Happy New Year! Glad to have you guys back! Missed your articles!
Whew! And what an inspirational read! It just goes to show you that you shouldn’t always underestimate the opportunities presented to you, even if it seems like nothing much will come of them. You never know, you could end up with the next big thing that inspires future generations, just like Cagliostro and Sherlock Hound!
Ah, thank you -- that's very kind! And it's really interesting to see how Miyazaki perceived his own career and creations back then, considering what he was making. Cagliostro completely changed animated filmmaking and played a big part in the Disney renaissance, but he couldn't see how valuable it was in the moment. Even so, he put his all into it despite having no obvious incentive to do so, because that was how he worked. And the quality he achieved spoke for itself.
Miyazaki's whole circle (Yasuo Otsuka, Isao Takahata, etc.) tended to go all-in like that, and it's why their projects were often so rich, even with budgets and schedules that weren't designed to produce high-quality animation. They forced these things to be interesting, sacrificing their own health and time to do it, because they refused to do bad work. There's not much good to say about the system that put them in that situation, but they're incredibly inspiring artists!
It's a great series, and you can definitely see its influence in animation from modern times, like Ernest & Celestine and even The Bad Guys. Miyazaki and the crew did something special here, as always!
As someone who watched both Sherlock Hound AND Dogtanian back in the day, this hit home in the best way! Can’t believe how much work they put into those first two episodes, no wonder they stick in my memory so strongly. Also can’t believe cagliostro was competed in 5 months!!! I need to go and watch it again. Thanks for a great welcome back newsletter!
Thanks for the super kind comment! So happy you liked the piece. And the story of Cagliostro's production is one of the most insane we've come across -- we hope to cover it at more length in the future, once we've got the sources and everything squared away.
Thanks so much for this! I acquired the Discotek blu-ray last year, and was quite surprised to see sequences of Sherlock’s drug addiction in the image boards. Unfortunately, there weren’t any real notes on this. But it’s great that I could see them on the blu-ray. (also, it’s a nice, filmic transfer, unlike the DNR heavy Chie the Brat)
I wonder what a free Sherlock Holmes adaptation by Miyazaki would have looked like. Despite fighting for the final cut, I sense that Miyazaki’s entire time at TMS was deeply frustrating, and that his heart was mostly in Nausicaä. This was a fascinating turning point in Miyazaki’s career!
So glad you enjoyed this one! That Discotek Blu-ray release is definitely a treasure (especially as a way to see the Japanese dub, which is our personal preference with this series).
As for Miyazaki's approach to Sherlock, from what we've read, he had so much skepticism about adapting the books that he may never have attempted it without this project. He really threw everything he could at the show to make it interesting to himself, including his fascination with the comic Rowlf, which has a dog/human dynamic similar to the one he pitched. These were absolutely frustrating years for Miyazaki, particularly on Little Nemo, which we hope to cover one day. But the ideas he built up in this time guided the next decades of his career, so there's no doubt that something good came of it all!
Really loved the focus on spatial continuity here. As an urban planning student, Miyazaki’s refusal to make a « flat » world explains exactly why his settings feel so grounded. The details about his struggle against burnout and the intense labor conditions during that era were also super insightful. Thanks for this!
Thanks for this great comment! Happy you enjoyed the piece. Miyazaki's thinking about time and space in film is a subject that's endlessly fascinating to us, and it's definitely shown in his work, even back in the '70s. An aspect of his style that can't be overlooked.
Fascinating how Miyazaki's self-doubt coexisted with such ruthless commitment to quality. The part about him sneaking out at 11pm to work on Nausicaa while maintaning total seperation between projects shows a kind of compartmentalized intensity I recognize from my own creative work. Tomonaga's insight about three-dimensional space making cartoony actions beleivable is the kind of craft knowlege that gets lost in surface-level discussions of "style."
Yeah, we were surprised to see that the dub is out for free! It's definitely a worthwhile show, and a pretty low-key and casual watch. Even just skipping around to Miyazaki's handful of episodes is a good time.
I love the story of overcoming self-doubt, over-delivery and being creatively stubborn. Even though it's not considered a "success" the impact it had was mearureable. Great piece.
The wildest thing in the world is that my siblings and I watched the first episode of this series RANDOMLY on Disney+ not even 10 minutes before this article was posted
Happy new year, it's great to have you back! I had somehow been unaware of just how cool and significant Sherlock Hound ended up being, so this was a great read. Glad the tip about Empress Chung was helpful!
