“I think it’s really good for a family or children to have a dog, cat, bird or whatever to grow up with.”

The characters are born from repetition.

I never read reviews. I’m not interested. But I value a lot the reactions of the spectators.

I think 2-D animation disappeared from Disney because they made so many uninteresting films.

As humans grew stronger, I think that we became quite arrogant, losing the sorrow of ‘we have no other choice.’

I’d rather be a pig than a fascist.

I make films as a business, not as a cultural endeavor.

The characters are born from repetition.

Modern life is so thin and shallow and fake. I look forward to when developers go bankrupt, Japan gets poorer and wild grasses take over.

I’m not going to make movies that tell children, “You should despair and run away”.

Children understand intuitively that the world they have been born into is not a blessed world.

Stop trying. Take long walks. Look at scenery. Doze off at noon. Don’t even think about flying. And then, pretty soon, you’ll be flying again.

Our lives are like the wind or like sounds. We come into being, resonate with each other. Then fade away.

We depict hatred, but it is to depict that there are more important things. We depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation.

If you release your subconscious it becomes really hard to live a social or family life.

The winds of time eventually turn them into the tools of industrial civillisation. It’s never unscathed.

First: don’t panic! Second: don’t panic! And third: did I mention not to panic?!

Every bird that sings, sings for you. Every breeze that blows, blows for you. Every sunray shines for you. If you only knew how loved you are.

If you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly.

Only strong birds fly in the storm.

I’m a bird trapped in a self-made cage.

No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

[As a young man ] I came to the conclusion that the church was just a bunch of fascists that supported Franco. I stopped going on Sunday mornings and watched the birds with my father instead.

If you lose an opportunity you will be like one who lets the bird fly away; you will never get it back.