Hayao Miyazaki has been retiring and coming back to film making for well over a decade now. However, it seems that this latest comeback for the Studio Ghibli co-founder has a special reason. According to the other Ghibli-co-founder, Toshio Suzuki, he’s doing this for his grandson.

Suzuki served as the special guest for NHK’s Nichiyo Bijutsukan program last 8th October. During the program, he revealed that Miyazaki isn’t just returning not just because he wants to share “one more story” to the world or show the younger Japanese animators how an Academy Award Winner does things. Suzuki revealed that the reasons are more personal and it has something to do with his grandchild.

“Miyazaki is making the new film for his grandson. It’s his way of saying ‘Grandpa is moving on to the next world, but he’s leaving behind this film.’”

The mention of the grandson is quite surprising given old Hayao’s strained relationship with his son, Goro Miyazaki. The older director has often criticized his son, and even scoffed at his work like “Tales from Earthsea”. Goro has a son himself, though media outlets rarely mention him.

A Los Angeles Times article did talk about the boy back in 2013, as they said that Goro is “married with a 4-year old son”. If the film were to hit its target 2020 release, his son would be 11 years old by then. Hopefully, he will enjoy the new work his legendary grandfather is leaving behind for him.

Source: Sora News 24