The ever-popular Studio Ghibli has entertained fans of animation for decades. Now, Shout! Factory has allowed a new limited edition of one of its most heartfelt, and often overlooked films. As recently reported in Anime News Network, the anime, and Japanese content distributor Shout! Factory will be releasing a new collectible steelbook Blu-Ray of the studios 2014 feature, When Marnie Was There.
This new limited edition is set to be released by Shout! Factory on October 11th of this year, as a collaboration between Shout! Factory and the independent animation distributor GKIDS. Released in a premium metal spine, this new release is essentially going to be the definitive physical release of one of Ghibli’s most touching, and often slept-on films.
In addition to the standard Japanese and English-dub options viewing options, the new edition is set to include a print art booklet, a collection of storyboards from the film, a making-of featurette, a featurette going over the film’s artistic process with designer Yohei Taneda, interviews with the dub voice cast, and the original promotional materials from the film’s 2014 release.
Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi on the heels of his successful Arrietty in 2010, When Marnie Was There was initially released by Studio Ghibli and distributed by Toho in 2014. Adapted from the 1967 British novel of the same name, When Marnie Was There follows a friendship between a living girl, Anna, and a lingering ghost, Marnie.
Featuring a stirring orchestral score from Takatsugu Muramatsu and detailed visual art to match the setting of Hokkaido in northern Japan, the film effortlessly captures the sentimental magic of Ghibli’s most iconic works. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2016 Academy Awards and the Japan Academy Prize.
Shout! Factory is no newcomer to the promotion of Studio Ghibli’s anime features. Their partnership with GKIDS can be seen in their larger English-language Studio Ghibli Collection, which they have continued to work with GKIDS on.
This collection already has several of Ghibli’s most celebrated films available with steelbook editions out now, including special edition physical releases of Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, From Up On Poppy Hill, and more available now on Shout! Factory’s online storefront. With this new edition of When Marnie Was There, the collection expands to include another premium edition of one of the most heartfelt gem’s of anime’s most famous studio.