Happy New Year from Studio Ghibli! The acclaimed animation studio’s annual greeting to kick off the new calendar year came with a special surprise this time. There was a brief update on the status of Studio Ghibli Park, along with a cute drawing from the legendary Hayao Miyazaki himself, but with that also came news of not one but two films in the works.

In the New Year’s message, in which the studio expressed condolences to everyone affected by severe weather over the last year and offered their hopes for a productive and revived energy taking us all through 2020, Studio Ghibli announced that two films are currently in production. One is Miyazaki’s own How Do You Live?, which is expected to center on Genzaburo Yoshino‘s 1937 novel of the same name and how it factors into the life of a 15-year-old protagonist and his uncle. The first film for Miyazaki since coming out of his recent semi-retirement was originally slated for release before Tokyo’s Olympics this year, but now it’s looking like a 2021 or 2022 release. As for the other film? Well, we’ll have to wait and see!

Here’s the full transcript, according to the always-reliable Google Translate:

Congratulations to all of you.Thank you for always supporting Studio Ghibli.

Last year was a pretty good year for Studio Ghibli, with Kabuki and other works staged and the official announcement of Ghibli Park, as well as aggressive overseas expansion, which provided a topic for everyone. I think it was. However, the disasters such as typhoons and heavy rains in Japan are continuing, and it is painful to think that there are many people who are forced to have a hard life even at this time. We would like to express our sincere condolences to those affected by the damage, and pray for the rebuilding of our lives as soon as possible.

By the way, the zodiac sign of 2020 is “child”. Rats are symbolic of their prosperity because of their prolific production, and are also said to be the angels of the god of fertility. I hope that the mood of the stagnating society will be renewed and that we will have a year of hope.

Studio Ghibli continues to work on two new films. Also, Ghibli Park has started in earnest, so we hope to be able to deliver a lot of excitement again this year.

In 2020, Studio Ghibli will begin work on January 6 (Monday).

Thank you very much for Studio Ghibli and Studio Ghibli this year.

2020.1.1.

via Collider