Studio Ghibli offering reprints of posters from all its anime films made from original plates

Historical collection of posters and flyers includes art that’s been largely forgotten by modern fans.

Studio Ghibli is unique in a lot of ways, but one of the biggest is their commitment to theatrical features. Almost every anime Ghibli has created initially screened in movie theaters, with beautifully illustrated posters promoting them to anyone passing by the building or through its lobby.

Many of these posters have since become some of the most memorable and iconic pieces of art in the anime world, and now any and all of them can grace your home, as Ghibli is producing historically accurate reprints of the posters for all 23 of its theatrically released anime.

This being Studio Ghibli, they’ve stayed as faithful as they could to the original process. Instead of simply printing out a bunch of digital copies, where possible they’ve tracked down the original printing plates, most of which were created decades ago, and brought them out of retirement. They’re even going so far as to using the same non-standard ink colors, outside the standard four-color printing process, that they originally did, to make sure the fresh batch of posters’ colors are rich and authentic.

The posters are B2-size, measuring 51.5 centimeters wide and 72.8 long (20.3 by 28.7 inches). While they cover 23 titles, there are actually 49 different posters, with some of the alternates being designs that have rarely been seen since the anime left theaters, such as the Spirited Away poster with Chihiro sprawled out in the back seat of her parents’ car.

▼ Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky have four posters each.

In addition to posters, Studio Ghibli is also reprinting what it calls the “pamphlets” for each film. Unfortunately, these aren’t the multi-page programs sold at movie theaters in Japan, but they’re still beautiful A4-size (24.2 by 25.8 centimeter) flyers, with one design for each of the 23 films.

▼ A few of the pamphlets/flyers

There’s sometimes a bit of a gray area in defining the Studio Ghibli filmography, but for the purposes of the posters Nausicaa and Grave of the Fireflies are included, as is the co-produced The Red Turtle. Though it first aired on Japanese TV, Earwig and the Witch later had a theatrical run in Japan, so it’s represented too. On the other hand, the made-for-TV Ocean Waves doesn’t make the cut, nor does the animated short/music video On Your Mark.

▼ Say what you want about Tales from Earthsea, but that’s a very pretty poster for it on the left.

By the way, as mentioned above the original printing plates were used whenever possible, but they’ve been lost for a few pieces (Nausicaa: Theatre-use poster 1 and ticket pre-sale poster, Porco Rosso theater-use poster 1 and 2, My Neighbors the Yamadas theater-use poster 1 and 2, Howl’s Moving Castle theater-use poster 1, and the pamphlets for Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and My Neighbors the Yamadas), requiring them to be recreated by scanning.

So, how much are these works of anime art going to cost you? That depends, as they aren’t being sold individually. Instead, they’re being offered in one of four bundles: an all-item set with every poster and flyer, an all-poster set, and all-flyer set, or a set of the posters and flyers for a single anime. Prices for the single-movie sets range from 2,420 yen (US$16) to 6,380 yen, since the number of included posters varies from one to four. The 23-flyer set is priced at 25,300 yen, the 49-poster set at 64,680 yen, and for the fan with deep pockets and ample display storage space, the complete set of all the posters and flyers is 89,980 yen, with all sets available through the Ghibli Museum online shop here.

Source: Ghibli Museum Online Shop
Featured image: Ghibli Museum Online Shop
Top image: Ghibli Museum Online Shop
Insert images: Ghibli Museum Online Shop
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