By the time I was in high school, I had already seen a small handful of Studio Ghibli films. They already had special places in my heart, but when I was a sophomore in high school, Kiki's Delivery Service became my light at the end of the tunnel. When I was fifteen, my dad died from cancer and life became very hard. I had anxiety and developed night terrors, where I would wake in the middle of the night screaming and crying. Eventually I became too afraid to sleep.
In my bedroom I had a tiny television and an old VCR player, along with a VHS tape of Kiki's Delivery Service. One night I fell asleep watching it, and that one night was all I needed to find my new comfort. Nearly every single night for two years I would fall asleep watching that movie. The nightmares didn't happen as often because my mind had something pleasant to focus on.
I've always wished there was a proper way I could say thank you to each and every person that has worked on these films. I like for people to know when they are appreciated for their hard work and for what they give to the world. You never know what someone is going through in their life and how something even as simple as a movie could impact them.
Thank you.

Dear Miyazaki san,
The first movie I watched, directed by you, is My Neighbor Totoro. My sister was a huge fan of Totoro because of it's characteristic and for me, Totoro is the first of your movies that made me watch other movies of yours since the final years of VHS tapes and now up to the DVD era. Others like Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Laputa Castle in the Sky, The Castle of Cagliostro, Porco Rosso, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and your last film, which I saw in theaters with my mom on my 20th birthday and now own the DVD, The Wind Rises.

When I heard the news of your retirement, I realized how much time has passed when I first say your film Totoro. It also made me look back to how much your films mean to me. I tried to put in words to describe your mastery of art and filming until now. Right now, at the age of 21, I think back to the messages you present in your movies and think back to how your movies are produced differently to other films I watched like Disney films, live action and animation. Most of the films I watched in my childhood, tell stories in a traditional concepts of story telling like who is the hero or villain, damsels in distress, falling in love, main roles given to male characters and minor roles given to female characters. Your films, on the other hand send out a different concept of story telling like how most main characters in your films were females and how deep the messages are in the story of your films. What's different about your characters is that unlike other female characters in other films and stories, they are independent, never rely on a strong male, not have the feeling to fall in love, and not damsels in distress. There's also no villains in most of your films except Castle of Cagliostro and Laputa. For themes, you send powerful messages about Love, compassion, pacifism, environmentalism, feminism, anti warfare, human progress, achieving dreams, making sacrifices for someone you love, and aspiring for adventure to a different world finding lost answers of human history. That is what I see in your films.

Your artistry in your films is one of my inspiration for painting landscape art and capture the view and express the beauty of nature and how it has a meaning in our world. Right now, I have the DVDs of movies you directed as well as other Studio Ghibli films in my DVD shelves. I re-watched many of them like Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle, Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Spirited Away, and The Wind Rises.

All I want to say is, thank you for making my childhood a glorious one. And in the future, when I have children of my own, I will show them your films and I hope they love your films just the way as I have when I was young.

Sincerely,

Your fan,

Louis Phung

Dear Mr. Miyazaki
From the first time I saw My Neighbor Totoro on Antenna TV when I was 7 years old my eyes were opened. Even through the fuzzy picture on the small TV I could feel so much Magic my world got bigger that day and you have enriched my life more than I can say. I grew up with my mother telling my sister and I stories of Boudicca the Celtic Warrior Princess she was a very strong woman and she made me a very strong woman which is why I think even as a child I related to your strong female leads. I lost my mother and fortunately at the age of 16 and I continue to take comfort in your movies through all the trials of my life you have always been there making things easier, better, and more beautiful. I can never thank you enough for all the magic that you've opened my eyes to. One of the greatest pleasures I've had in life is watching my son, for the first time, watch My Neighbor Totoro and seeing the same joy and the same wonder in his eyes. I hope you know how much you have enriched this world and how many
generations will continue to enjoy the bounty that you will leave behind. Again thank you from the depths of my heart and soul.
Forever yours
Julia