University of Greenwich ID Number: 001283847

FPT Student ID Number: GDH220265

Module Code: DESI-1239-M02-2022-23

Module Assessment Title: Conversation through time

Lecturer Name: Bui Thanh Huong

Submission Date: 20/4/2023

 It was December 2023. Hayao Miyazaki has been working on his
new film, despite having announced retirement several times.
Today is the day he invited Osamu Tezuka over to his atelier
to have a look at his work, and give some of his thoughts.
Miyazaki arrives earlier than usual. Not long after that,
Tezuka also arrives. He giggles at the cute little
illustration of Mizayaki’s character Totoro1 saying “Please use
the intercom” that is being put outside the house. Then, he
rings the doorbell. Miyazaki rushes to the door.

Miyazaki: Welcome Osamu. Thank you for coming. Please

come inside.

Tezuka smiles then takes off his shoes.

Miyazaki: Lots of snow, eh? Let’s have some coffee to

warm ourselves up.

Miyazaki hands Tezuka a cup of coffee.

Tezuka: Thank you.

Miyazaki: Do you mind if I have a cigarette?

Tezuka: No, not at all. In fact, can I also have some?

Miyazaki: Of course, help yourself.

A few puffs of smoke come out. The two men silently sit
together at the kitchen table, enjoying their hot coffee.

Tezuka: Hayao, I was surprised when you told me to come

over for your latest work. I thought you really did
decide to retire this time. What makes you change your
mind?

Miyazaki: Well, I’m an old man now. I feel like as the

years go on, this body is less capable of working. I
should take some rest, or do something else, you know,
like museum exhibitions.But my mind can’t stop thinking
about it, about making animation. I have spent my whole
life dedicated to it, and it’s like my body has gotten
used to it. Without animation, I feel incomplete. In the

1
Totoro is a character in Miyazaki’s film My Neighbor Totoro.
 end, I let those intrusive thoughts win, and I decided to
come back to make this one more film. Just one more, and
that's all.

Tezuka: Me too. I can totally understand. It’s the desire

to create extraordinary things. We can’t stop the urge
even if we tried to. When I was in hospital being treated
for stomach cancer, I couldn't even stop myself from
working. In the end, all that matters is you truly want
to do it.

Miyazaki: Yes. We have to push hard and surpass

ourselves2, right? That’s what makes us today. Plus, I
even got some help from The God of Manga.

Hearing the phrase “The God of Manga”, Tezuka burst into

laughter.

Tezuka: Haha. Nah, I am no god. I’m just a guy who works

really hard like you. Really. It feels kinda weird when
people call me that. Okay then, shall we see your
in-progress work?

Miyazaki: Sure, please follow me.

The two men then head to the studio room. Miyazaki then showed
Tezuka his storyboards, character designs and sketches of his
new project.

Miyazaki: This project I’m working on will include

aspects of war.

Tezuka: That’s great. I have also made several works on

war.

Miyazaki: Yeah, me too. War brings nothing other than

pain and suffering. People need to acknowledge that,
especially the young generation.

Their tones begin to get more serious as they continue the

conversation. It is filled with hatred, anger and a little bit
of bitterness.

2
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki 2016, documentary film, NHK, Japan,
viewed 13 March 2023.
 Tezuka: I agree. War is something that I never want to go
through in my life ever again. This peaceful era is so
much better, people don’t die from hunger and have so
many opportunities to create things, especially comics.

Miyazaki: Yes. I think lots of people nowadays take those

for granted. They don’t know how lucky they are.

Tezuka: The worst people of them all is the government.

You know, the current war in Ukraine really made me
angry. The only ones who benefit from war are the leaders
and the politicians. In contrast, ordinary civilians are
the victims and have to struggle everyday only to keep on
living. Ukrainians and Russians are going through exactly
the same thing that we went through in WWII. It hurts me
just thinking about it.

Miyazaki: So do I. Even though I was too small to

remember experiencing the bombing and the sirens, I do
know how people can suffer from the effects of national
conflicts. The food shortage, the financial problem, how
it takes its toll on people’s dreams. It has ingrained in
my head.

Tezuka: Our generation can never forget what war did to

us.

They sit in silence for a few minutes and take another

cigarette. It was like they were trying to calm down, to get
their mind out of the traumatic past. Miyazaki then breaks the
silence.

Miyazaki: You know, I really want to hear your point of

view, Osamu. When first mentioning the cruelty of war,
what comes first in your mind?

Tezuka: Oh, there are a lot of things. I spent my

childhood in war, Hayao. I even went through intensive
military drills when I was just a kid, and got really ill
and skin disease. However, there was this unforgettable
experience when I was working at the arsenal. I was
punished for drawing comics, so I have to guard bombers
in the watchtower. As the air raid warning siren began, I
saw that as usual, a formation of U.S. bombers was
 heading towards us along the Yodogawa River3. As soon as I
thought “here they come,” incendiary bombs showered down
on us, making a loud noise like a heavy rain. Bombs
streamed down one after another onto the factory. Just
when I thought that this would be the end of my life,
exposed on the top of the watchtower, a bomb hit the roof
just two metres directly below me. Later I heard that
this bomb killed all the people who had rushed into the
air raid shelter underneath this building. I tumbled down
the watchtower, screaming as if I had gone mad. All
around me, the ground was a sea of fire … and houses in
every direction were burning with leaping flames making a
rumbling sound. Then rain with black soot came down. I
walked to the top of the riverbank of the Yodogawa. From
there, I saw many big craters hollowed by bombs, where
numerous objects which resemble human bodies were lying
on top of one another.4 It was pure horror…, until now,
when the war was already over, it still haunted my
dreams.

