Ghibli Park’s opening of its “Valley of Witches” area is scheduled on March 16. What better way to promote this new attraction but with a 15-second anime ad created by none other than Studio Ghibli.
The video features a moving castle where it is similar to the one featured on one of the studio’s movie hit Howl’s Moving Castle. Notable anime director Hayao Miyazaki, directed and character designer for Howl’s Moving Castle, lead the storyboarding for this commercial. Art direction for this commercial was done by Noboru Yoshida.
According producer Toshio Suzuki, Goro Miyazaki (Hayao Miyazaki’s son) was the one who insisted that his father would produce this commercial.
The Ghibli Park in Japan officially opened to the public on November 1, 2022. It was originally scheduled to be opened in 2020 in time for the Tokyo Olympics but was push back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following three areas are open to the public: The Dondoko Forest, Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, and Hill of Youth, currently taking up 7.1 hectares of the 194-hectare Aichi Expo Memorial Park (venue of the World Expo 2005.) Ghibli Park’s Mononoke Forest was now open to the public in November 2023.
For those who want to experience the park, tickets can now be purchased internationally in January 2023. Aside from Ghibli Park, Studio Ghibli also maintains The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, west part of Tokyo. The museum features replicas of the studio’s creations, interactive exhibits, and rotating screen that screen Ghibli-animated shorts for the visitors.
Studio Ghibli latest film, The Boy and The Heron is a Japanese fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It follows a young boy named Mahito who, after losing his mother, discovers a talking heron and embarks on a fantastical journey through a world shared by the living and the dead. The film won The Golden Globe Aware for Best Animated Feature Film in 2024.
Source: Press Release via ANN
