Studio Ghibli Creates Coronavirus Character To Ring in the New Year

Joining in the Japanese tradition of “nengajo,” sending out New Year’s greeting cards, Studio Ghibli sent its good wishes to fans via social media with some original illustrations.

Leading the messages is an image from the studio’s legendary director himself, Hayao Miyazaki. The drawing shows ox, noting 2021 being the Year of the Ox, crushing what appears to be a representation of COVID-19 with its hooves. With the illustration, Miyazaki expresses his optimistic outlook for the year. Additionally, Miyazaki’s son Goro Miyazaki put together a new drawing to mark the release of Earwig and the Witch and an upcoming puppet exhibition at the Ghibli Museum.

Check out the original illustrations and an accompanying message from Studio Ghibli below.

We would like to extend our sincere greetings to all of you and thank you for always supporting Studio Ghibli.

The global coronavirus pandemic, which has been ongoing since last year, is yet to show signs of ending. There will be many people celebrating the New Year differently from usual years. Above all, medical professionals will be devoted to treating infected patients, regardless of it being the end-of-year holiday period. To them, we would like to express our deepest respect and profound gratitude.

Last year, for Studio Ghibli, we had more opportunities than usual to interact with everyone, through the TV broadcast of Goro Miyazaki’s latest work, ‘Earwig and the Witch’, the re-screening of four works including ‘Spirited Away’, the free distribution of still images, and full-scale digital distribution worldwide. In a world where we continue to practice self-restraint due to coronavirus, we hope we were able to make you all smile, even if only a little bit.

In 2021, Studio Ghibli will begin work on Tuesday, 5 January. In fact, on this day, Hayao Miyazaki will celebrate his 80th birthday. Director Miyazaki is still fine and is working on the production of the new movie ‘How Do You Live?’ every day.

Thank you for your continued support of Studio Ghibli and Studio Ghibli’s works this year.

In case you missed it, Studio Khara clarified its recently launched Evangelion fanart guidelines.
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