is a 2018 Japanese

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

written and directed by

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

made for the

Ghibli Museum The is a museum showcasing the work of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. It is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western city of Tokyo, Japan. The museum combines features of a children's museum, technology museum, and a fine a ...

. It premiered at the museum on March 21, 2018. The short film is shown only in the Ghibli Museum and in Ghibli Park. The story is about a recently hatched caterpillar named Boro as he takes his first steps into the world.

Production

The origin of ''Boro'' stemmed from sketches that Miyazaki had made in 1995. Miyazaki first brought up ''Boro'' as a potential idea for a movie, but Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, concerned about the difficulty of making a feature-length film with no human characters, proposed creating ''

Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida ...

'' instead. Following the release of ''

The Wind Rises is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and KDDI. It was rele ...

'' in 2013, Miyazaki announced his retirement. However, sensing that Miyazaki still wanted to work on projects, Suzuki asked the retired director if he would be interested in creating a short film using his ''Boro'' idea. In 2015, Miyazaki decided to come out of retirement to work on a roughly ten-minute short film meant to be screened exclusively at the Ghibli Museum. Miyazaki described the plot of ''Boro'' as being about "a story of a tiny, hairy caterpillar, so tiny that it may be easily squished between your fingers". While Miyazaki had previously incorporated

computer-generated images Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images m ...

into earlier, hand-drawn films like ''

Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distrib ...

'', ''Boro'' was Miyazaki's first work to incorporate a CG animated main character. Suzuki had suggested Miyazaki work using CGI, as he thought that "the challenge of a new technique might get iyazakifired up again". Miyazaki himself stated that "I have ideas I may not be able to draw by hand, and GImay be a way to do it—that’s my hope. It’s a new technology". Given the choice by Suzuki, Miyazaki opted to go with a team of Japanese CGI animators instead of working with

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

under

John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter (; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, and the head of animation at Skydance Animation. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios ...

, as the former would be able to speak

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. On September 21, 2015, CG animator Yuhei Sakuragi announced that he would be helping Miyazaki complete ''Boro''. The production of the film was partially documented in the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

-produced documentary '' Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki'' released in 2016. Japanese television host and comedian

Tamori , known by his stage name (an anagram of his surname), is a Japanese television celebrity. Known for his trademark dark sunglasses, Tamori is one of the "big three" television comedians in Japan along with Takeshi Kitano (a.k.a. Beat Takeshi ...

provided all voices and sound effects for ''Kemushi no Boro''. The piano song at the end of the short film was performed by longtime Ghibli collaborator

Joe Hisaishi , known professionally as , is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. He is also known for his piano scores. Hisaishi's music has been known to explore ...

Release

Toshio Suzuki initially stated that ''Kemushi no Boro'' was due for a July 2017 release. It eventually premiered at the Ghibli Museum on March 21, 2018.

References

External links

''Boro the Caterpillar''
on the

's website
Official program details
on '' Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki'', a documentary covering the time-frame from Miyazaki's retirement to the development of ''Boro'' {{Studio Ghibli Films 2018 films 2018 anime films 2018 short films 2010s animated short films Anime short films Films about insects Fictional butterflies and moths Films directed by Hayao Miyazaki 2010s Japanese-language films Studio Ghibli animated films