Lord Of The Rings Becomes Studio Ghibli Anime Adventure In Fantastical Art

Summary AI-generated art imagines what The Lord of the Rings would look like if it were an anime in the style of Studio Ghibli, and the results are compelling.

would look like if it were an anime in the style of Studio Ghibli, and the results are compelling. Middle-earth is set to be explored in the anime realm for the first time with the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

The Lord of the Rings has a great deal of untapped potential in the medium of animation.

The Lord of the Rings becomes a fantastical Studio Ghibli anime adventure in new AI art. Adapting the work of author J.R.R. Tolkien, the first Lord of the Rings movie from director Peter Jackson was released in 2001, with the remaining two movies following in 2002 and 2003. The trilogy, which takes place in the vast fantasy world of Middle-earth, chronicles Frodo's (Elijah Wood) epic quest to destroy the One Ring, with the whole story playing out in live-action.

Now, AI-generated art shared by Unearthly Hub on Instagram imagines what The Lord of the Rings would look like as an anime in the distinctive style of Studio Ghibli. Check out the art below:

The art reimagines characters like Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Legolas, Sauron, and Galadriel, among others, and features a colorful and vibrant animated take on Middle-earth. Shelob, notably, looks even more formidable in the anime art than in Jackson's film.

Studio Ghibli is known for movies like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, and more.

Lord Of The Rings Is About To Get The Anime Treatment

The War Of The Rohirrim Will Bring The Franchise Back To Animation

The first feature film adaptation of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings actually came in 1978 with an animated movie of the same name. This film, however, wasn't particularly well-received, and it's since been something of a question mark whether the story and the world would work in the form of animation. Thankfully, an upcoming film is set to plunge the franchise into the world of animation for the first time in decades.

Director Kenji Kamiyama's The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is due out later this year, and it will be the franchise's first major foray into the world of anime, a subsection of the larger animation umbrella. This film is set almost 200 years before Frodo's quest to destroy the Ring, and it chronicles the life and exploits of Helm Hammerhand. Hammerhand, notably, is the founder of Helm's Deep, the massive fortress around which most of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' climax is focused.

Images from The War of the Rohirrim were just recently released, teasing an epic, stylized vision for the film. If the film manages to connect with audiences and succeed in theaters, it could actually pave the way for further anime exploration of Middle-earth in future films. The War of the Rohirrim is still a number of months away, but the latest batch of anime The Lord of the Rings art only makes the project all the more exciting.

Source: @unearthly.ai