Hayao Miyazaki will no longer be making awe-inspiring films or challenging the conventions of standard animation, as it has been announced that the great animator is due to retire following the release of his latest film. The news was announced by Koji Hoshino, head of Studio Ghibli, following the airing of the new film; The Wind Rises, at the Venice Film Festival, with no other details coming with the announcement.

Miyazaki, 72, began his career in animation in the 1960's, going on to co-found the influential Studio Ghibli; the studio responsibly for some of the most acclaimed animated movies of the past few decades. The studio really began to achieve notoriety in the 1980's with the release of 1988's My Neighbour Totoro, achieving wide-spread recognition again in the 2000's with the release of the Oscar-winning Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.

His retirement came as a complete surprise to most in attendance, with Hoshino only giving a brief announcement detailing Miyazaki's intent to leave the studio. He said that Miyazaki will hold a press conference in Tokyo next week, but until then no other details will be revealed. The announcement simply stated; “Miyazaki has decided that Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) will be his last film, and he will now retire.”

The Wind Rises is Miyazaki's first film in five years, having spent his time working in an advisory role on some of the studio's most recent productions such as The Secret World of Arrietty and From Up on Poppy Hill. An anti-war film set between the two World Wars, the film follows the story of 'Zero' fighter designer Jiro Horikoshi and his tragic love and was based on Tatsuo Hori's 1938 novelette Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Has Risen).