Studio Ghibli has released a video to promote the much-anticipated opening of the Valley of Witches, the final area of the park that is set to welcome visitors next month.
Hyping the fans: The 15-second clip uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday was created by Akihiko Yamashita, who provided the animation and animation direction in the teaser; Noboru Yoshida, who did the art direction; and legendary Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki, who storyboarded the commercial.
Miyazaki, Yamashita and Yoshida all worked together on Ghibli’s “Howl’s Moving Castle,” which was seemingly the inspiration for their latest Ghibli Park teaser video. Goro Miyazaki, the elder Miyazaki’s son and Ghibli Park’s lead designer and director, reportedly requested his father produce the commercial, according to Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki.
What is it about: The clip features a gleeful moving castle, similar to the one in “Howl’s,” with a golden plaque in front of it that reads “Ghibli Park” in Japanese.
Besides the plaque, banners can also be seen on the moving castle, reminding fans that the park is by reservation only on the front and that new batches of tickets will be available on every 10th of the month on the back.
Catching up: Initially expected to open in 2020, Ghibli Park, located inside the Aichi Expo Memorial Park in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, began welcoming visitors on Nov. 1, 2022. About a year later, the park opened one of its two much-anticipated areas, Mononoke Village, on Nov. 1, 2023.
The remaining closed area, Valley of Witches, will open on March 16. It will feature some of the iconic buildings and references from Studio Ghibli’s movies “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and “How’s Moving Castle.”
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