Better late than never, I always say. Over a year ago–in December of 2016 to be exact–we told you when you could expect to see Hayao Miyazaki‘s newest, long-awaited short film, Boro the Caterpillar. It was expected to be June or July of 2017, only at the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. That date obviously came and went, but now we’ve learned, via a tweet from the Museum’s official Twitter, that the short will now premiere on March 21, with tickets for the month going on sale on February 10.

美術館オリジナル短編アニメーション映画「毛虫のボロ」が完成いたしました。3/21（水/祝）より公開いたします。
3月入場分チケットは、2/10（土）より発売いたします。 pic.twitter.com/GJdmlqYfiH

— 三鷹の森ジブリ美術館 (@GhibliML) January 9, 2018

This announcement was coupled with the first official image we’ve seen of the short, presumably of the titular not-yet-a-butterfly. It’s certainly different from any of the critters we’ve seen from Miyazaki in the past, but it has his unmistakable style.

As of now, the Studio Ghibli Museum is the only place to actually see the short, which has been the case for many of the director’s short films, but if you were waiting to pull the lever on a trip to Tokyo, I hear March is a fine time of year.

For more Ghibli, be sure to check out our Studio Ghibli retrospectives Miyazaki Masterclass, Takahata Textbook, and Ghibli Bits.

Original Article Below
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We’ve been living in a profoundly less magical world since Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement following his 11th feature film, The Wind Rises, in 2013. However, the master animation director promised he’d still be creating in the form of short films, likely to be shown at the theater at the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. Recently, we learned that he might in fact be returning to feature directing, but not before his promised new short is released. We now know, via Indiewire, that Miyazaki’s Boro the Caterpillar, will get its Ghibli Museum-exclusive premiere sometime in June or July of 2017.

Boro, which is expected to run about 12 minutes and be hand-drawn, has been on Miyazaki’s list of projects, even before Princess Mononoke in 1997. Miyazaki has a history of making shorts exclusively for the Studio Ghibli Museum, which he himself curates, including the My Neighbor Totoro sequel Mei and the Kittenbus and 2006’s Monmon the Water Spider. Miyazaki has made a host of short films in his career and most of them have not been formally released in the United States.

In addition to a new Miyazaki short film, his Oscar-winning Spirited Away returned to cinemas for three nights only and RAKED it in. And in January 2017, distributor GKIDS will be bringing Princess Mononoke back to theaters for two nights only, one night in Japanese with subtitles, and the second with the English dub. It’s a good time to be a fan of Studio Ghibli (but, really, when isn’t a good time?).

Are you stoked for more Miyazaki? Which Ghibli movie is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

Image: Studio Ghibli

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He’s the writer of Studio Ghibli retrospectives Miyazaki Masterclass and Takahata Textbook. Follow him on Twitter!

This Totoro fan-theory is spooky as all get-out: