Hayao Miyazaki's preparatory work from the 1990s is being collected in a published series, and original production materials from his 2008 film Ponyo have been donated to the Academy Museum, while a kabuki adaptation of his 1997 film Princess Mononoke is currently running in Tokyo.
Hayao Miyazaki's creative output from the 1990s is the subject of two recent releases. On June 4, 2026, Iwanami Shoten published the sixth volume of the Hayao Miyazaki Image Board Complete Collection, which compiles 178 image boards and storyboards from the 1995 projects Whisper of the Heart and On Your Mark. The volume includes unpublished drawings and an interview with producer Toshio Suzuki. A seventh volume focused on Princess Mononoke is scheduled for December.
In a separate development, Studio Ghibli donated over 120 original items from the 2008 film Ponyo to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. The donation includes key animation drawings drawn by Miyazaki himself and early concept artboards, as well as original Japanese release posters. This is the first time the studio has donated original production materials to any institution. The items are part of the museum's exhibition "Studio Ghibli's Ponyo," which runs through January 10, 2027. Senior exhibitions curator Jessica Niebel, who had repeatedly requested materials from Ghibli without response for years, received an email from the studio offering the items after the museum's 2017 Hayao Miyazaki retrospective closed.
A Super Kabuki stage adaptation of Miyazaki's 1997 film Princess Mononoke opened on July 3 at Tokyo's Shinbashi Enbujo Theatre and runs through August 23. The production stars Danko Ichikawa V as Ashitaka, Kazutaro Nakamura as San, and Tokizo Nakamura VI as Eboshi Gozen. It is directed by Kensuke Yokouchi with a script co-written by Ghibli veteran Keiko Niwa. This marks the first time a Studio Ghibli film has been adapted into kabuki.
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Iwanami Shoten released the sixth volume of the Hayao Miyazaki Image Board Complete Collection on June 4. The book collects 178 image boards and storyboards from Whisper of the Heart and On Your Mark, including unpublished drawings. It also features an interview with producer Toshio Suzuki. Volume 7, focused on Princess Mononoke, is due in December.
Studio Ghibli has donated over 120 items from the 2008 film "Ponyo" to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, including key animation drawings drawn by Hayao Miyazaki himself and artboards that served as early concept blueprints for the film. The donation, which also includes original Japanese release posters, came as a surprise to senior exhibitions curator Jessica Niebel, who had repeatedly asked Ghibli for materials over several years without a response. After the museum's 2017 Hayao Miyazaki retrospective closed, Niebel received an email from Studio Ghibli offering the items. The donation is now part of the museum's new exhibition "Studio Ghibli's Ponyo," which opened recently and runs through January 10, 2027. The exhibit is Niebel's first designed specifically for children, with interactive play spaces, viewing stations, and a movable woodcut of Ponyo that children can manipulate. Niebel also conducted new interviews with Ghibli artists for the exhibit, a rare opportunity since the studio's artists typically do not give interviews.
The Super Kabuki stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke has released a video ad showing the main cast in costume. The play stars Danko Ichikawa V as Ashitaka, Kazutaro Nakamura as San, and Tokizo Nakamura VI as Eboshi Gozen. It runs from July 3 to August 23 at Tokyo's Shinbashi Enbujo Theatre, directed by Kensuke Yokouchi with a script co-written by Ghibli veteran Keiko Niwa.