In an earlier television special that revealed the film project, Miyazaki presented a proposed schedule for finishing the film by 2019, but Suzuki indicated that the studio is no longer following that plan.
Suzuki spoke with actor Takeru Satoh (live-action Rurouni Kenshin films’ title character) during Satoh’s studio visit to interview Miyazaki.
Suzuki believes Miyazaki feels most at home in continuing to work on film production.
Despite not officially receiving a green-light for the feature film at the time, Miyazaki decided to start animation work on the project anyway.