Japan’s Ghibli Park has released an animated video inspired by Howl’s Moving Castle to promote its new Valley of Witches area, which opens next month.
Valley of Witches, the park’s fifth and final area, is based on anime films including Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle.
The storyboards for the short video are by Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, while Howl’s Moving Castle animation director Akihiko Yamashita provided direction and original drawings.
The new video was created by Noboru Yoshida, who served as art director on Howl’s Moving Castle.
Valley of Witches opens to the public on 16 March. It is Ghibli Park’s fifth and final area, joining Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, Hill of Youth, Dondoko Forest, and Mononoke Village.
The new area will contain Ghibli Park’s first amusement park-style rides, including a merry-go-round and an aerial carousel-ride.
Howl’s Moving Castle-style short
Valley of Witches is also home to the witch’s house from Earwig and the Witch, and a life-size Howl’s Moving Castle.
As for retail and F&B, the zone includes the bakery residence of Kiki and her black cat Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service, the Soratobu Oven restaurant, a hot dog stand called the Hot Tin Roof, and a shop named 13 Witches.
In more news, two new Studio Ghibli exhibitions are coming to Asia. One is an immersive exhibition in Shanghai in partnership with Chinese entertainment company Alibaba Pictures. The other is a major show at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore.
Images courtesy of Studio Ghibli
