
Ghibli Park to stay open after dark for the first time this August
One of Japan's most distinctive attractions, Ghibli Park celebrates the beloved characters and stories of the world-renowned Studio Ghibli. Unlike traditional theme parks, it doesn't feature any rides. Instead, it recreates iconic scenes and settings from the studio's anime, fulfilling fans' dreams of stepping into the films' richly imagined worlds in real life.
While the park normally closes at 5pm, on three consecutive Saturdays this summer (August 2, 9 and 16), it will extend its opening hours until 8pm. This marks the first time Ghibli Park will remain open past sundown, and we're sure the illuminated night setting will make the grounds look even more magical.
Although Ghibli Park is made up of five zones, only three will be included in this after-hours special. Fortunately, these are the park's most popular areas: Mononoke Village (inspired by Princess Mononoke), Valley of Witches (featuring settings from Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service and Earwig and the Witch), and Ghibli's Grand Warehouse (a sprawling museum of sorts dedicated to the studio's greatest hits).
Admission tickets for August, including access to the evening sessions, will go on sale at 2pm on Tuesday June 10. On those three special days, Ghibli's Grand Warehouse will offer additional entry slots at 4pm and 5pm. Take your time and wander, but don't miss the 7.30pm last entry for the Valley of Witches and Mononoke Village.
Ghibli Park's inaugural evening special is part of Aichi Expo 20 Celebrations 's Night Fantasy festival, which runs on weekends and public holidays from August 2 to 17. During this time, the Aichi Expo Memorial Park – which Ghibli Park calls home – will come alive with summer festivities including Bon Odori, drone shows and more. So once you're done exploring the fantastical world of Ghibli, ease yourself back to reality with the more earthy fun at the memorial park.
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Time Out
28-05-2025
- Time Out
Ghibli Park to stay open after dark for the first time this August
One of Japan's most distinctive attractions, Ghibli Park celebrates the beloved characters and stories of the world-renowned Studio Ghibli. Unlike traditional theme parks, it doesn't feature any rides. Instead, it recreates iconic scenes and settings from the studio's anime, fulfilling fans' dreams of stepping into the films' richly imagined worlds in real life. While the park normally closes at 5pm, on three consecutive Saturdays this summer (August 2, 9 and 16), it will extend its opening hours until 8pm. This marks the first time Ghibli Park will remain open past sundown, and we're sure the illuminated night setting will make the grounds look even more magical. Although Ghibli Park is made up of five zones, only three will be included in this after-hours special. Fortunately, these are the park's most popular areas: Mononoke Village (inspired by Princess Mononoke), Valley of Witches (featuring settings from Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service and Earwig and the Witch), and Ghibli's Grand Warehouse (a sprawling museum of sorts dedicated to the studio's greatest hits). Admission tickets for August, including access to the evening sessions, will go on sale at 2pm on Tuesday June 10. On those three special days, Ghibli's Grand Warehouse will offer additional entry slots at 4pm and 5pm. Take your time and wander, but don't miss the 7.30pm last entry for the Valley of Witches and Mononoke Village. Ghibli Park's inaugural evening special is part of Aichi Expo 20 Celebrations 's Night Fantasy festival, which runs on weekends and public holidays from August 2 to 17. During this time, the Aichi Expo Memorial Park – which Ghibli Park calls home – will come alive with summer festivities including Bon Odori, drone shows and more. So once you're done exploring the fantastical world of Ghibli, ease yourself back to reality with the more earthy fun at the memorial park.


