Korea Goes Ghibli Style with 소중한 날의 꿈 (Dinosaur & Me)

And I thought this went completely belly up. Thankfully, it wasn't the case.

If the - rather corny - English title doesn't ring a bell, that's because this is 소중한 날의 꿈 (Dream of a Precious Day)'s new International title - or, better, it was originally called Dinosaur & I and I just translated the Korean title in my first post, so they only changed a small detail. This is an animation project from Studio MWP we first introduced in August 2005, and the peculiarity is that it's 100% pencil. Back in 2005, many people wondered if MWP was in some kind of partnership with Studio Ghibli, as the style does indeed remind of the Japanese animation juggernaut (Takahata Isao in particular, but also a touch of Madhouse's Hosoda Mamoru), but also what is still arguably the best animated film Korea has produced, 2002's 마리 이야기 (My Beautiful Girl, Mari). The film tells the story of a high school girl in the late 70s, who along with her eclectic friend discovers a dinosaur footprint in her neighborhood (hence the title). And if the new stills (finally!) released today aren't enough, the people involved look pretty solid, especially screenwriter Song Hye-Jin of 인어공주 (My Mother, the Mermaid) and the lovely TV drama 달콤한 나의 도시 (My Sweet Seoul), but even co-directors (not to mention husband and wife) Ahn Jae-Hoon and Han Hye-Jin have been pretty active on TV and in the animation industry. Still no word on any release date, but I suppose it could be the first half of 2010, and a trailer will likely be released pretty soon.

Studio MWP is also producing the animation version of 2002 superhit 겨울연가 (Winter Sonata), and was responsible for another TV drama-to-animation crossover, for the 2004 cult melodrama 미안하다, 사랑한다 (Sorry, I Love You). For now we only have a teaser from earlier this year (they forgot to deinterlace it, but anything with a Lee Sang-Eun song wins points), but the moment the trailer hits the web, you'll find it here.