Say It Ain’t Sayonara, Miyazaki

Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki, 72, has retired, say reports from the Venice Film Festival. The announcement was made by Koji Hoshino, the president of Studio Ghibli. “Miyazaki has decided that Kaze Tachinu will be his last film and he will now retire,” Hoshino said.

As industry observers know, this is not the first time that Miyazaki or someone from his camp has announced his retirement. We posed the question on Twitter, and most people seem to think that Miyazaki has announced his retirement at least three times.

Is anyone keeping track of how many times Hayao Miyazaki has retired?

— Cartoon Brew (@cartoonbrew) September 1, 2013

Hoshino promised that more details would be revealed at a press conference next week in Tokyo.