Ponyo On A Cliff

Ponyo on a Cliff, or Gake no ue no Ponyo, is the name of Hayao Miyazaki's next film. Surprising news, but at least all of the rumours we'd heard before can spawn no more - we've got the facts now, straight from the Ponyo's mouth.

As we already knew, the film is to be realised entirely in a style evocative of watercolour painting. As it has now been revealed that much of the action takes place at sea, however, this style is going to prove rather challenging for the team of background animators. It will, however, end up looking entirely gorgeous.

The plot of the film revolves around a goldfish princess, the titular Ponyo, and her desire to become human again. Her ally in the quest is a young boy, reportedly modelled on a younger version of Miyazaki's son Goro - director of the latest Ghibli feature, Tales from Earthsea.

Toho made their initial announcement of the film's name and subject matter on the NNN news bulletin, noting that the film's 'key words' would be 'mother', 'father' and 'a cliff'. Chew that over for a while, why don't you.

Ponyo on a Cliff will be released in Japan during the summer of 2008, clean up at festivals worldwide in the following months, then reach overseas markets in 2009.