Hayao Miyazaki

About Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki, born in 1941 and still active, is a highly influential Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, author, and manga artist. His work is characterized by recurring themes such as pacifism, environmentalism, childhood, and the complex relationship between humans and nature. As a co-founder of Studio Ghibli, his critically acclaimed films, including *Spirited Away* and *Princess Mononoke*, have earned him major international accolades, securing his position as the 617th most historically important figure according to the MIT Pantheon project's HPI.

Despite this significant historical importance, Miyazaki's modern internet attention shows a measurable disconnect. In 2025, he accrued an annualized 2.0 million Wikipedia views, resulting in an Attention Gap score of +6x, indicating he is receiving six times the digital attention relative to his established historical influence. This level of traffic places him in a similar online sphere as contemporaries like Alfred Hitchcock (#845 importance, 3.1M views), suggesting his digital footprint remains robust, though still slightly behind peers like David Lynch (#774 importance, 7.1M views) in terms of sheer pageviews.

Recent trends, however, suggest a slight cooling in his immediate digital relevance. His Wikipedia views show a year-over-year change of -13.3%, and his Q1 versus Q3 momentum for 2025 registered a decline of -38%, suggesting that interest, while high, may be moderating in the current year compared to recent peaks.