Image: Disney
Grogu, meet Totoro. This evening famed animation house Studio Ghibli — best-known for films like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro — confirmed its new Star Wars project, which is called Discover Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies and is described as a “a hand-drawn animation.” There aren’t many other details on it, but that’s not such a big deal because you’ll be able to see it for yourself very soon: it starts streaming on Disney Plus on November 12th.
Studio Ghibli has been teasing the collaboration for a few days. First with a short video featuring the studio’s logo alongside Lucasfilm’s, and later with a photo depicting both The Mandalorian star Grogu and legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki.
Discover Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a hand-drawn animation by Studio Ghibli, is streaming tomorrow on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/ODqHrgIwnB
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) November 12, 2022
This isn’t Lucasfilm’s first foray into Japanese animation. The first season of Star Wars Visions, an anthology featuring some of the biggest names in anime, debuted on Disney Plus last year. “We wanted to showcase different Japanese studios, not just industry giants,” Visions producer Kanako Shirasaki told The Verge in 2021. “We wanted to choose studios with different backgrounds, who wanted to tell different stories in different styles.” A second season is on the way.