A look at one of the crowning achievements of Studio Ghibli.

For all the animated movie releases under its belt, Studio Ghibli undertook one of its biggest challenges to date when it decided to open a theme park in Aichi Prefecture. It was such an enormous undertaking that it took five years just to open a third of the park in 2022, with a second section being revealed a year later before the final areas opened to the public in March this year.

Now, Ghibli Park acts as the crowning jewel on the studio’s near-five-decade history of achievements, and the events that took place behind the scenes to bring it into existence have been captured on video in a new three-disc box set.

Called “Ghibli Park ga Dekiru Made” (“Until Ghibli Park is Complete“), this is the second installment in a series that tracks the different opening stages of the park. Whereas the first installment took us from concept stage through to the grand opening of Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, Hill of Youth, and Dondoko Forest,  this new release takes us behind the scenes of Mononoke Village and Valley of Witches, the final areas to open.

The first disc in the box set focuses on the Mononoke Village build, revealing how the impressive slides attached to the boar god Okkoto Nushi and Tatari Gami, a spider-like demon, were made.

▼ The second disc looks at the construction of Howl’s Moving Castle…

▼ …while the third disc looks at the completion of the park, including the delicious food on offer.

Goro Miyazaki, the son of Ghibli director and co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, was tasked with the job of overseeing the build, and with previous experience constructing Tokyo’s Ghibli Museum, he was able to bring the studio’s concept to life with the same “deep inquisitiveness and commitment to making things” that also applies to Ghibli film productions.

▼ The video below is a teaser for what we can see in the three-disc set.

 

The three discs contain seven-and-a-half hours of footage, taken over 1,400 days of filming, and include English and Japanese subtitles. Some of the other highlights include interviews with Goro Miyazaki and a look at the craftsmen who use their professional skills to meet the high demands of the studio.

The DVD and Blu-Ray box sets are an invaluable record of an important milestone in the history and legacy of Studio Ghibli, and they’re available to purchase at Donguri Kyowakoku stores and online, priced at 7,920 yen (US$52.64) for the DVDs, and 10,560 yen for the Blu-Ray version.

Source, images: Press release
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