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These beautiful Studio Ghibli 10,000-year calendar figures are actually good forever【Photos】

Casey Baseel Sep 8, 2024
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Because just one year is way too short a time to spend with Totoro, No-Face, and Kiki, right?

There’s a bit of a problem built into the very concept of an anime art calendar. On the one hand, you have to be a big enough fan to want to display it for an entire year, but also not be so attached to the artwork that you’ll feel bad having to put it away when the year is done and it no longer serves its purpose.

That’s a tough needle to thread, but Studio Ghibli specialty shop has an alternative solution with what it calls its Mannen (“10,000-year”) Calendars.

They’re honestly underselling them with that “10,000-year” part, though, because these are actually calendars that can be used perpetually. Each of the three designs (one for My Neighbor Totoro, one for Spirited Away, and one for Kiki’s Delivery Service) uses dice to display the day of the month and of the week, allowing you to set the facing sides to whatever combination matches the current year.

Each of the sculptures is made of polyester resin and PVC, with Totoro’s being the tallest, at 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) in height. The big guy playing his ocarina on the treetop is the first thing that catches the eye, but they are delightful details all over, like the Soot Sprites hiding here.

The Spirited Away piece (10.4 centimeters tall) recreates the memorable train ride Chihiro and No-Face take on their way to meet with helpful witch Zeniba, a moment when the Oscar-winning film’s narrative takes a moment to breathe and let viewers reflect on what they’ve seen so far and wonder about what might be coming next.

And last, the 11.6-centimeter Kiki’s Delivery Service calendar shows Kiki and black cat Jiji waiting for customers inside the bakery their fledgling parcel-delivery business is operating out of.

In keeping with Ghibli’s love of creativity, Donguri Kyowakoku says to place the dice wherever you feel like, and each set includes one die that simply has illustrations related to its anime on its sides, so that you can pick put whichever one strikes your fancy or fits your mood for the day.

There is one drawback these perpetual calendars have compared to a paper one, which is that you’ll have to manually change the dice in order to keep track of the current date and day. However, that gives you a reason/excuse to stop whatever else you’re doing and take a moment to look at the beautiful design again on a daily basis, so it’s really more of a desirable feature than a downside.

The Totoro calendar is priced at 7,700 yen (US$52), the Spirited Away at 7,920, and the Kiki at 8,250, with all three recently restocked at the Donguri Kyowakoku online store (Totoro here, Spirited Away here, and Kiki here)

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3)
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