2014 interview with Japanese news website Golden Times, 27 January 2014. Translated by RocketNews24 on January 30, 2014.
“

You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, 'Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life.' If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it. Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves. Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!

— Hayao Miyazaki

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, 'Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life.' If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it. Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves. Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!" in the context of "2014 interview with Japanese news website Golden Times, 27 January 2014. Translated by RocketNews24 on January 30, 2014." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Hayao Miyazaki" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Hayao Miyazaki

About Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿, Miyazaki Hayao, born January 5, 1941) is one of the most famous and respected creators of anime, or Japanese animated films.