Studio Ghibli Meets Minecraft

As you may know, I'm a big fan of Minecraft, the indie-videogame sensation that lets you explore a vast world, discover enormous cave systems, and build pretty much whatever you want.  Indeed, since Minecraft is still an unfinished game (you can download the Beta today or wait for the November 11 release), many people enjoy the building aspect most of all, especially with online multiplayer.

This brings us to this pair of videos, showing dedicated Minecraft renditions of Studio Ghibli classics.  Featured on the first video are homages to Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle.  These environments have been recreated in painstaking detail; you can tell it took a fair number of people many weeks to put everything together.  Amazing!

The second video is devoted entirely to the Minecraft rendition of the bath house from Spirited Away.  It's a stunning sight.  Not only has the exterior been built perfectly, but the interior as well.  Have a good chuckle at the sight of the coal room!  How did they do that?  I'm patting myself on the shoulder because I built a swimming pool on the roof of my lookout tower next to my house.

Somewhere on my to-do list, I keep telling myself that I should build a giant Totoro billboard.  Then I see these massive structures that others have created, and lose my nerve. My skills are only barely adequate.