерированной анимацией: «Кто вообще создает подобное, не имея представления о том, что такое боль»
Современными технологиями в анимации он тоже не пользуется. В 2017 году режиссер Каку Аракава снял про Миядзаки документальный фильм, в котором режиссер, в частности, работает над короткометражкой «Boro the Caterpillar». В один из моментов он попытался объяснить аниматору, что нужно сделать, и нарисовать гусеницу на его дисплее. Но ничего не вышло — он просто несколько раз вставил предыдущий слой. Известно, что аниматор, первая работа которого вышла в 1963 году, до сих пор все рисует карандашом.
Кстати, документальные фильмы о себе он тоже не смотрит. Миядзаки не стал смотреть ни фильм о себе, ни другой фильм о его студии, который снял Каку Аракава. Он только отметил, что его следовало бы назвать не «Бесконечным человеком», как это сделано в названии фильма, а «Человеком, который не может остановиться».
Самой известной цитатой, по ошибке приписываемой Миядзаки, стала фраза «Аниме было ошибкой». Многих удивило такое резкое высказывание от человека, который прежде всего ассоциируется именно с аниме. На самом деле Миядзаки этого не говорил. Он размышлял о современных аниматорах, которые не интересуются тем, как выглядят настоящие люди. «Японская анимация полна людей, которые терпеть не могут смотреть на людей, — сказал он. — Вот поэтому в индустрии так много отаку! (человек, увлеченный, аниме, мангой или чем‑то еще. — Прим. ред.)»
Миядзаки посмотрел первый фильм своего сына Горо и ему тоже не понравилось: «Я смотрел на своего ребенка. Он еще не повзрослел. Это все»
Правда, термин «аниме» ему действительно не нравится. «По сравнению с некоторыми работами 1950-х, которые я всегда буду считать золотым стандартом, анимация 1980-х напоминает еду, которую подают в больших реактивных самолетах, — говорил он еще в 1988-м. — Откровенно говоря, я презираю сокращение «аниме», потому что оно лишь символизирует нынешнее запустение в индустрии».
В 2013 году Миядзаки выпустил свой последний на данный момент полнометражный фильм «Ветер крепчает» и ушел на пенсию. По словам 72-летнего режиссера, он больше не мог работать по двенадцать-четырнадцать часов в день, на производство фильмов уходило все больше времени («Ветер крепчает» снимали пять лет), а это плохо сказывается на экономике студии. «Вы ничего не можете сделать с проблемами, которые появляются с возрастом», — заявил он на пресс-конференции. Тем не менее в 2017 году он вернулся в студию, чтобы снять еще один последний фильм. Причина вас удивит — он хочет снять фильм для своего внука.
My husband and I watched this mecha anime. And they did this thing where, when the mechs combined, or just worked together (my memory sucks; the details are fuzzy) it was like the pilots would have an orgasm. Which was… annoying, on its own, but that wasn’t the worst part.
The worst part was that the second main character wanted to mech-sex her older brother. Like, her whole plot line was that she’d never done the mech-combining thing before and she desperately wanted to mech-sex her brother. To the brother’s credit, he was uninterested in mech-sexing his sister, and eventually, she mech-sexes the main character and realizes that mech-sex with him was the best. But like, it wasn’t actually sex. But it totally was.
I remember the show being pretty good otherwise. But the orgasm noises and faces everytime they used the mechs, and the brother/sister thing was just so fucking off-putting, we never watched it again.
Afterwards, we watched an anime where the main character was a starfighter pilot whose best friend was a porcelain doll. I took a break from anime for a while after that.
The Hayo Miyazaki, «Anime was a mistake,» meme is often quoted online, but the truth behind it is a little more complicated.
Many people have seen the meme of the famous Hayao Miyazaki saying a quote along the lines of «Anime was a mistake. It’s nothing but trash.» Anime fans love to put this quote at the end of silly anime scenes, particularly ones that are sexualized to the degree of bodily absurdity. However, there is a story behind this meme, and it has to do a lot with how Miyazaki views the anime industry.
The quote is far from exact. The source of the meme image comes from the Golden Times, a Japanese news site that put up screenshots of an interview with Miyazaki in 2014. In the screenshots, the subtitles read a much longer and more intellectual version of «Anime was a mistake.» Instead, Miyazaki criticized how people (most particularly women) are portrayed in anime. He basically called it unrealistic and part of his explanation translated to, «It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku.»
What Miyazaki Was Actually Talking About
«Anime was a mistake,» is a humorist short-form of what Miyazaki spoke about in the Golden Times interview. There is some humor in it, especially for fans of both his work and other anime, but the meme also promoted a lot of online discussion as to what Miyazaki actually meant by his criticism. Fans have questioned what Miyazaki means by how characters are portrayed, whether that means how they are drawn, how they behave, or a mixture of both.
Fans who have watched a lot of Miyazaki films, as well as other anime, may have a good idea of what Miyazaki meant. His films do not adhere to anime tropes, and the anime industry has a lot of tropes from characters being tsundere, yandere, generic male leads, weak women, and having a ton of fanservice. That is only scratching the surface. There are a lot of stereotypes in anime, and Miyazaki does not seem to like that and that can be seen from the details of his films that explore feminist, environmentalist, and anti-war themes with complex characters.
