A new animated feature from Studio Ghibli to be released next year

by Chris MaGee

If you, like me, are a fan of the works of Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata then news that a new feature film will be released next year from Studio Ghibli is more than enough to get your pulse racing a bit. According to Anime News Network Ghibli's official blog Itsumo no Ghibli Nikki (The Habitual Ghibli Diary) broke the news on July 10th. Now begins the wild speculation a to what this film will be and who will be helming it.

Could this be the long rumoured return of Isao Takahata, the man who brought us "Grave of the Fireflies" and "Pom Poko"? Last year there was word that he was planning on basing a film on old Japanese lullabies. Interesting... Or could this be a new project from Hayao's son Goro Miyazaki. There were rumours in September that he would be tackling the works of Japanese novelist Yoshie Hotta, but thus far no news of this project have surfaced.

The report at Anime News Network does mention that Miyazaki himself is saying that this new project will have "young staffers" behind them, so that would take 73-year-old Takahata out of the equation, but not Goro Miyazaki. I guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out for sure. Damn rumours! They vex me so....!