Danica Davidson
June 23, 2025 
Hayao Miyazaki is the only anime director to win an Academy Award — twice. And now he’s about to get his second exhibit at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. While the previous exhibit did a full view on Miyazaki’s work, this exhibit will concentrate specifically on his movie Ponyo.
The museum says it will have more than 100 items given to them by Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, “including art boards, posters, a Studio Ghibli animation desk, and original hand drawings by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.” A number of these items have never been shown in America before. This is meant to lionize both Studio Ghibli and hand-drawn animation.
Besides this, there will also be interactive components to the show, like offering what it describes as a “a playful, immersive environment that allows younger visitors to step into the magical oceanic world of the film.”
The exhibition opens its doors on Valentine’s day, February 14, 2026. It’s a limited time exhibit, and will shut its doors after January 10, 2027.
Ponyo, which came out in 2008, is not of one of his movies to win an Oscar. That honor went to Spirited Away and The Boy and the Heron. GKIDS, which licensed Ponyo for North America, gave this description for the movie:
Ponyo Plot
When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea. Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale The Little Mermaid, Miyazaki’s breathtaking, imaginative world is brought to life with an all-star cast, featuring the voices of Cate Blanchett, Noah Cyrus, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Frankie Jonas, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, and Betty White.
Source: ANN, Academy Museum
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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