If those last characteristics sound like admirable maternal traits, it’s no coincidence, because Friday Roadshow says that director and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki based Dola on his own mother.
Character dynamics in the anime classic were inspired by the relationship between Miyazaki’s mom and her four sons.
“My mom had four boys,” Miyazaki said, speaking of himself and his siblings, “but none of us dared oppose her.”
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is often mistakenly credited as being Studio Ghibli’s first film, but that anime slightly predates the company’s founding.