No, it’s not a vandal that has been scribbling on the poster encasing for Miyazaki Hayao’s upcoming animation feature「風立ちぬ」(Kaze Tachinu/The Wind Rises), but it’s Suzuki Toshio, the film’s producer, with a message for the fans: Miyazaki’s film will be released on July 20, 2013. This is reported via nausicaa.net, although I haven’t yet seen a confirmation from the Studio directly.
That’s the good news. The bad news, however, is that「かぐや姫の物語」(Kaguya Hime no Monogatari/The Story of Princess Kaguya), Studio Ghibli’s other film-in-the-making that is directed by Takahata Isao, has been delayed.
Both animations were originally announced at the same time and simultaneous premieres had been planned. While the films were progressing at pretty much at the same pace earlier in the year, it seems that more time is needed for the development of the Kaguya Hime no Monotagari storyboards, hence the release of Kaguya Hime has been postponed until the autumn (exact date not specified).
Princess in our hands: Kaguya Hime.
So we will have to wait a bit longer, which is a bit of a bummer, but I personally I would rather the filmmakers and the animation studio take all the time they need than compromise on quality. (Indeed, it’s mind-boggling to me how they can manage to work on two productions at the same time – the tension and stress level in that studio must be super-duper high). I also think that a same-day release would have resulted in a weird sort of competition between the two films that the directors – who are long-time friends and collaborators – might have been able to handle, but us viewers? I mean, how would you decide which bound-to-be-fabulous brand-new Studio Ghibli film to see first? 
N.B. Both announcements were already made at the beginning of February, but I did not hear about all this until now (my fault – no thanks to Apple throwing out the RSS feed function on the Mail application on Mountain Lion and me not having yet transferred all my blog feeds to a new reader).
Miyazaki’s Kaze Tachinu manga.
Finally, if you are in the US and near/in New York, you might want to take advantage of the upcoming screenings of Studio Ghibli’s most recent animation feature,「コクリコ坂から」 (Kokuriko-zaka Kara/From up on Poppy Hill, dir. by Miyazaki Goro), which will be showing on March 13 and 14 (in dubbed form) at the New York International Children’s Festival.
Kokuriko-zaka Kara in New York (not locationally of course).
Related Post:
- Early Ghibli Kurisumasu Present:「風立ちぬ」+「かぐや姫の物語」for Summer 2013 (in case you missed the announcement for Studio Ghibli’s new films)
Oh, my thoughts exactly!! I much prefer them to take all the time needed, and present us a gem, than botch it just for the sake of releasing it as promised.
And same here, I also felt a bit weird about the same day release. Now, I don’t have to fell guilty (though I won’t be in Japan anyway to watch it T__T a girl can dream)
They did do it before (a same day release), with Grave of the Fireflies and Totoro, but I think I would rather have separate release dates. Each film deserves its time in the spotlight. Plus, I get the impression the audiences for these two films are not that different (at least with the other two, Grave of the Fireflies very clearly wasn’t for kids, Totoro was), so it could have felt even more like a competition had they released them on the same date.
I do wonder when the films will make it to Europe. Given Kaze Tachinu‘s release date, it could be one of the autumn film festivals in London that might show it, e.g. the BFI’s London International Film Festival (LIFF), which is the UK’s biggest but I’m not sure if they have ever shown Ghibli films at that event (they have for their Anime Season, which is every two years, next one up in ~summer 2014). LIFF has shown more love to animated films recently though, premiering Shinkai’s Hoshi o Ou Kodomo in 2011 and Hosoda’s Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki in 2012. There is also the annual Scotland Loves Anime, but I wouldn’t expect it to be the first festival to show such a big-name film, especially since LIFF and Scotland Loves Anime are more or less at the same time.
Have you ever been to Japan?