If you like anime, then you are also familiar with Studio Ghibli and the great Hayao Miyazaki. Well, now you can use the same animation software that Miyazaki sensei and Ghibli used in films such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

Digital Video—the makers of Toonz, and Dwango—a Japanese publisher, entered into an agreement for Dwango to acquire Toonz. Business deals like this wouldn’t matter to most people, except that as part of the deal Dwango agreed to make available—for FREE—Open Toonz.

Open Toonz comes with features developed by Studio Ghibli, and is the animation software that has long been used by Studio Ghibli. That’s right, as of Saturday, March 26, 2016; everyone has FREE access to their own copy of Toonz Ghibli Edition. Now you have the tools to make your own Miyazaki-style anime.

Here is a trailer of Princess Mononoke so that you can see Toonz in action:

Atsushi Okui—Executive Imaging Director at Studio Ghibli—said that they “hope that many people inside and outside of the animation industry will utilize the software for their work.” It is great that Studio Ghibli is so supportive of this, as it shows their ongoing commitment to the animation industry as a whole.

For your own FREE version of Toonz Ghibli Edition, please go here: https://opentoonz.github.io/e/index.html

If you want even more, then you can also purchase their premium version of Toonz here: http://www.toonzpremium.com/

As always, for more Japan News visit us here at http://www.JapanSauce.Net.

–The JapanSauce Team