#1 STUDIO GHIBLI ANNOUNCES NEXT FILMS FROM TWO MASTERS OF ANIME
In an abbreviated week during which most American filmmakers are on holiday leave, it sort of makes sense that some of the biggest news might come from elsewhere. Even so, the news out of Studio Ghibli the anime studio behind movies like Princess Mononoke and Grave of the Fireflies) this week is actually just an update on two movies that had already been reported within the anime fan community. However, it's still news to the rest of us, so here we go. The next two movies from Studio Ghibli will be directed by two masters of the form: Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) and Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies), and both are expected to be released in Japan in the summer of 2013. Hayao Miyazaki's Kaze Tachinu (AKA The Wind Rises) will be his first film since 2008's Ponyo, and is based upon his manga comic about the life of Mitsubishi engineer Jiro Horikoshi, who designed the Zero fighters used by Japan during World War II. Harking back to one of Miyazaki's earliest films, Porco Rosso, the characters in The Wind Rises are depicted as anthropomorphic pigs. There were reports a few years back of Hayao Miyazaki considering a Porco Rosso sequel set during the Spanish Civil War, so one has to wonder if The Wind Rises might not be what he decided to work on instead (since both feature porcine pilots). Isao Takahata's next film is now titled Princess Kaguya Story, and it's based upon the Japanese folk story Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (its former working title). This will be Takahata's first film as the director of a Studio Ghibli film since 1999's My Neighbors the Yamadas. The return of these two masters follows two Studio Ghibli movies from younger directors: The Secret World of Arrietty and From Up on Poppy Hill (which will be released in the USA in the spring of 2013).
