Minecraft Gets Spirited Away With Inspired Hayao Miyazaki Design

UPDATE: Well, that was quick. Just minutes after we posted our social tweet about our story, Ghiblicraft shared its first work on Howl’s Moving Castle in Minecraft. Wow.

ORIGINAL STORY: Ask anyone what their favorite Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli film was, and a majority of fans are likely to say Spirited Away, the 2001 anime classic. But now said fans have a new way to celebrate its legacy and it’s in the world of Minecraft.

The folks at Nerdist recently reported on a new video released by Alan Becker, in which he’s gone and recreated the elaborate world of Spirited Away within the game. And it’s a sight to behold, even if there aren’t too many spirits lingering about. (Must be their day to sleep in.)

Becker has been known for creating some wondrous things within Mojang’s building world but Spirited Away is something else. As you can see in the video above, he’s been working on this world for years, going as far as to build everything from the streets to the structures to the bathhouse in the middle of everything.

He did his research too. According to the video, Becker actually went on a number of house tours in Japan in the hopes of recreating the interior of each structure. He even went as far as to use reflections in Chihiro’s parents’ car windows to estimate what areas would look like, according to Nerdist. The end result appears to have paid off in spades.

The video is about 30 minutes long but shows off every bit of effort Becker put into this illustrious world. He actually breaks things down scene-by-scene, creating a particularly fascinating study as a result. Fans of the film (and Miyazaki’s work in general) should definitely check it out.

You can learn more about the expansion over on the Ghiblicraft Minecraft server, as well as on the Ghiblicraft home page that’s tied in with YouTube.

Good work, Alan. But, um, mind if we throw a challenge your way for your next project? Because it almost seems like Howl’s Moving Castle would be an ideal fit for this world. If you’re busy with something else though, that’s cool. (Maybe the Castle of Cagliostro? Okay, we’ll stop.)

Minecraft is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, mobile and other classic systems.

(Hat tip to Nerdist for the scoop!)