A few days ago and out of nowhere, Studio Ghibli We were surprised that he had some kind of collaboration with Lucasfilm underway, and logically the cabals and theories did not take long to arrive after a very mysterious announcement in which they did not clarify anything.
The first option was that the studios that would be part of the second season of ‘Star Wars: Visions’ were already beginning to be revealed, or that perhaps we had some collaboration with one of the Lucasfilm franchises ahead… But the shots were not went that way, but rather that both studios had developed a short focused on little Grogu from ‘The Mandalorian’.
mandalorian birthday
On November 12, ‘The Mandalorian’ was three years old since its premiere, so to celebrate it on Disney+ they have released ‘Zen- Grogu and the soots‘.
With less than three minutes, Ghibli’s short film for Star Wars offers us a crossover between the soot from ‘Spirited Away’ and little Grogu, so the adorable result is assured. In terms of animation, it has a very simple style, with a very organic line and some touches of color on a textured background that gives the entire short Katsuya Kondou a certain touch of illustrated story.
— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) November 12, 2022
The short is traditionally hand-animated, as is the style of the studio, and is a real beauty, very relaxing and contemplative, with lovely music composed by Ludwig Göranson… But that also leaves a bit of a “well, now what?” kind of thing.
As a curiosity, and to celebrate the third birthday, ‘Zen – Grogu and the soots’ is a beautiful anecdote in which we can see the protagonists dance, play, run and interact, but unfortunately it does not offer much more apart from the enormous merit of having the two studios collaborating.
Yes indeed, the good thing is that it leaves us the door open that Ghibli has gotten into the Star Wars universe and to collaborate with Disney, so hopefully this little short is not just anecdotal and is actually the first step to something more.
Even with the gorgeous style of ‘Grogu and the soot’ and its “zen” tone, Ghibli is somewhat wasted when it comes to animation, so let’s hope that soon we can see more of them where the studio can show off and bring out all the artillery.