Being one of the most well known studios in the anime industry,there is a huge demand for all types of Studio Ghibli merchandise. There are shirts, posters, plushies, and figures of all shapes and sizes for the studio’s infamous movies like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. But this new character “piggy bank” from Spirited Away is a must have for fans of Miyazak’s films.
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Spirited Away is the highest-grossing film in Japanese history thanks to its beautiful animation, fluid story, and magical setting and characters. If you are not familiar with Spirited Away, the story follows a young girl named Chihiro as she travels to a new town with her parents. However, their boring trip is changed when they stop at a seemingly empty village and Chihiro finds taken away to a mysterious, magical world. Her mother and father are turned into pigs by an evil witch, so Chihiro must work for her at the bathhouse as she attempts to break the curse and free her family and herself.
One of the characters in the film is No Face, a lonely shadow creature with a mask as his face. it never says a word, just lets out noises and grunts. It is seemingly harmless until it turns into a monster when exposed to greed, and devours all the gold in his path.
The new No Face piggy bank brings the character to life as it devours coins placed in front of him. Benelic, the company that is in charge of all official Studio Ghibli merchandise, has worked hard developing this new product, named the “Spirited Away No Face Munching Piggy Bank”. Not only is it animatronic, but it also has sound effects.
When you put a coin in it’s red bowl, it lets out a “ah…ah..” and then music from the film begins to play as the coins move into it’s mouth. No Face’s mouth open to reveal his white teeth as he consumes the coins placed in front of him, then lets out a big burp.
The new product will be available in stores in Japan starting on May 20. It will be set to retail for around $45 and most likely will be coming to America due to the demand for Studio Ghibli merchandise.