Institute / Research Cases / QS-RC-120
Mamoru Hosoda
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast, Mirai, Belle, Scarlet. With stories that bridge virtual worlds and reality, and stories of family bonds, Mamoru Hosoda became one of Japan's leading animation film directors. Born in Toyama, in the year he graduated he reached the final round of Studio Ghibli's recruitment but was not taken, and received a handwritten letter from Hayao Miyazaki saying he was better suited to making works as he himself wished. He then joined Toei Animation as an animator and became a film director with Digimon Adventure. Yet he left the direction of Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle midway and also left Toei, taking a long detour. In 2006 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time spread by word of mouth and gave him a fresh start, and from Summer Wars onward he built a body of work on families and two worlds. In 2011 he founded his own Studio Chizu, and Mirai was nominated for an Academy Award. Belle, released on 16 July 2021, screened at the Cannes Film Festival and became his biggest hit. Why did a path of so many detours lead to the world stage? What was this vessel promised at birth? We read the vessel he was born with against the phases of destiny and time.
At a Glance
The case
- Subject
- Mamoru Hosoda (細田守) — Animation film director
- Period analysed
- 1967–2026
- Three pillars
- Day 丙戌 / Month 己酉 / Year 丁未
- Void branches
- 午未 (Horse–Goat)
- Destiny area
- 0.17 The area of the triangle formed by the three pillars on the sixty-cycle circle (maximum 1.30)
- Format
- PDF, 14 pages — written in Japanese
- Price
- ¥50,000 including tax
Research Brief
What the case shows
- His destiny is a vessel with little protecting force, one whose fortune blooms only after hardship upon hardship.
- Bound only loosely to his parents, his destiny is to open his own path without relying on them.
- At its centre sits a star that cherishes family and the world close at hand. His way of placing family at the heart of his films overlaps here.
- The twenty years from his mid-teens fell in a period of void that coincided with his apprenticeship. The Ghibli door he sought closed twice within it, and Toei, which he did enter, did not take root; after a setback just as the void ended, he made a fresh start with his own work.
- His forties were a decade in which part of the values he was born with fell away, while the power of work and honour rose both inwardly and outwardly. Belle was released at the very end of that decade.
Questions
The questions the report answers
- Why did a path of so many detours lead to the world stage?
- What overlapped on 16 July 2021, the day Belle was released?
- Where in his destiny was an author who keeps drawing families born?
- Where in the phases of time did his joining Toei and leaving Howl's Moving Castle fall?
Public Record
The record, year by year
Selected events from the public record. Analysis and judgement are given in the report itself.
| 1989 | 己巳 (天) | Not hired by Studio Ghibli; receives a handwritten letter from Hayao Miyazaki |
| 1991 | 辛未 (天天) | Joins Toei Animation as an animator |
| 1999 | 己卯 | Becomes a film director with Digimon Adventure |
| 2002 | 壬午 (天) | Leaves the direction of Howl's Moving Castle |
| 2005 | 乙酉 | Leaves Toei Animation |
| 2006 | 丙戌 | The Girl Who Leapt Through Time released |
| 2009 | 己丑 | Summer Wars released |
| 2011 | 辛卯 | Founds Studio Chizu |
| 2012 | 壬辰 | Wolf Children released |
| 2015 | 乙未 (天) | The Boy and the Beast released |
| 2018 | 戊戌 | Mirai released; Academy Award nomination |
| 2021 | 辛丑 | 16 Jul — Belle released |
| 2025 | 乙巳 | Scarlet released |
Year pillars change at Risshun, in early February. (天) = void year or void decade. (天天) = void year within a void decade.
Contents
14 pages
- Destiny profile and chart
- Yin and yang charts
- Axis and type of destiny
- Ten-year phases
- Composite numerical table
- The lower-grade chart
- The year-pillar void
- The main and returning star
- The apprenticeship in the decade void
- The decade of the month-stem union
- The four layers of 16 July 2021
- Timeline chart
- Public record
- Conclusion
Purchase
Order this Research Case
¥50,000incl. tax · PDF · Japanese
Email the case number QS-RC-120. We reply with an invoice; the PDF follows once payment is confirmed.
Analysis supervised by FAITH (Makoto Tokunaga) — MSc Economics, University of Warwick · CICP · Shugakuin Saii