This weekend Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away expanded from 53 theaters to 97.  After a strong opening (see 'Spirited Away Opeing Tops Per-Theater Average').  The film has already reached the #6 spot on the list of theatrically released anime in the U.S., eclipsing the Otomo/Tezuka Metropolis.   Retailers should check the movie listings in their areas to see if Spirited Away is playing.  Although only the first volume of Viz's Spirited Away Film Comic series has come out so far (the other four film comics and a spectacular art book, see 'Viz Gets Spirted Away Manga Rights' won't be out until later this month), there are several other publications that retailers can and should be carrying right now in order to profit from the release of Spirited Away.  Miyazaki is a very special filmmaker and exposure to his films is bound to make a serious impression on anyone who is seriously interested in the art of animation.

 

In a feat of inspired timeliness, the venerable Canadian-based anime and manga magazine Protoculture Addicts has devoted the newly released issue #72 almost entirely to the works of Miyazaki.  Starting with a dynamic cover illustration from the Miyazaki-conceived Sherlock Hound TV anime, the issue does an excellent job of covering the highpoints of Miyazaki's career from his work on TV series like Sherlock Hound and Future Boy Conan to his masterful feature length anime titles such as Nausicaa, Laputa, Totoro, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, and of course Spirited Away.

 

Another publication that retailers can recommend to anyone interested in learning more about Miyazaki and his films is Helen McCarthy's monograph, Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation.  A 240-page trade paperback that retails for $18.95, McCarthy's tome may be a little long on plot synopsis and short on technical analysis, but it still provides a very useful introduction to the director and his works, managing to paint a consistent portrait of the man by matching biographical details with the themes which run throughout Miyazaki's extraordinary body of work.