The creator of Gundam might consider Hayao Miyazaki his “enemy”, but he has some choice words for you if you think The Boy and the Heron director isn’t an artist
Mobile Suit Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino says Hayao Miyazaki has “always been my enemy,” but he won’t let anyone say he’s not an artist.
Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki has gathered a pretty broad portfolio of work under his belt over the years, easily cementing himself as something of an auteur. By contrast, Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino has mostly stuck to the mecha genre, obviously birthing one of the most important anime series around. In a recent interview with FullFrontal, though, he noted how he isn’t an auteur himself, despite creating such prolific work, saying he doesn’t “have what it takes to be an auteur.”
Tomino spoke of how the mecha genre isn’t what he “aspired to initially” but considering his own abilities “there was no other way to go. That’s why the director Hayao Miyazaki has always been my enemy: being in the same era as someone I’d never been able to surpass has become my incentive.”
It’s obviously a bit of a funny statement, but that doesn’t mean Tomino doesn’t have an amount of respect for what his “enemy” does. When FullFrontal suggested that Miyazaki isn’t an artist, but more of a craftsman, Tomino bluntly responded “You’re wrong.” He went on to say, “If he were a craftsman, he wouldn’t have done something like The Boy and the Heron. If you say he’s a craftsman, you don’t know anything. He’s an auteur. Look, he made an animated film without a happy end. That’s impossible if you do things half-heartedly. That’s why I don’t think I can compare with an auteur like that. Maybe Miyazaki would rather compare with someone like Victor Hugo.”
To be clear, that also doesn’t mean Tomino likes any of Miyazaki’s other works, as he does say “that’s just for The Boy and the heron. I don’t really like Miyazaki’s other works either way.”
The Boy and the Heron won Studio Ghibli its second Oscar earlier this year, and while it did deserve it, it didn’t really need it.
