Have you ever wanted to just step into a Studio Ghibli anime film, and explore the wonders for yourself? Well, from the looks like it, it looks like the upcoming Ghibli Park will let you do just that. Don’t believe me? Then why don’t you check out the commercial for yourself below, and marvel in the anime attractions?
Ready to Step Into a Studio Ghibli Anime Film?
The official Twitter account of Catsuka (a French website created in 2000 and dedicated to animation) just posted that commercial for the upcoming Ghibli Park above. As you might’ve guessed from the commercial, this entire theme park is basically an official Studio Ghibli venture dedicated to letting visitors step right into one of their anime films. The commercial even showcases a very wide variety of anime films featured in the theme park as well.
For starters: Ghibli Park will greet visitors with an animatronic recreation of one of the airships from the opening sequence of Castle in the Sky, complete with spinning propellers and gently rowing air oars. You know, exactly like the one from Ghibli Expo back in 2016. We then move on to sights like a gallery full of Studio Ghibli dioramas out of the aforementioned Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Ponyo, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and more. You can even step into Satsuki and Mei’s house from My Neighbor Totoro for a stroll, and see if you can spot any soot sprites while you’re at it. You can also strategize with the tanuki from Pom Poko, or step into a supersized world right out of The Secret World of Arrietty.
All in all, this commercial makes Ghibli Park feel like a wonderful dream. Which means that it’s working exactly as intended. Best of all though, the Twitter post reveals that it won’t be long before we can see this for ourselves. Ghibli Park will officially open on November 1, 2022. As of this writing, that’s less than a month away, so you won’t have long to wait. Unfortunately, this Studio Ghibli theme park will only be in Aichi, Japan for the foreseeable future. So alas, you will need to book a ticket overseas if you want to experience this magic for yourself, which you can do from the park’s official website (entirely in Japanese, of course).
Ghibli Park: Future Developments
The official opening of Ghibli Park doesn’t mean development has stopped though. They have more attractions in the works. 2023 will see the opening of “Mononoke Village”. As the name suggests, this attraction will be based off of Ashitaka’s Emishi village and Lady Eboshi’s Irontown from Princess Mononoke. Not only can you admire models of the various creatures from that Studio Ghibli film, but you can also work the bellows like Ashitaka did with the female workers.
Meanwhile, 2024 will see the opening of “Witch Valley”. As you might also guess from the name, it’s based mostly on Kiki’s Delivery Service. This attraction will feature recreations of Kiki’s parent’s home, as well as the bakery she worked in: Gütiokipänjä. When combined with the fact that restaurants are part of this area, this creates interesting possibilities for the bakery. I would love dearly to purchase bread and pies from that bakery. Especially that beautiful fish pie from the anime film.
It’s not just Kiki’s Delivery Service that will be featured in Witch Valley though. Apparently, we’ll get to see Howl’s Moving Castle in that section of Ghibli Park as well. I mean that literally, by the way. There will be a life-sized replica of the castle in that section of the park. There will even be a replica of Sophie’s hat shop in the castle itself. If that doesn’t make you reminisce over those Studio Ghibli anime films, then you have no soul.
Source: Twitter
