This pre-Studio Ghibli film of Hayao Miyazaki is making a brief return in Tokyo

Bryan Ke

17 May 2024 at 4:27 pm·1-min read

Hayao Miyazaki’s classic anime “Panda! Go Panda! Rainy Day Circus” is set to return for a one-night special screening at a theater in Tokyo next week.

Key points:

“Panda! Go Panda! Rainy Day Circus,” first released in 1973 — more than a decade before the founding of Studio Ghibli — will screen on May 25 at Akihabara UDX Theater in Tokyo’s Chiyoda ward.
Directed by Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata and written by Miyazaki, “Rainy Day Circus” is a sequel to 1972's “Panda! Go Panda!”
Tickets are available until 6:00 p.m. on May 23 (Tokyo Standard Time) through DreamPass, a website where fans can send in requests for classic film screenings.

The details:

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The special screening will include a talk show with Studio Ghibli animator Yu Honda and film researcher Seiji Kano, followed by a giveaway event.
The first movie follows Mimiko, a cheerful girl who welcomes a father panda and his cub into her home, leading to various adventures. In the sequel, the three meet a new friend, the tiger Tora-chan, and help save a circus and their friends from a flood.
Miyazaki and Takahata released their first Studio Ghibili movie, “Laputa: Castle in the Sky,” in 1986. The studio was founded the previous year.
Fans still notice Miyazaki's reuse of elements from his earlier work, such as the resemblance between the father panda's grin and Totoro's in "My Neighbor Totoro."
North American distributor GKIDS acquired the licensing rights for “Panda! Go Panda!” in 2022 and held a special theatrical release for both films in celebration of the first movie's 50th anniversary.

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