David Farnor | On 14, Nov 2022

Lucasfilm and Studio Ghibli aren’t two companies that you’d necessarily expect to see in the same sentence, unless it was to talk about how adorable it would be if the two were to team up on a Baby Yoda animated short. Now, amazingly, that’s exactly what’s happened.

This weekend saw the surprise debut of Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a super-cute short film from the Japanese animation powerhouse, which has gifted the world such classics as Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro. The new short, which marks the directorial debut of Katsuya Kondo (a veteran of Kiki’s Delivery Service and Ponyo), features the Dust Bunnies rom Spirited Away, who gently make friends with Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, the breakout star of Disney+ series The Mandalorian.

The short arrived on Disney+ after several teasing tweets last week.

pic.twitter.com/RZ74q04w7J

— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) November 10, 2022

Discover Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a hand-drawn animation by Studio Ghibli, is streaming tomorrow on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/ODqHrgIwnB

— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) November 12, 2022

Accompanied by music from The Mandalorian composer Ludwig Göransson, the calm, meditative collaboration marks Lucasfilm’s ongoing exploration of anime as a format for Star Wars, with Disney+ debuting in 2020 an anime anthology titled Star Wars: Visions (with Season 2 arriving soon).

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