Anime fans around the world were stunned when Studio Ghibli first announced that they would be producing a film that was entirely CG. That's because Ghibli has long been the steward of classic, 2D animation production. Well, earlier today, Ghibli and NHK released the first look at the film, which is an adaptation of British novelist Diana Wynne Jones' 2011 kid's book, Earwig and the Witch (Aya to Majo). The film is directed by Goro Miyazaki, the son of Hayao Miyazaki. An earlier work from Wynne, Howl's Moving Castle, was previously adapted by the elder Miyazaki in 2004.
Check out the first-look images below and be sure to let us know what you think in the comment section.
The 82-minute CG film will premiere this Winter on Japan's NHK broadcasting channel.
Though Earwig is billed as the studio's first full-length CG film, Hayao Miyazaki actually completed a 14-minute, CG short titled Boro the Caterpillar (Kemushi no Boro) in 2018 for the opening of the Ghibli Museum.
Everyone knows that orphanages are horrible places. But Earwig has a surprising amount of power over everyone else at St Morwald’s Home for Children, and loves it there. So the last thing she wants is to be sent to live with the very strange Bella Yaga...
Earwig was left at St Morwald's as a baby. Unlike the other children, she loves it there, mostly because she has the run of the place and seems to be able to persuade people to do as she wants. Then one day Earwig is chosen to live with a very strange couple: Bella Yaga, her new 'mother', is actually a horrible witch. Earwig will need all her ingenuity (and some help from a talking cat) to survive...