After completing his latest work "The Wind Rises" in 2013, Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki announced to the media that he would no longer direct animated feature films, and said that "the era of animation that belongs to me has passed." For the retirement of the old man, in addition to regrets and blessings, fans still have some small expectations in their hearts. After all, Mr. Miyazaki is a "habitual offender" in announcing his comeback after retirement, and he may not be able to announce the news of the new work again? In October of the same year, Studio Ghibli confirmed that Miyazaki was working on a CG animated short film, which was "Polo the Caterpillar".
Perhaps every work has invested all the effort of the old master, exhausted all his efforts, so that when he completes a work, he feels that this is the last work. However, the blood of the old man as a master of animation will always be awakened by a steady stream of inspiration, supporting him to continue to move forward.
Polo the Caterpillar may be a work of great significance to Miyazaki himself. Because the old man once taught the descendants of animation production that "it is best not to touch the computer", because the convenient computer technology, although convenient, is also easy to make the unique animation production into monotonous production on the assembly line, which is unbearable for Miyazaki, who insists on using hand-drawn. But CG animation also has its own unique excellence, which Miyazaki can't ignore yourself. And "Caterpillar Polo" is Miyazaki's first attempt at CG animation technology.
For this animated short film Miyazaki himself has great expectations, although it is only 14 minutes and 20 seconds, it took five years to polish, I believe it will bring the audience a new "Miyazaki work".
According to the latest news from the Ghibli Museum, the five-year-old CG short film "Caterpillar Polo" will be released first at the Ghibli Museum on March 21, and the official release is scheduled to wait until August 31.