The Animal Crossing series has always included a host of interesting items inspired by Japanese folklore. And with the introduction of Pro Designs in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the customization options for clothes expanded even further to allow players to design anything they pleased.
Over the years, we’ve seen a ton of players use these tools to their advantage to create towns and characters inspired by movies from the famous Japanese anime studio, Studio Ghibli. Many Studio Ghibli movies take their own inspiration from Japanese folklore as well. Here’s a list of ten ways that you can bring a piece of Ghibli magic to your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island.
10 Invite Kiki To Your Island
Kiki’s Delivery Service is one of the first Studio Ghibli films directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. It’s a charming coming-of-age story about a young witch setting out on her own and learning to balance her life and work. Her companion, Jiji, is a small black cat.
The character Kiki in Animal Crossing is one of the original villagers from the very first game in the series. She is a black cat with the normal personality. There’s a rumor that her name may have been inspired by Kiki’s Delivery Service, so inviting her to live on your island is a subtle nod to Studio Ghibli.
9 Dress Up Your Pig Villager As Marco
One of Miyazaki’s more underrated films, Porco Rosso depicts life after World War I for an Italian pilot who is now working as a bounty hunter. However, he has been cursed to resemble a pig.
While you could invite any pig villager you desire to cosplay Marco, we suggest Chops, who is already sporting a mustache. To complete the look, gift him a detective’s coat and a pair of gold pilot shades like Twitter user @Skybeat81 did on their island.
8 Leave A Leaf Umbrella For Totoro
Totoro is arguably the most recognizable Studio Ghibli character, as he is featured on their logo. In My Neighbor Totoro, two young sisters move to an old house in the countryside and discover a friendly forest spirit who changes their lives.
In the iconic scene depicted in the original movie poster for the film, Totoro is wearing a leaf on his head to shield himself from the rain. As a result, most Totoro merchandise includes the spirit holding a leaf umbrella. This item exists in Animal Crossing, perhaps in tribute to the film, so place one near your forest to protect the friendly spirit from the rain.
7 Place Star Fragments on Top of Soot Sprites
Soot sprites appear twice in the Studio Ghibli universe: in Satsuki and Mei’s house in My Neighbor Totoro and in the boiler room of the bathhouse in Spirited Away. These adorably nervous little spirits do not interact much with humans in Totoro, but in Spirited Away they help the boiler man run the baths. Their reward is a meal of tiny colored stars based on konpeitō, a popular Japanese sugar candy.
They manifest in Animal Crossing: New Horizons as star fragments and can even be seen in other Nintendo series like The Legend of Zelda and Mario. If you collect these fragments and place them down again, you can take this QR code for soot sprites to make it appear as if they are dining on your beach.
6 Put Your House On A Cliff By The Sea
Another popular Studio Ghibli film, Ponyo, loosely inspired by The Little Mermaid, follows a tale of a young boy discovering a fish named Ponyo. Using her magic, she transforms herself into a human and the two embark on a touching journey to save the town from a tsunami and keep Ponyo in the human world.
Ponyo first comes to Sōsuke as a fish at the bottom of a cliff where his house is perched. The original Japanese title of the film literally translates to “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.” Using the strip of land that juts out on your island, you could build a cliff big enough for Ponyo and Sōsuke to live.
5 Hide A Bamboo Doll
One of the newer items that New Horizons introduced is the Bamboo Doll. To craft this DIY item, you need 6 young spring bamboo. This item is inspired by the 10th-century Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
In this narrative, a bamboo cutter discovers a shining stalk of bamboo and, when cut open, it reveals a tiny baby. Studio Ghibli adapted this narrative in the 2013 film The Tale of Princess Kaguya making the bamboo doll an instantly recognizable item for Ghibli super fans.
4 Change Your Town Tune
Another good way to show some Ghibli appreciation is to change your town tune to a song from your favorite film. The main theme song will be more recognizable, but each film has a lengthy soundtrack full of pleasant songs to choose from if you are looking for something more subtle.
Luckily, a team of dedicated fans created the website NookNet to post and share Animal Crossing: New Horizons resources such as custom designs and town tunes. Using the site's Island Tune Creator, you can create your own tune or search the database for an existing one. Several people have already added some Studio Ghibli hits such as "The Legend of Ashitaka," the theme song of Princess Mononoke.
3 Cosplay As Sophie Hatter
One of the more obvious ways to tribute to Studio Ghibli is to have your player cosplay as one of the characters. The easiest character to cosplay is Sophie Hatter from Howl’s Moving Castle since there are several in-game clothing and style options that make it incredibly easy to do.
For young Sophie, all you need is a Straw Hat, an Elegant Dress, and a brown braided hairstyle. For old Sophie, pair the same outfit with a short, grey hairstyle. Beware the Witch of the Waste!
2 Change Your Town Flag
An extremely easy and obvious tribute to Studio Ghibli is to recreate their logo and use it as your town flag. The iconic logo features Studio Ghibli written in both Japanese and English, overlaying the side profile of Totoro.
A smaller Totoro spirit sits atop his head. This logo appears at the start of every single movie that the studio produces, so it is instantly recognizable. You can try recreating the logo yourself or use this site to generate a QR code from the photo above.
1 Recreate A Scene From Spirited Away
As Studio Ghibli’s highest-grossing film, Spirited Away is the most recognizable film for those who are not familiar with the studio’s work. It is yet another coming-of-age story featuring a young, fearful girl who must find the courage to navigate the spirit world in which she and her parents have become trapped.
There are a lot of ways to recreate scenes and characters from this movie for your island. However, one of the more iconic scenes depicting Chihiro’s transition into adolescence is her journey on the train. The train tracks in this scene are submerged underwater, but to achieve a similar effect you could place your tracks on the beach like Twitter user @NipahDUBS did in the photo above.