If Hayao has always been very reluctant to 3D, now he has surprised us when his own son is in charge of directing Aya and the Witch, the first CGI film from Studio Ghibli.
Hayao Miyazaki has never been shy about expressing his reluctance towards digital and everything that is working with a computer. In fact Studio Ghibli has always been characterized for being the most handmade animation films; especially in a digital age in which computing can do almost everything.
For winter this year, the first CGI film from Studio Ghibli, Aya and the Witch, will be released. Based on the book Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones, and the one we know from Ghibli’s Enchanted Castle, will be Hayao Miyazaki’s son, Goro Miyazaki, in charge of directing this 3D animation film.
If we talk about an animation studio in which only 10% of its production uses CGI technology, we are facing an almost unusual event and that could mark a before and after for Studio Ghibli. Who tells us that it is not his son who picks up the witness of his father and takes Studio Ghibli to other paths, always without forgetting his essence.
And we are talking about Aya and the Witch is a production entirely done in 3D CGI. Anyway, for the purists, by 2023 we will have a new Studio Ghibli movie in the format we all know.
Aya and the Witch takes us to a fantastic adventure story in which the orphan Aya is adopted by a hateful witch. Featuring a talking cat and a haunted house, we have the ingredients for movie magic from this animation studio. Now to wait.