Vzzdak said:
I find it humourous that someone would complain about the anti-war message in his latest film, where there are a number of Miyazaki's titles that were both gorgeous and anti- war:
Howl's Moving Castle
Naussica: Valley of the Wind
Princess Mononoke
Luputa: Castle in the Sky
Porco Rosso
And a few other titles, though not strictly involvig warfare, did depict the abuse of force and coercion. Anyone complaining about the anti-war message is probably a thug/psychopath of some kind.
True, but none of those films are necessarily critical of any specific event or country just war in general.
Now I haven't seen "The Wind Rises", so what I say is pure assumption, but given the fact that its about the man who designed a famous WWII fighter plane I wouldn't be surprised if there was some criticism specifically directed at Japan's militaristic mentality in WWII and Pre-WWII.
From what I what I understand Japans's actions during those times is still a touchy subject over there.
Saucycarpdog said:
All of those movies are tame in the anti war message compared to Miyazaki's Grave of the Fireflys. Now that is hard anti-war message. But beware, the movie is quite depressing.
Ignoring the fact that he didn't make "Grave of the Fireflies", the reason why it probably didn't catch any flak for being anti-war is because it showed the plight of the Japanese people near the end of WWII. Would be kinda hard to be critical of a movie about the suffering of your own people and not come off as a dick for complaining about its anti-war message.
Anyway, if he really is retiring for good this time then it is indeed a sad day, but as they say, "all good things must come to an end". "Castle in the Sky" was probably my first exposure to anime and still remains one of my all time favorites. Farewell, Hayao Miyazaki you will be missed, but it was fun while it lasted.