Take a Look at the First Concept Art for Studio Ghibli’s Theme Park

Yesterday we reported on Studio Ghibli’s upcoming theme park in Nagoya, with an opening targeted in 2022. Along with that announcement the animation studio released a few early conceptual drawings of what the park might look like. It’s our first glimpse at what Ghibli hopes to do with this park, and fans of their movies will no doubt love what they see.

The concept art first released through the television station Tokai’s Twitter feed.

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The first image represents what will be the park’s main gate, according to Kotaku’s coverage of an NHK report on the theme park. That entrance will have a theme reminiscent of Howl’s Moving Castle, with buildings that look like they’re from the late 19th century. That’s roughly the same time period (give or take a decade) that Disney pulls from for the entrances to its Disneyland-style theme parks, including the World Bazaar at Tokyo Disneyland. I guess something about stepping back into the Victorian Era just screams “you’re at a theme park now!”, or something. In the other images you can see echoes of other Ghibli classics, including Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Kotaku has a good rundown of what these images represent, pulled from both that NHK report and from a page at Aichi Prefecture’s official website. Go read their piece for more information on each of the images below.