Hayao Miyazaki

Given how much space physical media takes up, it’s hard for movie buffs to say no to the great promise of “cloud storage,” and the idea that we could summon anything we want to watch with just a couple of clicks. But so far, reality hasn’t matched the hype. Streaming services have been focused on exclusives and original programming, to the extent that the only way to have access to everything available is to spend hundreds of dollars a month on subscription fees. Meanwhile, older films keep disappearing from the digital archives; and even items that cinephiles “own” sometimes become inaccessible whenever software updates or a site shutters.

When someone declares a certain figure to be the Michael Jordan of their field, that’s an understood cultural shorthand: the person in question dominated their profession, not just providing an exemplar of excellence but actively expanding the definition of what that excellence can mean. The Jumpman pulled off feats of strength, stamina and agility that experts believed to be impossible, and so the comparison is not bestowed lightly.

Hello, movie fan. Have you started assembling a holiday wish list for the year 2015? Well, you can start right now because a Blu-ray box set assembling the collected works of legendary animation director Hayao Miyazaki is on the way and you’re definitely going to want this one. In addition to every feature film he has directed, the set will also include various special features as well as Miyazaki’s early television work.

Hayao Miyazaki, the mastermind behind Studio Ghibli and the director of films like My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises, has been viewed by many as the last bastion of traditional, hand-drawn animation. How fans will react when they learn that he’s planning to make his first entirely computer generated short film is unknown, but we predict “generally bummed out, but maybe intrigued.”