Schedule your days the Ghibli way, with a dash of magic on every page of the year.
With the end of the year now fast approaching,2027 diaries and calendars are beginning to pop up on the market, and some of the sweetest come from Studio Ghibli. This time, there are four planners and two calendars to choose from, all featuring beloved characters and movie scenes that’ll make you smile all year long.
▼ The journey to 2027 begins with four planners, priced at 2,090 yen (US$13.15) each.
All the planners (which are listed as both “schedule books” and “diaries”) come with faux leather covers that are smooth and pleasant to touch. Both the front and back of the covers are adorned in shiny details that capture the mood of the film they honour, with an action-packed scene on the front, and a more contemplative, quiet scene on the rear.
The Totoro planner recalls the nighttime scene from the film, showing all three Totoros – Large, Medium and Small – flying through the sky on a giant spinning top, with Mei and Satsuki along for the ride. On the back, we see Satsuki and Mei’s father at his desk, gazing upward as if he might be catching a glimpse of them.
▼ The journey continues inside, with an opening page that sets the scene with an establishing shot, which in this case shows the countryside home where Satsuki and Mei live with their father.
Turn the page and you’ll find a variety of handy planner-friendly sections, including year-at-a-glance pages…
▼ …and weekly pages, all adorned with cute motifs from the film.
▼ There are beautiful sections for note-taking as well, with lined and graph pages…
▼ …an address and personal information section…
▼ … and a variety of memo cards, which can be cut out and shared with friends.
Each planner is B6-sized (19 × 13.5 × 10 centimetres [7.48 × 5.31 × 3.94 inches]) and contains 128 pages, making them easy to use at home, in the office or on the go.
The Spirited Away scheduler takes us to the home of Zeniba, where protagonist Chihiro travels to with Boh Mouse, Yu-Bird in fly form and No Face, before hitching a ride back to the bathhouse on dragon Haku.
▼ Motifs from the film add a dash of Ghibli magic to every day of the year.
▼ Yubaba will be keeping her steely gaze on you in the notes section…
▼…while No Face will soothe your soul with a gentle knitting scene from Zeniba’s house.
▼ Channel Chihiro and Haku with your personal memo section…
▼ …and the memo cards are so cute you’ll want to keep them all to yourself.
The cover features Kiki on her broomstick with Jiji, recalling the scene where they’re joined by wild geese while making her stuffed toy delivery, moments before they all get blown off course.
▼ The stuffed toy, which happens to look just like Jiji, winds up lost in the process, with Kiki eventually finding it in the windowsill of a hut in the woods.
This is when Kiki meets Ursula, who lives in the hut, and the beginning of their close friendship is captured on the first page of the diary.
▼ This sweet image recalls the scene where Kiki climbs to the roof of the hut to find Ursula sketching the crows.
Motifs from the film, and the bakery that features in it, adorn the pages like little Easter eggs just waiting to be found.
The personal notes and memo section takes you from the blissful idyll of Kiki’s childhood home through to the seaside bakery, where her delivery adventures begin.
Soar above the rooftops with Howl and Sophie in this beautiful gold-on-pink design, with nods to some of their magical companions on the back.
▼ The movie characters and setting welcome you to explore every day of the year from the very first page.
▼ Fun fact: the anime town is inspired by real-world Colmar in northeastern France.
Howl and Sophie’s love story spreads out across the pages of the diary, with a little help from the supporting cast.
▼ Calcifer and Heen make an appearance.
▼ As does the castle, itself, which is a character in its own right.
▼ With so many beautiful images within its pages, this is a diary you’ll be reaching for time and time again.
If you prefer to have Ghibli anime art readily visible in a more prominent way, you can opt for one of two Studio Ghibli calendars.
▼ 2027 Studio Ghibli Art Frame Calendar (3,300 yen)
The art calendar is a popular choice for fans, as it comes in two parts, with the artwork supplied as separate sheets to be inserted between a transparent cover and frame mat in the upper section of the calendar.
▼ These instructions show how one sheet of art at a time can be inserted into the display section at the top of the calendar.
Images from 23 Ghibli feature films are included in the set, giving you the chance to display around two films a month if you wanted to, although the choice of when to display them is entirely up to you. Some of the films include:
▼ Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (technically created before the founding of Studio Ghibli, but counted as a Ghibli film in this collection)
Even after the year is over, you can easily frame your favourite images so you can have a framed Ghibli work on your wall for years to come.
▼ My Neighbor Totoro Calendar (1,980 yen)
The final product in the 2027 lineup is a calendar dedicated to My Neighbour Totoro, featuring a number of characters from the film.
▼ Mei and Satsuki at the bus stop with Totoro
The calendars are made with careful attention to the layout and quality of the paper to ensure ample space for jotting down schedules, and ease of writing with both ballpoint pens and pencils.
All the items in the range can currently be purchased at physical branches of Ghibli specialty retail chain Donguri Kyowakoku and from the Ghibli Museum Store and its online shop (links below).
