In Japan, there will be another broadcast of the Studio Ghibli classic, Laputa: Castle in the Sky. For this year, it will happen on 15 January. The broadcast of the classic film has set off a social media trend of sorts, and that usually happens every time the movie reaches one of its most iconic scenes.

lp-1

During the iconic scene where protagonists Sheeta and Pazu chant the word barusu in unison, fans in Japan would often tweet about “Barusu.” This first happened in 2011, where they set a world record by firing off 25,088 tweets per second. However, that record was broken in the movie’s 2013 broadcast, where twitter users tweeted out a whopping 143,199 tweets per second.

Since social media is once again bracing for a new wave of “barusu” tweets with the new broadcast, Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, was recently asked what he thought of the term and the movie becoming a social media phenomenon. To this, he responded: “I like it, I don’t tweet it myself, but once I saw it happen on Nico Nico or somewhere…it was really exciting to see.”

While a Studio Ghibli exec like Suzuki is quite social media-savvy himself, one anime legend who has been most identified with the iconic studio is not, as Suzuki himself reveals. According to him, the legendary director of Laputa: Castle in the Sky himself, Hayao Miyazaki, is not aware that his movie has sparked a social media phenomenon.

“I think there’s probably only one person in the world who doesn’t know about this…and that’s Hayao Miyazaki.”

“I’ve never mentioned it to him, and the other people he associates with haven’t either…There’s really no need for us to tell him.”

However, Suzuki’s discretion about informing Miyazaki may be a wise one, as the great director is not all fond of computers. Suzuki was also asked what the young kids, who might be watching the film for the first time, might take away from Laputa: Castle in the Sky. To this, he answered:

“This might be a rather adult way of putting it, but in the end, there’s more than reality that makes up the world. There are ideals and dreams, too, so I hope children can come away with an understanding that those non-real things exist.”

The 15 January broadcast of the movie is scheduled at 9 pm (JST) on Nippon TV, and fans in social media are eagerly awaiting on how many “barusu” tweets will be made… all except for Hayao Miyazaki himself of course.

Source: Rocket News 24