April 29, 2006 Official "Tales from Earthsea" Site Open
Studio Ghibli annouced the opening of the official Japanese site: http://www.ghibli.jp/ged/
Thanks to the many people who sent in the news.
April 27, 2006 Second "Tales from Earthsea" Trailer Released (along with a few others)
Studio Ghibli announced that the second trailer for Gedo Senki will air on NTV's "Zoom In Super" program (5:30am - 8:00am) on April 28.
Ghibli World has links to copies of the trailer along with trailers to Kazuo Oga's (Ghibli's art director) "Taneyamagahara no Yoru" and the DVD re-release of "Gauche the
Cellist".
Thanks to T. Ishikawa, Peter van der Lugt, and Paola Castagno for the news.
April 25, 2006 Sumi Shimamoto to appear at Anime Boston
Anime Boston has announced that Sumi Shimamoto, the voice actress of Nausicaa, will be one of their guests at their convention May 26-28. In addition to playing Nausicaa, she has appeared in several other Miyazaki and Ghibli films as Clarisse in "Castle of Cagliostro," Mei and Satsuki's mother in "My Neighbor Totoro," Rikako's father's girlfriend in "Ocean Waves," and Toki in "Princess Mononoke." A full list of her other voice acting credits can be found here and a Wikipedia entry about her is here.
Thanks to Anime News Network for the news.
April 23, 2006 "Tales from Earthsea" Synopsis
A synopsis of "Tales from Earthsea" has been posted to the official Ursula K. Le Guin website. It was sent to her by Studio Ghibli and she remarks, "I have no further information concerning the film, and of course will not discuss it until I have seen it."
Thanks to Tonatiuh Moreno for the news.
April 21, 2006 Studio Ghibli is the Number One Consumer Brand in Japan
Nikkei BP Consulting announced the result of the "Brand Japan 2006" survey (HTML Summary, PDF Ranking Chart - both in Japanese).
A total of 1,500 brands were evaluated by 43,000 general consumers and business people.
In the B to C section (Business to Consumer market), Studio Ghibli ranked first with a score a 87.9, Toyota was in 2nd place with a score of 82.3. Studio Ghibli took 2nd place in 2005, and 5th place in 2004.
The studio ranked 4th or higher in all sections: men, women, people under 29, people 30-39, people 40-49, and people over 50.
It also ranked 1st in 2 of the 4 factors which constitute brand synthesis.
Asahi Soft Drinks announced the 1st special Gedo Senki campaign.
The 1st special campaign "Gedo Senki special preview" will be held on July 7-9 in 17 cities. 20,000 people will be invited by lottery.
Registration starts on May 1 on a special site to be opened on April 24th.
Thanks to T. Ishikawa for the news.
April 20, 2006 Bite-size News Bits
Ghibli World is reporting that Studio Ghibli has begun promoting "Le Roi et L'Oiseau" ("Ou To Tori" in Japanese), an animated film from France by Paul Grimault. Studio Ghibli has previously helped with the promotion and distribution of films considered influential by Takahata and Miyazaki.
A recent Toshio Suzuki magazine interview is replicated on the Studio's site, no English translation as of yet.
Thanks to Peter van der Lugt for the news.
April 13, 2006 Ghibli-hosted "Tales from Earthsea" Trailer
Studio Ghibli has a trailer up on their site in Macromedia/Adobe Flash format.
Thanks to Mutsumi Ohta for posting the news to the MML.
April 10, 2006 "Tales from Earthsea" Production Rolls Along
Ghibli World has the latest notes from the production blog (as opposed to the director blog) that show the current status:
Key animation: 1,201 cuts (97%)
Animation: 942 cuts (76%)
Background painting: 1,034 cuts (84%)
A rough English translation of the previously mentioned "Professional" NTV show is also linked from the news item.
Thanks to Peter van der Lugt for the news.
April 6, 2006 Additional "Nausicaa" Showing in NYC
The New York International Children's Film Festival (NYICFF) has scheduled an additional screening of the new English dub of Nausicaa.
The screening is scheduled for 11:30 AM on Sunday, April 9, at:
IFC Center
323 6th Ave at W 3rd St
New York NY 10014-4403
212-924-7771
Ticket prices for each screening are $10.75 adults, $7.00 children under 12.
Tickets may be purchased online for a $1.00 per order service charge.
Thanks to Clyde Adams III for the news.
April 6, 2006 NHK "Professional" Clip April 3, 2006 Museum Roundup
Ghibli World has a 9-minute clip (Japanese-only) that includes new footage from the work-in-progress film
Ghibli World has put together a Ghibli Museum Super Special that covers a lot of background on the museum in hopes of inspiring people to travel to the museum.
Thanks to Peter van der Lugt for the news.