Make It Real: Flying Out of Miyazaki Animation

In 1984, Hayao Miyazaki created “Möwe (Mehve)”, an imaginary aircraft for the Japanese animated film “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”. In 2003, artist Kazuhiko Hachiya, due to his continuous obsession with Mehve, began building a real airplane that utilizes a micro-jet engine. After years of trial and error, his airplane finally had a successful maiden flight in 2013.

In this lecture, Hachiya will talk about his airplane project that was based on the concept of Miyazaki’s animation and bringing the airplane to life. His experimental work challenges the notion between animation and reality and making the impossible possible.

You can watch the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind trailer here. You can watch the test flight of Hachiya’s creation here.