Miyazaki's Gake no Ue no Ponyo

An update to Hayao Miyazaki's eagerly awaited next project, entitled, Gake no Ue no Ponyo (literally "Ponyo on the cliff").

The location to where the film is set has been released. It is a small countryside town near the sea - Niura or Shin-ura, which is filled with cute place names like Ponyo ga Hama (Ponyo beach) and Kujira-jima (Whale island).

In 2004, Miyazaki went to a small town in Seto-nai-kai during their company tour. The town is famous of Sakamoto Ryouma having once stayed there (a big hero during Japan’s Bakumatsu period). Miyazaki liked the town so much that he lived there for 2 month and expanded his imagination. The boy's name Sousuke comes from the hero's name of Natsume Souseki's novel Mon, which Miyazaki read during his stay at the town.

Miyazaki gave some further hints, "A small town by the shore and a house on a cliff. There are not many characters. The sea is like a creature. A world where magic appears in unconcern. I animated the sea not as a background, but as a main character." Suzuki told, "Since a few years ago Miyazaki used to say "I want to draw the sea properly and would like to try it again." and he tried a new method."

There is a day-care house for the old next to the nursery where Sousuke stays and it has an important key. Miyazaki said, "A boy and a girl. Love and life. I try to depict those without any hesitation and try to counter the age of nervous disease and angst."