| Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Kaku Arakawa |
| Starring |
|
| Narrated by | Chika Sakamoto |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original language | Japanese |
| Production | |
| Cinematography | Kaku Arakawa |
| Editor | Tetsuo Matsumoto |
| Running time | 70 minutes |
| Production company | NHK |
| Original release | |
| Network | NHK |
| Release | November 13, 2016 (2016-11-13) |
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki[a] is a 2016 Japanesedocumentary film directed by Kaku Arakawa. The film follows the Japanese animator and filmmakerHayao Miyazaki in the wake of his decision to retire, including documenting the early production of his 2018 short filmBoro the Caterpillar.[1][2]
The documentary received widespread attention when Kawakami Nobuo, former president ofKadokawa Corporation, showed a brief demonstration of aprocedural animation,generated by artificial intelligence (AI), of a humanoid model moving with its head. Nobuo proposed that such a system could be applied inzombie videogames. He also expressed a desire to create an AI model which couldgenerate images. In response, Miyazaki strongly criticised the proposal for its insensitivity towardsdisabled people, describing it as "an insult to life itself".[3] In the 2020s, when AI-generated content became more widely accessible, this clip sparked discussion about the "spirit" andethics of using AI in media.[4] The clip once again went viral during March 2025 when images generated in the style of Ghibli films were created usingGPT-4o's text-to-image tool.[5][under discussion]