Fans of the prolific anime production house Studio Ghibli, known for iconic films like Princess Mononoke (1997) and Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), are probably already well aware of developer Nick Pittom and his Ghibli-inspired demos. Following a recent update, you can now pop your head into some of the most candid recreations of Studio Ghibli classics using the new Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Update (5/15/16, 2:48 PM PT): Creator Nick Pittom reports that Studio Ghibli reached out asking for the experiences to be removed. This means they are unfortunately no longer available for download. Original article continues below.
Pittom (aka ‘Red of Paw‘) bundled all three of his Ghibli VR demos into a single package, which features select scenes from a few fan favorites—of course updated to the new Oculus runtime and current version of Steam VR:
- ‘The Bus Stop Scene’ – My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
- ‘The Boiler Room’ – Spirited Away (2001)
- ‘The Meadow’ – Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
The meadow scene from Howl’s Moving Castle makes its debut alongside the other, older demos, which saw high praise from the early adopter community during the DK1-era.
Not only a few short years ago, Pittom’s Ghibli demos were (and continue to be) lauded as some of the most immersive and high-quality experiences out there. While the demos themselves are only really snapshots of the more memorable scenes, you can’t help but imagine what an entire feature-length film would look like under the direction of the sole developer.
Download ‘Ghibli VR’ Demos for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift
The level of detail that each scene captures is really nothing short of astounding—and Hayao Miyazaki fans will immediately feel at home in familiar settings, naturally with the respective soundtrack to accompany the each experience.
Pittom has entertained recreating a number of anime scenes in the past, including ‘The Bebop’ from Cowboy Bebop (1998), a scene from Princess Mononoke, and different scenes from Totoro, but is decidedly concentrating on original content for now.
@vexadecimal I decided it was time to make some original projects, and in general start a career in VR. Going well so far!
— Nick Pittom (@RedOfPaw) May 5, 2016
‘What content?’ you might ask. If you’ve peeked into the Oculus Store or applied the VR filter to Steam, you’ll see a number of his projects, like COLOSSE, Windlands, Apollo 11 VR Experience, and Crystal Rift. We’ll be keeping an eye out for his new VR project, Echo Red, coming later this year.
