Disney to Release ‘The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki’ Blu-Ray Box Set

 

Hayao Miyazaki fans, get ready for this exciting bit of news! Disney has just announced that they will release The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki in a beautiful Blu-Ray box set. We first saw this set when it was released in Japan in June of last year and now, Western fans will get the chance to bask in Miyazaki’s glory as well.

In 2013, we were all heartbroken after hearing that Miyazaki– the talented co-founder of the celebrated Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli– announced his retirement, claiming The Wind Rises would be his last feature film. But you can all let out a sigh of relief because Miyazaki is currently working on an upcoming short for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. Much to our delight, it seems Miyazaki has only retired from making feature length films. The project will take an estimated 3 years to complete, but why sit around waiting for the short to be finished when you can spend that time celebrating Miyazaki’s incredible work?

The blu-ray box set, which will be available exclusively on Amazon on November 17th, will contain Miyazaki’s eleven feature films: Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo and The Wind Rises.

If you’re a hardcore Studio Ghibli fan and already have all these films on Blu-Ray, you will probably still want to pick up this box set for its bonus features, including Yuki no Taiyo (Yuki’s Sun)– a 1972 television pilot that was directed, storyboarded and animated by Hayao Miyazaki. The box set will also include three episodes of the 1972 anime series Akado Suzunosuk (Little Samurai) which were storyboarded by Miyazaki. In addition to these disks, the set will also contain a book which “explores the themes and techniques of this revered Japanese filmmaker, and selected text from Hayao Miyazaki’s initial notes and creative proposals for the production of each film.”

Excited yet? I know I am. Until the box set is available, you can hype yourself up even more with the work of talented Vimeo user dono, who has created an impressive tribute to Miyazaki by recreating his most famous characters in 3D settings. Check it out below.

 

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