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Studio Ghibli has always been a powerhouse when it comes to animated movies, but they are looking to try something new later this year.
According to Polygon, Ghibli will be releasing their first CG-animated movie, Aya and the Witch, later this winter on the NHK. The movie will be directed by Hayao Miyazaki’s son, Goro, but elder Miyazaki himself is still attached as a producer.
Just in case you didn’t know, Aya and the Witch is actually based on the novel Earwig and the Witch from Howl’s Moving Castle author Diana Wynne Jones. Here’s the synopsis of the book:
Not every orphan would love living at St. Morwald’s Home for Children, but Earwig does. She gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, and it’s been that way since she was dropped on the orphanage doorstep as a baby. But all that changes the day Bella Yaga and the Mandrake come to St. Morwald’s, disguised as foster parents. Earwig is whisked off to their mysterious house full of invisible rooms, potions, and spell books, with magic around every corner. Most children would run in terror from a house like that . . . but not Earwig. Using her own cleverness—with a lot of help from a talking cat—she decides to show the witch who’s boss.
Seeing that Ghibli has always given us films that are done with traditional animation, it would be interesting to see what kind of aesthetic they could bring with CG-animation. While we don’t have a teaser for Aya yet, I have a feeling that the movie is going to look close to the animation of Hayao Miyazaki’s short film, Boro the Caterpillar.
Aya and the Witch doesn’t have a specific release date yet, but it’s set to come out this winter.
