When I was a child, the first anime I ever watched was Kiki's Delivery Service on VHS. Among countless Disney VHSs, it was a staple of my collection, and one of my earliest memories. When I was 13, I began to rent more Studio Ghibli movies via Netflix, and each one blew me away more than the last. The characters were all so relatable and admirable, the animation was always incredible, the music gave me chills, and to this day I believe that the plot of each movie is more than a story. I love Studio Ghibli movies so much that my mother custom made me these converse sneakers for Christmas. Each Ghibli movie shows everything humanity was, is, and will be. They remind people that we can impact the world around us, and that we are more than the sum of our parts. It was then I knew what I wanted to do, to make works of art that would be remembered for generations to come, and inspire each one more than the last. In high school I wrote essays and reports on you and your work, citing information from books on Studio Ghibli I'd bought. I'm now a college sophomore, and a film major doing everything I can to achieve that. Sometimes things get difficult, but every time they do I tell myself, "Le vent se lève! . . . Il faut tenter de vivre!". You are the Giovanni Caproni to my Jiro Horikoshi. Thank you Miyazaki-san, for being my inspiration.