Isao Takahata has long been overshadowed by longtime colleague and Studio Ghibli cofounder Hayao Miyazaki. The younger man (Takahata is 78, Miyazaki 72) has had more and bigger hits, including his latest, the World War II-themed "Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)," while Takahata's last feature animation, the 1999 family comedy "Hohokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas)," was a rare Ghibli box-office disappointment.