Ahead of the upcoming releases of Miyazaki Hayao's Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) on July 20 and Takahata Isao's Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya) this fall, giant murals (pictured above and as a bigger version in the gallery below) have been unveiled in 26 cinemas across Japan today. Each of the murals features images from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and all 20 feature films made by Studio Ghibli between 1986 and 2013. The sizes of the murals vary depending on the movie theaters, with the largest measuring 3.9m tall and 25.2m wide.
The 21 films featured in the mural are (from left to right): Ocean Waves, Kiki's Delivery Service, Laputa Castle in the Sky, Tales from Earthsea, From Up On Poppy Hill, Porco Rosso, Grave of the Fireflies, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Spirited Away, Whisper of the Heart, Pom Poko, The Wind Rises, The Cat Returns, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Only Yesterday, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, My Neighbors the Yamadas and The Borrower Arrietty.
Looking at the mural certainly brings back a lot of memories for me. Like many of my friends and colleagues here at ScreenAnarchy (and probably also quite a lot of you), I grew up watching Studio Ghibli films. Now as an adult, I have introduced my children to the magic of these truly wonderful films and they seem to find them as fascinating as I did when I first saw them as a child.
So what do you think of the mural, and which of the films featured are your favorites?