You may have seen already, but a really cool indie animation pilot 'Ersatz' by Saint Greaver just dropped on Youtube, a Blender film set in a gothic fantasy World War 1 which calls to mind stuff like Mad God. Really gorgeous art direction. (I should be in the backer credits somewhere haha).
Thank you -- happy New Year to you as well! Really appreciate that tip, once again. And always great to see Blender getting attention: we didn't realize Ersatz was done with the software, but it makes sense, and its success so far is definitely impressive.
Thank you so much for the splendid article. One of my favourite Sherlock gags is at the start of "Blue Ruby," which seems to have been the first episode made, afaik. Holmes and Watson witness a pterodactyl flying over London, though it turns out to be a goofy plane made by Moriarty. The image plainly homages the end of the 1912 novel The Lost World... which just happened to have been written by Arthur Conan Doyle, who also created Sherlock Holmes (though Sherlock wasn't in Lost World). That's what I call a layered joke, especially as the scene's hilarious whether you spot the reference or not.
Re Cagliostro, I saw a talk by John Lasseter at the 2014 Tokyo Film Festival when he mentioned his introduction to it, as a Disney animator in 1981. He mentions that Yutaka Fujioka brought the footage over, but interestingly says Fujioka showed him only three clips from the film, including the iconic chase. He also says, "Fujioka gave me a VHS videocassette copy of the clip. I watched it again and again and again. I had friends at the Los Angeles Film Exposition… Fujioka sent over a print of the film, and I got it into the festival because I wanted everybody to see it."
Happy New Year! Glad to have you guys back! Missed your articles!
Whew! And what an inspirational read! It just goes to show you that you shouldn’t always underestimate the opportunities presented to you, even if it seems like nothing much will come of them. You never know, you could end up with the next big thing that inspires future generations, just like Cagliostro and Sherlock Hound!
Once again, thank you!
Ah, thank you -- that's very kind! And it's really interesting to see how Miyazaki perceived his own career and creations back then, considering what he was making. Cagliostro completely changed animated filmmaking and played a big part in the Disney renaissance, but he couldn't see how valuable it was in the moment. Even so, he put his all into it despite having no obvious incentive to do so, because that was how he worked. And the quality he achieved spoke for itself.
Miyazaki's whole circle (Yasuo Otsuka, Isao Takahata, etc.) tended to go all-in like that, and it's why their projects were often so rich, even with budgets and schedules that weren't designed to produce high-quality animation. They forced these things to be interesting, sacrificing their own health and time to do it, because they refused to do bad work. There's not much good to say about the system that put them in that situation, but they're incredibly inspiring artists!
Adore this show, got it in disc boxset the moment I was aware of it's existence being a fan of both Miyazaki and Sherlock. It's so wonderful and fun!
It's a great series, and you can definitely see its influence in animation from modern times, like Ernest & Celestine and even The Bad Guys. Miyazaki and the crew did something special here, as always!
As someone who watched both Sherlock Hound AND Dogtanian back in the day, this hit home in the best way! Can’t believe how much work they put into those first two episodes, no wonder they stick in my memory so strongly. Also can’t believe cagliostro was competed in 5 months!!! I need to go and watch it again. Thanks for a great welcome back newsletter!
Thanks for the super kind comment! So happy you liked the piece. And the story of Cagliostro's production is one of the most insane we've come across -- we hope to cover it at more length in the future, once we've got the sources and everything squared away.
Whoa, never knew about these works until reading this! It’s on my watchlist for this year!
Very happy we could share! Sherlock Hound is such a fun show -- hope you enjoy.
happy new yearヾ(≧▽≦*)o
Thank you very much! Happy New Year to you as well!
Thanks so much for this! I acquired the Discotek blu-ray last year, and was quite surprised to see sequences of Sherlock’s drug addiction in the image boards. Unfortunately, there weren’t any real notes on this. But it’s great that I could see them on the blu-ray. (also, it’s a nice, filmic transfer, unlike the DNR heavy Chie the Brat)
I wonder what a free Sherlock Holmes adaptation by Miyazaki would have looked like. Despite fighting for the final cut, I sense that Miyazaki’s entire time at TMS was deeply frustrating, and that his heart was mostly in Nausicaä. This was a fascinating turning point in Miyazaki’s career!
