Studio Ghibli's animators are back with new film

The news that Studio Ghibli would be taking an extended hiatus was a blow to many anime fans around the world, but reports today that new animation house Studio Ponoc, formed by key Studio Ghibli players Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura, will release its first animation next year is reason to rejoice.

Studio Ponoc’s first feature will be Mary and The Witch's Flower, which is based on British novelist Mary Stewart's children’s novel The Little Broomstick, published in 1971. Yonebayashi, who directed Arrietty and When Marnie Was There for Studio Ghibli, takes the helm of this new animation, with Nishimura producing.

Speaking to Robbie Collin in the Telegraph, Yonebayashi said that he hopes Ponoc can “carry forward Ghibli’s presence” and revealed that their art department includes eight of Studio Ghibli’s long-serving artists. Without these artists, no studio “would not have been able to make a film of Ghibli’s particular beauty again,” Nishimura tells Collin. “I realised I had to keep as many people together as possible. So I said, ‘OK, we’re going to make a new film, starting from zero and pulling it together.’”

The first trailer for Mary and the Witch’s Flower was released online today, and it looks full of the beauty, detail and surealism that made Studio Ghibli so special. “I wanted to make a film that would make children’s hearts race,” says Yonebayashi. “I have strong memories of watching Ghibli’s early films as a child and feeling my own heart beating faster. I have an eight-year-old, and I would like my child, and all children by extension, to have that same experience I had.”

Watch the trailer below and let us know what you think.