Express your emotions with the help of Ghibli’s feathered anime characters.

Studio Ghibli’s latest animated feature film, The Boy and the Heron, is a deep and meaningful work that can be read on many levels, but providing some much-needed colour to the narrative are the brightly hued parakeets.

Sure, they might be six-foot tall human-eaters, but their fantastical forms, animated expressions and ability to speak help connect them to the audience, and now they’ve crossed over to the real world, in the form of stamps on messaging app Line.

As Japan’s most popular messaging app, Line always has its finger on the pulse when it comes to consumer trends, and they’ve discovered users are hungry for Studio Ghibli stamps. As a result, the company called upon The Boy and the Heron’s animation director, Yu Honda, to create a series of 40 different stamps featuring the feathered characters from the film.

While a lot of the stamps speak for themselves in terms of the message they’re conveying, others include common Japanese expressions like “ぐっ” (“good“), ”はいっ” (“hai” [“yes“]), “すみません” (“sumimasen” [“sorry” or “excuse me“]) and “おつかれ様です！” (“otsukaresama desu!” [“thanks for your hard work!“]) to help get the message across.

▼ Other expressions include: “だめです” (“dame desu” [“no good“]), “わくわく” (“waku waku” [“excited“]), and “どきどき” (“dokidoki” [“nervous“]).

Joining the parakeets in this hand-drawn collection are other feathered characters like the Parakeet King, the Noble Pelican and the Grey Heron. Whichever one you choose to send, it’ll definitely add some special charm to your message and help lighten the mood in any situation.

The official Studio Ghibli Line stamps for The Boy and the Heron were released on 2 June and can be purchased from the sticker shop within the app for 250 yen (US$1.55).

Related: The Boy and the Heron Line Stamps download link
Source, images: PR Times
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