After years of anticipation, acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest (and likely final) film, “Kimitachi wa Do Ikiru Ka?” hits theaters across Japan on July 14. If this is the first you’ve heard about it, well, that’s all part of the plan.
Back in June, Toshio Suzuki, co-founder, current president and advertising guru at Studio Ghibli, the home of Miyazaki, told the magazine Bungei Shunju that the film, tentatively referred to in English as “How Do You Live?” would not be receiving a traditional publicity campaign: no trailer, no TV spots, no product tie-ins, no nothin’. [Since this story’s publication, the film has officially been titled in English as “The Boy and the Heron.”]
“Over the years, we’ve done various things to get audiences to come see our films,” Suzuki told Bungei Shunju. “But I thought, ‘That’s enough of that.’ It’s no fun doing the same thing over and over.”