There are few film studios who can boast the reliability that Studio Ghibli can. From My Neighbour Totoro to Kiki’s Delivery Service to Spirited Away, they’ve created a plethora of films that tug on the heart-strings and have inspired millions. Not one to rest on their laurels, despite The Wind Rises having only released last year, they’re back with When Marnie Was There, an adaptation of a book by Joan G. Robinson and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. The trailer, which is taken from a tv broadcast, can be viewed below:
The synopsis of the book reads:
Anna hasn’t a friend in the world – until she meets Marnie among the sand dunes. But Marnie isn’t all she seems…An atmospheric ghost story with truths to tell about friendship, families and loneliness. Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr and Mrs Pegg, where she runs wild on the sand dunes and around the water. There is a house, the Marsh House, which she feels she recognises – and she soon meets a strange little girl called Marnie, who becomes Anna’s first ever friend. Then one day, Marnie vanishes. A new family, the Lindsays, move into the Marsh House. Having learnt so much from Marnie about friendship, Anna makes firm friends with the Lindsays – and learns some strange truths about Marnie, who was not all she seemed…
A release outside of Japan is to be confirmed, but it will land in it’s home country during the Summer.