BBC News
24-05-2025
- BBC News
Banbury teenage animator nominated for Disney-sponsored award
An 11-year-old girl says it is "amazing" that her animation has been nominated for an award sponsored by from Mollington near Banbury, Oxfordshire, is in the running for the Into Film Awards best animation category for children aged five to Virus is based on a poem she wrote, which won the Benjamin Zephaniah Future Writers competition last said she took inspiration from manga and anime as she was "very fond" of Japanese culture. "My poem is called Together But Not Together and it is about how people often think they're connected with people online ... but it's not the same as knowing someone in real life," she said."My film is about losing yourself within social media and I demonstrated this by making my protagonist lose her colour throughout the film."She said that when she had first entered the competition, she had not considered her creation would "make it through"."Knowing that it did and the panel of judges actually liked it - just them seeing it is amazing - but actually liking is one step forward, it's brilliant. "I never really thought about the fact that lots of people across the UK are going to see my film." Dulcie-Bella described her style as based off of Japanese manga and anime. "I'm very fond of anime and Japanese culture, so I took inspiration from Studio Ghibli - it is one of my favourite animation studios, they've inspired lots of stuff that I've done."The young animator said the studio's My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away were in her "top ten favourite animations"."When I kick back, relax, I often put on some anime, maybe doodle a bit while I'm watching," she added."I'm very fond of the idea of being an animator when I'm older."As my category is sponsored by Disney, it's likely that someone in those big studios will see my animation and will know me - now that I think about it, it's amazing."The awards ceremony will be held on 24 is also nominated in the Audience Choice category. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.


Telegraph
20-05-2025
- Telegraph
Lilo & Stitch: this breezy remake tames Disney's most feral character
The original Lilo & Stitch shared one key trait with its furry blue protagonist: no matter which angle you probed the thing from, it was hard to pin down exactly what it was. Released in 2002 during Disney Animation's turbulent post-Renaissance phase, it was in parts as close to a Studio Ghibli film as the studio ever came: the appealingly grumpy young heroine, the ravishingly tender line work on its human characters, those invitingly lush watercolour backgrounds. But while there was delicacy and richness to its depiction of everyday Hawaiian life – one pint-sized six-limbed troublemaker notwithstanding – it also spluttered with pulpy sci-fi energy, thanks to its helter-skelter spacecraft scenes and rousing Alan Silvestri score. Even its alien landing conceit playfully turned the classic Disney wishing-star motif on its head. Perhaps it should be no surprise that this live-action retelling – one of the better examples of its type – is considerably easier to pigeonhole. Whether through some (relatively subtle) plot adjustments or just by dint of flipping the story into the flesh-and-blood realm, Lilo & Stitch has been tamed into one of those naughty-pet family comedies that used to roll off studio production lines with thud-thudding regularity, until the form fell out of fashion somewhere around 1994. It's a fine specimen, too: lively, funny and colourful, led by a lovely performance from eight-year-old Maia Kealoha, who is cute, charming and a gifted screamer. (Her older sister Nani is Sydney Agudong, whose light-touch, noughties-Disney-Channel manner is a good match for the material.) Its breezy outdoor vibe means you can actually feel the fresh air blowing through its scenes, too. Within the heavily effects-driven Disney remake canon, that itself feels like a first. A degree of VFX overload is required for the deep-space prologue, which hurls the mischievous Stitch – voiced, as before, by his creator, the animator Chris Sanders – from United Galactic Federation HQ towards a faraway blue ball called something like Ee-arr-th. (Like many of the original's most-quoted gags, that one has been left untouched.) But one of director Dean Fleischer Camp's smartest innovations is granting Stitch's pursuers human disguises as soon as they land. It means the film's pair of hapless villains, energetically played by Billy Magnusson and Zach Galifianakis, can still function as a vaudeville double act: their absurd costumes and pratfalls all play as comic business, rather than CG interpolations thereof. Of course Stitch himself is more obviously not-real, and for obvious reasons. Even with a meticulously rendered pixelly pelt he still looks absolutely nothing like a dog, and onlookers' keenness to brand him as such – for the sake of their own sanity if nothing else – is still one of the film's best running jokes. Even so, he scampers through every scene with real weight and warmth; you may sometimes feel yourself wishing you could give this mad fluffball a hug, even if multiple appendages might come back gnawed. Ohana means family, as the first film memorably explained, which in turn means no one gets left behind. This new Lilo & Stitch allows that moral to double as commercial motto: in the wake of the Snow White debacle, no prospective customers are going to feel alienated by anything here, from the aliens down. That makes it feel more like a product than its predecessor did, but at least it's a sturdily built one. In cinemas from May 21. U cert, 108 min.