Studio Ghibli Poster Turns Hayao Miyazaki Into a Totoro Creature

By Evan Valentine

Studio Ghibli is swinging open the gates of its next big project with its own amusement park, set to launch this fall. With the theme park attempting to recreate some of the biggest locales that were established throughout their wide breadth of films, an interesting new character has been created in a bid to help promote the new location. With Hayao Miyazaki creating some of the best anime movies of all time, the director has been transformed into one of his own creations.    

The Official Studio Ghibli Twitter Account shared the new take on the legendary animation director, giving Hayao Miyazaki a look that makes him seem as if he was dragged out of one of his own pictures, fusing the animator with what appears to be a giant bush while still holding onto his trademark cigarette:

Recently, Ghibli Producer Toshio Suzuki shared Miyazaki's recent trip to the upcoming Studio Ghibli Theme Park, stating that the legendary director at first wasn't a big fan of the concept of an amusement park bringing some of his stories to life but eventually warmed up to the idea:

"I came with him, and he was really worked up, fuming about how he was going to give them a piece of his mind. But then we got to the park, and it felt so spacious. There was rain falling on that day, and that probably made the atmosphere even better, and he suddenly said, 'I've made up my mind! Let's leave it to Goro!"

Currently, Hayao is working on what he is touting as his last movie, Ghibli's "How Do You Live?" which will translate the story of a popular Japanese novel. While Miyazaki has stated in the past that he would retire but found himself gravitating back to Ghibli, he is currently eighty-one years old and has certainly earned his retirement after leaving such an impression on the medium of anime. Though Hayao might be leaving the world of anime, his son Goro is continuing to work within Studio Ghibli, working specifically on the amusement park as well as the recently released Earwig And The Witch. 

Do you think the next Ghibli film will actually be Miyazaki's last? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Ghibli. 

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