The first trailer (or “promotional video”) for Studio Ghibli’s forthcoming feature Earwig and the Witch has been uploaded by NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, which is co-producing the film. Watch it on NHK’s website.
The trailer, which is in Japanese with no subtitles, introduces Earwig (Aya in Japanese), a young orphan who is comfortably settled in her orphanage — until the day when a shady duo, the witch Bella Yaga and her associate the Mandrake, adopt her and put her to work as their domestic assistant. Cue a rebellion from the feisty girl, who learns some magic of her own with the help of a talking cat.
All of this suggests a faithful adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’s eponymous novel, on which Earwig and the Witch is based. The film is directed by Goro Miyazaki, who has previously helmed two features (Tales from Earthsea, From Up on Poppy Hill) and one series (Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter) for the studio.