Some fans may have taken his otaku comment personally. The word is more accepted by western audiences while in Japan it can be seen as more negative. With Miyazaki being Japanese, he may see otaku in a completely different way than western audiences do. In Japan, otaku are often seen as obsessed to a creepy degree. The sort who may send hate mail and love letters to manga artists they’ve never met. The kind of person who cares more about fiction than reality, to a degree that is unhealthy.
Miyazaki And Memes
While the «Anime was a mistake,» meme is incredibly popular, there are other Miyazaki memes that have stemmed from his cynical outlooks. Fans are actually quite amused by his cynicism, mostly because his films are so optimistic in their portrayals of human nature, love, and beauty. Miyazaki is cynical about more than just the anime industry. He is an anti-capitalist in a capitalist world, anti-technology in a technological age, and environmentalist while climate chaos is all over the news. With all that, it is no wonder he can get annoyed by current events and people. Many have actually theorized that his optimistic films show why he is so cynical. He knows things can be far better than what they are currently.
A popular comparison in memes is between Miyazaki and the horror manga artist, Junji Ito. Ito’s work is not what Miyazaki criticizes, but it is an absolutely different flavor than My Neighbor Totoro and Pom Poko. Ito’s work covers madness, body horror, and irrational compulsions. However, from his interviews, fans took notice that he seems like a sweet and optimistic man. He shares similar anti-war sentiments as Miyazaki, but is not known for making any spicy comments like Miyazaki. Fans have joked that while Miyazaki sees how the world could be better, Ito is a happier person because he sees how the world could be much worse.
Miyazaki has made plenty of spicy public comments. When a young animator showed a demo of animation done by artificial intelligence in 2016, Miyazaki said, «I am utterly disgusted. . . I strongly feel this is an insult to life itself.» In 2014, he also made comments about people obsessed with guns, saying «They’re the ones that have the most immature character traits left over.» One of the most unsettling thoughts he ever shared is his vision of the future with the New Yorker, saying «I’d like to see Manhattan underwater. . . The future is clear: it’s going to fall apart. What’s the use worrying? It’s inevitable.»
With all this weight in his words, it is rather interesting how much of a meme Miyazaki’s cynicism has become. From an affectionate angle, the man is very loved by the anime community and the memes are just poking some fun at his perspective like a child would with their intellectual grumpy grandpa. The anime fan audience actually has mostly said that Miyazaki makes great points about the industry. A lot of longtime anime viewers also have gotten tired of the stereotypes and tropes.
MORE: All Of Hayao Miyazaki’s Anime Movies, Ranked According To Metacritic
The Hayo Miyazaki, «Anime was a mistake,» meme is often quoted online, but the truth behind it is a little more complicated.
Many people have seen the meme of the famous Hayao Miyazaki saying a quote along the lines of «Anime was a mistake. It’s nothing but trash.» Anime fans love to put this quote at the end of silly anime scenes, particularly ones that are sexualized to the degree of bodily absurdity. However, there is a story behind this meme, and it has to do a lot with how Miyazaki views the anime industry.
The quote is far from exact. The source of the meme image comes from the Golden Times, a Japanese news site that put up screenshots of an interview with Miyazaki in 2014. In the screenshots, the subtitles read a much longer and more intellectual version of «Anime was a mistake.» Instead, Miyazaki criticized how people (most particularly women) are portrayed in anime. He basically called it unrealistic and part of his explanation translated to, «It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku.»
What Miyazaki Was Actually Talking About
«Anime was a mistake,» is a humorist short-form of what Miyazaki spoke about in the Golden Times interview. There is some humor in it, especially for fans of both his work and other anime, but the meme also promoted a lot of online discussion as to what Miyazaki actually meant by his criticism. Fans have questioned what Miyazaki means by how characters are portrayed, whether that means how they are drawn, how they behave, or a mixture of both.
Fans who have watched a lot of Miyazaki films, as well as other anime, may have a good idea of what Miyazaki meant. His films do not adhere to anime tropes, and the anime industry has a lot of tropes from characters being tsundere, yandere, generic male leads, weak women, and having a ton of fanservice. That is only scratching the surface. There are a lot of stereotypes in anime, and Miyazaki does not seem to like that and that can be seen from the details of his films that explore feminist, environmentalist, and anti-war themes with complex characters.
Some fans may have taken his otaku comment personally. The word is more accepted by western audiences while in Japan it can be seen as more negative. With Miyazaki being Japanese, he may see otaku in a completely different way than western audiences do. In Japan, otaku are often seen as obsessed to a creepy degree. The sort who may send hate mail and love letters to manga artists they’ve never met. The kind of person who cares more about fiction than reality, to a degree that is unhealthy.
