What’s better than a surprise Grogu moment? One that is in tandem with Studio Ghibli! Directed by Katsuya Kondō, the hand-drawn short titled Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies is a collaboration between the two studios, and it is truly and honestly 3 minutes of pure cuteness overload.
The video features Grogu floating and using the Force to focus, only to be distracted by the dust bunnies as they come to swirl around him. And yes, this short has made me determined to get a Studio Ghibli-inspired Grogu tattoo, thank you so much. His big ears are the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life.
Like much of Studio Ghibli’s films, the short has an air of whimsy to it that makes you want to live in the film. If I can’t be best friends with Totoro, then can I be best friends with this little floating Grogu? Please? I love him so much.
The hand-drawn animated short is a first for the two studios and hopefully it is the start of a beautiful collaboration between the two fan-favorite creators—mainly because I would watch an entire series of these Zen shorts featuring different Star Wars characters. In fact, if it is just a series of Grogu shorts, I’d watch them every day of my life.
Disney’s press release for the short film gave us some information about it, describing like so: “Disney+ shared a special surprise today for fans of Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian. A new, original short, Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies, from famed Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli, will premiere on November 12, exclusively on Disney+ in celebration of the third anniversary of the streaming service and the debut of popular Star Wars series The Mandalorian. The hand-drawn, animated short is directed by Katsuya Kondo with music by Ludwig Göransson.”
And maybe it works so well because it’s the style we’ve come to know and love from Studio Ghibli mixed with the sweet Child who has taken over the internet (mixed with another amazing score from Göransson) but it’s the best 3-minute gift you could gift yourself today.
Sometimes, cute is what you need.
It’s just adorable. That’s pretty much the only thing I could think throughout the entire thing. The plot is simple: The dust bunnies are floating around Grogu, and he starts to run away but ends up falling, and then the dust bunnies give him a flower to make up for it. And frankly, that’s all we really needed plot-wise. This isn’t some grand big movie—it’s just something to bring joy to both fans of Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilm.
This is, also, one of those collaborations that work and make sense for both studios. The instant reaction online to the news of Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilm working together was one of excitement because we all knew what the possibilities were. Luckily, we were gifted with the sweetest short and (hopefully) more of the same in the future.
Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies is available on Disney+ and is 3 minutes of non-stop yelling about how cute it is, and that should be enough to get you watching it right now.
(featured image: Lucasfilm/Studio Ghibli)
