Danica Davidson
March 11, 2024 
Last night Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron took home the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (which means both the second win for Miyazaki, and the second win for an anime), but Miyazaki himself wasn’t there to accept the award. Instead, Kiyofumi Nakajima, the chief operating officer for Studio Ghibli, was in Los Angeles. He stated, “I would like to thank all the people who are connected to this film. We would like to apologize that the director, Hayao Miyazaki, and the producer, Toshio Suzuki, could not be here today. Please forgive them, they’re kind of up in the age bracket.”
Nakajima also read a longer statement from Suzuki about the win:
We’re very honored to receive the Academy Award for best animated feature. We’d like to thank the Academy for this award. I would also like to give my thanks to those who were involved in the production of this film, and to all those who worked to distribute the film worldwide.
This film began with the retracting of the retirement statement that Hayao Miyazaki made. And following that we spent seven years producing this film. It has been 10 years since Miyazaki’s previous film, The Wind Rises, during which time there have been dramatic changes in the environment surrounding films. This was a truly difficult project to bring to completion. I am very appreciative that the work that was created after overcoming these difficulties has been seen by so many people around the world, and that it has received this recognition.
Both Hayao Miyazaki and I have aged considerably. I am grateful to receive such an honor at my age, and taking this as a message to continue our work, I will devote myself to work harder in the future. Thank you very much.
Congrats to Hayao Miyazaki and everyone else involved with The Boy and the Heron!
Source: SoraNews24
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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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