Miyazaki And Memes
While the «Anime was a mistake,» meme is incredibly popular, there are other Miyazaki memes that have stemmed from his cynical outlooks. Fans are actually quite amused by his cynicism, mostly because his films are so optimistic in their portrayals of human nature, love, and beauty. Miyazaki is cynical about more than just the anime industry. He is an anti-capitalist in a capitalist world, anti-technology in a technological age, and environmentalist while climate chaos is all over the news. With all that, it is no wonder he can get annoyed by current events and people. Many have actually theorized that his optimistic films show why he is so cynical. He knows things can be far better than what they are currently.
A popular comparison in memes is between Miyazaki and the horror manga artist, Junji Ito. Ito’s work is not what Miyazaki criticizes, but it is an absolutely different flavor than My Neighbor Totoro and Pom Poko. Ito’s work covers madness, body horror, and irrational compulsions. However, from his interviews, fans took notice that he seems like a sweet and optimistic man. He shares similar anti-war sentiments as Miyazaki, but is not known for making any spicy comments like Miyazaki. Fans have joked that while Miyazaki sees how the world could be better, Ito is a happier person because he sees how the world could be much worse.
Miyazaki has made plenty of spicy public comments. When a young animator showed a demo of animation done by artificial intelligence in 2016, Miyazaki said, «I am utterly disgusted. . . I strongly feel this is an insult to life itself.» In 2014, he also made comments about people obsessed with guns, saying «They’re the ones that have the most immature character traits left over.» One of the most unsettling thoughts he ever shared is his vision of the future with the New Yorker, saying «I’d like to see Manhattan underwater. . . The future is clear: it’s going to fall apart. What’s the use worrying? It’s inevitable.»
With all this weight in his words, it is rather interesting how much of a meme Miyazaki’s cynicism has become. From an affectionate angle, the man is very loved by the anime community and the memes are just poking some fun at his perspective like a child would with their intellectual grumpy grandpa. The anime fan audience actually has mostly said that Miyazaki makes great points about the industry. A lot of longtime anime viewers also have gotten tired of the stereotypes and tropes.
MORE: All Of Hayao Miyazaki’s Anime Movies, Ranked According To Metacritic
“Anime Was a Mistake” is an ill famous troll quote attributed to Hayao Miyazaki, one of the famous and influential Japanese artists and directors in anime universe, that dispatches a strong sense of contempt to the art of anime and its crazy fanbase especially those who identify themselves with otaku subcultures.
Hayao Miyazaki is a renowned Japanese anime director.
He is considered as one of the best directors when it comes to animated movies. Apart from direction, he also works as a producer, screenwriter, author and even draws manga.
The animations, characters and plots in his movies are astounding. His movie Spirited Away was nominated, the best animated movie at the 2013 Academy Awards, received first prize at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2002, and was named the best Asian film at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Hayao Miyazaki had an inspiring career as an anime director, and is known to create some of the greatest masterpieces in the history of anime.
Though, all of his movies are truly striking, a few that really stand out are : My Neighbor Totoro, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Now that you know Hayao’s pioneer relation with anime, you must be wondering if he really said the infamous phrase that ‘anime was a mistake’.
Here’s what actually happened.
Origin of the quote
The troll quote originates from the transcript of Miyazaki’s interview with the Japanese news site Golden Times, published on January 27th, 2014.
During the interview, Miyazaki quoted a controversial statement that reflected his skepticism regarding the current state of anime as an art form.
Through the statement, he was vocal about how little the new generation of animators are seeking inspiration from actually observing human behaviours and interactions in real life.
On January 30th, 2014, a translation of the original interview was provided by English-language Japanese news site RocketNews24, which goes as follows :
“You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, ‘Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life.”
“If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it.”
“Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves.”
“Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know.”
“It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans.”
“And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!”
Now, Otaku is a term associated with a person who is highly obsessed with anime, a particular series or a character. They are so obsessed that their everyday lives revolve around it, and that’s all they can ever think about.
On January 25th 2015, Tumblr blog ‘old-japanese-men’ posted two animated GIFs containing images of Miyazaki captioned with made-up quotes expressing extreme criticism with the state of anime and otaku culture.
The very next day, an Imgur user submitted the two GIFs of Miyazaki in a post titled “Old sage drops some wisdom.” It quickly made up to the front page of Imgur, receiving over 8,800 impressions.
This is how the ill phrase Anime was a mistake came to life. Some people criticise the idea where as some are in praises. But, all we can conclude is Miyazaki didn’t intend to quote Anime was a mistake in the first place.
His quote was highly misinterpreted and wrongly translated and went viral, opening up a lot of debates, leading to a lot of GIFs and memes captioned with quotes from Hayao Miyazaki that were mostly made-up.
So, now that we know he never actually said the phrase ‘Anime was a mistake’ lets read some of his actual quotes :
“Success?I do believe in the power of story. I believe that stories have an important role to play in the formation of human beings, that they can stimulate, amaze and inspire their listeners.”
“Many of my movies have strong female leads- brave, self-sufficient girls that don’t think twice about fighting for what they believe with all their heart. They’ll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a saviour. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.”
“You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither side, but vow instead to preserve the balance that exists between the two.”
Anime Was A Mistake Memes
So this is all the information about Anime Was A Mistake. Do you really think anime was a mistake? Let us know in the comments section.