Totoro, Spirited Away, and seven other classics inspire the “American casual” collection.
While their themes, stories, and scores all have their own special appeal, there’s no denying that the visual art of the anime of Studio Ghibli is a major part of what makes their movies so magical. We’ve seen the iconic imagery and characters created by Hayao Miyazaki and his colleagues grace high-fashion sweaters and jackets, and now comes something more appropriate for the summer days ahead.
Japanese apparel maker GBL takes its name from three of the consonants in “Ghibli,” and it bills itself as an “American casual” brand, which seems to mean relaxed styles and loose fits. Just in time for short-sleeve weather, GBL is releasing 22 new T-shirt designs springing from the inspiration imparted by nine classic Ghibli films: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Arrietty.
Totoro, of course, gets a large share of the love. In addition to the above “Charged Up Catbus” (yes, each T-shirt has an official title), there’s Looking for Mei, with retro graphics evocative of the movie’s ‘80s-era release.
Several of the designs feature extra touches on the back or bits of embroidery, like Mysterious Creature, which boasts both.
▼ Wolves and San (Princes Mononoke)
▼ You Shouldn’t Be Here (Spirited Away)
While most of the designs are front-focused, a few really require a 360-degree view for the full effect. For example, the brushstroke font of The Masked Man doesn’t really tip the shirt’s hand…
…so people will need to swing around behind you to get the Spirited Away reference (plus an added bonus if they can read the kanji characters that say “The Girl Who Was Spirited Away”).
Going through the collection chronologically, although Nausicaa was released before Ghibli’s formal founding, it’s generally grandfathered into the studio’s anime filmography, and so it’s here too with Ohm Blu.
Technically, the first official Ghibli anime is Castle in the Sky, also known as Laputa, which has three shirts in the lineup.
▼ The Adventure Begins
▼ Oath of Loyalty (also available in blue with white detailing)
▼ Laser Beam
We’ve already seen a few of the Totoro shirts above, but that’s not all of them.
▼ First Meeting
▼ Soot Sprites
▼ Bonnet Bus
Things are a little more focused for Kiki’s Delivery Service, which gets only two shirts. One of them, though, You Can Do It, is arguably the most uplifting design, despite showing Kiki being literally grounded (though only temporarily).
▼ Jiji shows up on Witch’s Black Cat
Porco Rosso fans also get two shirts to choose from, though both might be a little confusing to the uninitiated.
▼ Your non-otaku friends might mistake Cross Counter’s bold “punch out” text and cartoony pugilism for a Nintendo reference.
▼ Likewise, though Ghibli fans know that No All Nighters shows a flying ace putting limits on how much midnight oil gets burned in the design of his fighter plane, he might just look like a grumpy salaryman to those who haven’t seen the movie.
If you want a Whisper of the Heart shirt, your only choice is Concrete Road, but at least it’ll have you humming the reworded John Denver hit.
One more Princess Mononoke shirt with Creatures of the Forest.
A final Spirited Away piece with Hot Spring Circuit Tour, with lists the various baths of the setting like it’s a real-world onsen resort town souvenir.
And finally, we come to miniature “borrower” Arrietty with You Are My Heart.
All designs are priced at 4,880 yen (US$46) here on GBL’s online shop, which will begin taking orders on June 12.
Source: PR Times
Top image: GBL
Insert images: PR Times, GBL (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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