As Tezuka says, he shivers. His eyes staring at nothingness,

as if the sight of the event was flashing through his eyes.
Miyazaki was speechless. He leans forward to pat Tezuka on his
shoulders.

Miyazaki: You have been through a lot, Osamu.

Tezuka: I have one principle that I’ll never compromise;

even if I have to surrender my life, and that is I’ll
never condone war.5 I hope that people could stop
fighting, and the world would be a better place, a world
of peace.

Tezuka’s fist clenches and he looks directly into Miyazaki’s

eyes.

Miyazaki: That's all we dream about.

3
The Yodogawa River, at portions of its route, is the principal river in
Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan.
4
Yuki Tanaka 2010, War and Peace in the Art of Tezuka Osamu: The humanism
of his epic manga, The Asia Pacific Journal, viewed 15 March 2023,
<https://apjjf.org/-Yuki-Tanaka/3412/article.html>
5
Yuki Tanaka, War and Peace in the Art of Tezuka Osamu: The humanism of
his epic manga.
 Tezuka: What about you, Hayao? How exactly do you
perceive war?

Miyazaki: For me, conflicts kill dreams. My father was

someone who was deeply in love with planes and got a
dashed dream of making them. Unfortunately, he was born
in the wrong era. His effort and dedication was forced to
benefit the Japanese military in WWII. He has sacrificed
so much, his youth, his time with family and loved ones.
And for what? For all of his hard work being destroyed in
war? For his beautiful creations being used to bring pain
and death to people? It was such a tragic fate for
someone as intelligent and devoted as him. If only war
didn’t happen, my father’s work would be used to help
people, to bring great quality to society. Even now, I
still felt guilty that my father’s business allowed my
family to be somewhat affluent. It’s such a cursed dream.

Miyazaki said with bitterness. He turns his face to the

ground.

Tezuka: I see.

Miyazaki: To be honest, I feel like I was luckier than

those who are from my generation. While I was able to
live and have a somewhat fulfilling childhood, many
others have to suffer from serious financial problems,
food shortage, and from the loss of members of their
families, especially their parents.

Tezuka: That kinda reminds me of your studio’s double

feature in 1988 - the Totoro ones and the Grave of
Fireflies. When I saw them, I was so blown away by how
different they were.

Miyazaki: Yes. Even though both films take place in the

same period: post-war Japan, the lives of the main
characters were the exact opposite. And if you didn’t
notice, we actually made the elder sister Satsuki in The
Neighbour Totoro and Setsuko the kids who later died in
Grave of Fireflies, being born in the same year.

Tezuka: Really? That’s very surprising

Tezuka’s eyes open wide.

 Miyazaki: Yes. Satsuki was much more lucky to get to live
peacefully with her family, while Setsuko only got her
brother, because her parents died from bombing, and she
eventually died from hunger later in the film. We really
want to emphasise the contrast.

Tezuka: Yeah. When I finished watching the two films, I

can’t help thinking about how Setsuko’s life could have
been different, you know, like Satsuki’s. She could have
lived happily and peacefully with her family, if war
didn’t take its toll on her life. I think your guys did a
really good job in portraying victims of war.

Miyazaki: Thank you. I really like your way of conveying

war, too. I mean, your way of storytelling was really
strong and straight-forward, and it left a strong
impression on the audience's mind.

Tezuka: That’s great to hear. I want both to bring out

the gore and the inhumanity of war. I think it’s like I’m
warning people, that war does more harm than good.

The two men nod gently to each other as they talk.

Miyazaki: When reading your comics, I was really blown

away by how you drew a human’s face that was distorted
from the bombing, and the horror scene of big holes of
dying bodies lying on each other? It makes me chill down
the spine. It was like a living nightmare.

Tezuka: I tried to convey my feelings, and our current

country as real as possible. War is the worst thing that
humans have ever experienced, so I think the best way to
warn people is to show them the true reality of war’s
consequences, which is terror.

Miyazaki: Thinking about it, I realised that we have an

exact opposite way of approaching war in our works.

Tezuka: I suppose you are right. I got very direct tones,

with horrifying visualisation. In contrast, your works
are more dreamy and comforting, but the cruelty of war
was still undeniable.
 Miyazaki: I guess I like to put the blossom of romance
and the chaos of conflict together. I think the two
aspects really reinforce each other. It creates a strong
contrast for the audiences to internalise the idea of war
disrupting peace. It’s shown especially clearly in my
film Howl’s Moving Castle.

Tezuka: That’s a really stand out quality in your work.

Howl’s Moving Castle is a great movie. How you add
brushes of anti-war in a fantasy story was incredible.

Miyazaki: Thank you. The scene of the bombing and

fighting aeroplane flying all over the sky was a
reference to WWII. I try to make the bombing appear as
destructive as possible. However, I did not add the
aspect of people dying in these scenes, and even in the
whole film, as I want to keep my tone light-hearted. I
actually want to show the expression of my loathing of
the Iraq war through this film. I hope that my message
has been delivered to people.

Tezuka: Of course it has.

For a moment, silence fills the room. They both look at the
windows to watch the snow.

Miyazaki: Well, in my next coming film, I want to push

things further. I want to create a really strong message
of anti-war philosophy. And to do it, I really need your
help, Osamu. I want to leave a really significant
impression on the audiences’ minds, and I really need
your advice on all of these.

Tezuka: Okay. Then let’s get back to your work and make
some progress!

Miyazaki: Thank you, Osamu. I really appreciate it. I’m

excited to work with you.

Then, the two men get back to their sketching and

storyboarding. They were deeply immersed in it and they worked
continuously till sunset.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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