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Author: Hayao Miyazaki Planning to Direct Next Work

Japanese novelist Genichirō Takahashi (Sayonara, Gangsters) posted on his Twitter account that he talked with acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli on Thursday and revealed that he learned about the next work that Miyazaki is planning to direct.

Takahashi added that he learned about the story of Miyazaki's next work, and even though the story is still secret, Takahashi said that he thought it might become Miyazaki's finest masterpiece. He talked with Miyazaki for three hours; Miyazaki had been waiting for him in the middle of the road while wearing an apron, and Takahashi joked that it reminded him of the moment that the main characters meet Totoro in the film My Neighbor Totoro.

Ghibli's producer and former president Toshio Suzuki had previously revealed "The Five-Year Plan for the Management of Studio Ghibli," after Miyazaki presented part of the plan to the Ghibli production staff in November of 2008. The first three years are devoted to works by young creators, while the last two years will be devoted to the production of "epics."

The first work in the five-year plan was last year's Karigurashi no Arrietty from first-time director Hiromasa Yonebayashi. The second work is Kokuriko-Zaka Kara, with which Suzuki said that director Goro Miyazaki (Hayao Miyazaki's son) will demonstrate his "true worth" since his first film (Tales from Earthsea) involved "beginner's luck." Suzuki did not specifically say how many "epics" will be made in the last two years of the five-year plan, nor did he say at the time that Hayao Miyazaki would direct one of those epics. Suzuki did predict in October of 2009 that Miyazaki's next feature film might open in four years.