Studio Ghibli diorama calendars will put a little whimsy on your desktop all year long【Photos】

And the fun doesn’t have to stop when the year is up.

Unless you want to go out shopping for one on New Year’s Day, calendars are one of those things you have to buy in advance. Getting your calendar shopping done early should be pretty easy this year if you’re a Studio Ghibli fan, though.

Last week we found out about the beautiful new jigsaw puzzle calendars from the famed anime studio. Of course, the potential problem to a jigsaw puzzle calendar is that you might not finish putting it together by the time you want to start using it. Thankfully, there are also options if you want to keep track of the date the Ghibli way that require only a few seconds of assembly.

Ghibli specialty shop Donguri Kyowakoku has begun taking orders for two diorama calendars. My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service are serving as the inspiration, with the Totoro model called “Under the Eaves of the Kusakabe Family’s House.”

The diorama features both a medium and small-size Totoro, as well as a couple of Soot Sprites higher up on the frame.

The calendar has a unique design in which you first insert one of four included background illustrations into the frame, then place a partially transparent sheet with the days and dates on top of it.

This allows you to mix and match so that you can have whatever illustration you want for any month of the year, though we suspect, as shown in this picture, that 99 percent of owners will choose the picture of Mei for the month of May.

The second calendar, for fans of Kiki’s Delivery Service, is the “Guchoki Bakery Storefront.”

Black cat Jiji is the only character who’s part of the diorama itself, but the frame is cleverly shaped to recreate the front of the bakery which Kiki runs her fledgling delivery service out of. All four of the background illustrations show the shop interior, and even the transparent day/date sheet helps add to the atmosphere by creating a visual effect similar to a window pane from certain angles.

▼ The calendars’ illustration cards

The dioramas’ design means that you can also leave the day/date sheets out and just use them as frames for the included Ghibli artwork, or, ostensibly, for anything else that you can slide inside once 2024 is over.

The dioramas are priced at 7,150 yen (US$48) each. The Totoro version measures 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) across and the Kiki’s 14.5, so they’re compact enough to fit on a shelf or desk without crowding out the other things you have there, like, for example one of those Studio Ghibli character humidifiers.

As is often the case with Donguri Kyowakoku’s Ghibli merch, both items are in high demand. As of this writing, the Totoro calendar is still in stock, but the Kiki’s one is currently sold out. The company says that a restock is coming in the second half of this month, though, and orders can be made through the Donguri Kyowakoku online shop here.

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2)
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