Mary and the Witch’s Flower
Released 4 MAY
ith Japanese anime powerhouse Studio Ghibli having announced the end of an era, the producer/director team previously responsible for their striking teenage ghost story wisely decided to take their leave and set up their own anime operation. As with and Hirosma Yonebayashi’s debut, the source is once more a highly-regarded English novel for children, Mary Stewart’s ‘The Little Broomstick’ – which Disney nearly adopted in the early 1980s. With its tale of a young girl rather surprised to find herself a star pupil at an exclusive academy for trainee witches, many viewers will feel there’s more than a hint of Hogwarts in the air, but since Stewart’s story dates from 1971, the chain of influence might possibly be running in the opposite direction.
