Beautiful soft cloth versions of iconic Ghibli scenes warm the heart and inspire the spirit.
Though they’ve come around to the idea of using more digital effects in some of their recent productions, Studio Ghibli is still strongly associated with producing animation via classical techniques. But while it would be cool to own a strip of film from one of Ghibli’s anime movies, such a collectible wouldn’t be a very practical item, nor would it be the kind of thing you’d feel secure carrying around with while out and about in your daily life.
However, if you’d like a nod to Ghibli’s cinematic legacy that’s cool to look at and useful to have on you, specialty shop Donguri Kyowakoku has a line of very cool “film mini towels.”
▼ Don’t try bending an actual Ghibli film strip like this!
Each towel features an iconic piece of character artwork from one of Ghibli’s masterpieces, but rendered in soft, moisture-absorbent fabric, and with patterns along two edges simulating film perforations.
The towels also feature iconic lines of dialogue from their respective anime, but with a bit of a twist. Each line is written in English, and some of the renderings might differ slightly from those used in official English-language overseas releases of the films.
▼ Laputa/Castle in the Sky’s spell of destruction has been romanized several different ways over the years, but Donguri Kyowakoku’s towel goes with “Balus!”
▼ Porco’s English is a little shaky here, but just because a pig’s got to fly doesn’t mean he’s got to use proper grammar.
The complete line consists of eight designs, one each for My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Laputa, Porco Rosso, Whisper of the Heart, and Howl’s Moving Castle.
Unfortunately, the Howl’s design is currently sold out, but the remaining seven are all available, and with four of them (Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Kiki’s, and Laputa) having only recently been restocked, hopefully it won’t be too long until Howl is back in the fold too.
Despite the “mini towel” name, each towel is 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) square, making them a handy size as a hand towel or handkerchief, the latter of which is something very nice to have in your bag during Japan’s hot and humid summer. They’re all priced at 880 yen and can be ordered through the Donguri Kyowakoku online shop here.
Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2)
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