So glad you enjoyed this one! That Discotek Blu-ray release is definitely a treasure (especially as a way to see the Japanese dub, which is our personal preference with this series).
As for Miyazaki's approach to Sherlock, from what we've read, he had so much skepticism about adapting the books that he may never have attempted it without this project. He really threw everything he could at the show to make it interesting to himself, including his fascination with the comic Rowlf, which has a dog/human dynamic similar to the one he pitched. These were absolutely frustrating years for Miyazaki, particularly on Little Nemo, which we hope to cover one day. But the ideas he built up in this time guided the next decades of his career, so there's no doubt that something good came of it all!
Really loved the focus on spatial continuity here. As an urban planning student, Miyazaki’s refusal to make a « flat » world explains exactly why his settings feel so grounded. The details about his struggle against burnout and the intense labor conditions during that era were also super insightful. Thanks for this!
Thanks for this great comment! Happy you enjoyed the piece. Miyazaki's thinking about time and space in film is a subject that's endlessly fascinating to us, and it's definitely shown in his work, even back in the '70s. An aspect of his style that can't be overlooked.
Fascinating how Miyazaki's self-doubt coexisted with such ruthless commitment to quality. The part about him sneaking out at 11pm to work on Nausicaa while maintaning total seperation between projects shows a kind of compartmentalized intensity I recognize from my own creative work. Tomonaga's insight about three-dimensional space making cartoony actions beleivable is the kind of craft knowlege that gets lost in surface-level discussions of "style."
I had no idea the entire series was available on YouTube. Yet another title added to the infinite queue...
Yeah, we were surprised to see that the dub is out for free! It's definitely a worthwhile show, and a pretty low-key and casual watch. Even just skipping around to Miyazaki's handful of episodes is a good time.
I love the story of overcoming self-doubt, over-delivery and being creatively stubborn. Even though it's not considered a "success" the impact it had was mearureable. Great piece.
Thanks so much! Really glad you enjoyed it.
So happy to have you all back! Insightful and fascinating issue, as always. Thank you so much, also, for the kind shoutout for 엄마 나라 | Mother Land!!
Thank you! Super appreciated. And always happy when we can send a few people toward your films -- looking forward to the next one!
Best animation sources and how to processes, keep up 😍
Ah, thank you so much! This is awesome to read. We've got a lot more on the list for 2026 from here!
Welcome back ...
plenty to read in one sitting... smaller segments make an easier read..
The wildest thing in the world is that my siblings and I watched the first episode of this series RANDOMLY on Disney+ not even 10 minutes before this article was posted
Haha, that's awesome! Glad we could play a part in this a little bit of serendipity.
Sherlock Hound is on Disney + ???
Yes!
Happy new year, it's great to have you back! I had somehow been unaware of just how cool and significant Sherlock Hound ended up being, so this was a great read. Glad the tip about Empress Chung was helpful!
You may have seen already, but a really cool indie animation pilot 'Ersatz' by Saint Greaver just dropped on Youtube, a Blender film set in a gothic fantasy World War 1 which calls to mind stuff like Mad God. Really gorgeous art direction. (I should be in the backer credits somewhere haha).
Thank you -- happy New Year to you as well! Really appreciate that tip, once again. And always great to see Blender getting attention: we didn't realize Ersatz was done with the software, but it makes sense, and its success so far is definitely impressive.
Thank you so much for the splendid article. One of my favourite Sherlock gags is at the start of "Blue Ruby," which seems to have been the first episode made, afaik. Holmes and Watson witness a pterodactyl flying over London, though it turns out to be a goofy plane made by Moriarty. The image plainly homages the end of the 1912 novel The Lost World... which just happened to have been written by Arthur Conan Doyle, who also created Sherlock Holmes (though Sherlock wasn't in Lost World). That's what I call a layered joke, especially as the scene's hilarious whether you spot the reference or not.
Re Cagliostro, I saw a talk by John Lasseter at the 2014 Tokyo Film Festival when he mentioned his introduction to it, as a Disney animator in 1981. He mentions that Yutaka Fujioka brought the footage over, but interestingly says Fujioka showed him only three clips from the film, including the iconic chase. He also says, "Fujioka gave me a VHS videocassette copy of the clip. I watched it again and again and again. I had friends at the Los Angeles Film Exposition… Fujioka sent over a print of the film, and I got it into the festival because I wanted everybody to see it."
I quoted the talk in an article - https://www.awn.com/animationworld/seeing-anime-first-time