What is Ni No Kuni?

If you are at all familiar with Japanese animation or “anime” then you have undoubtedly heard of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki.  Miyazaki is best known for his art style and his award winning movies like Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away.  But something else he has been known for is his lack of embracing modern technology.  So that’s why when you discover what “Ni No Kuni” is you will become shocked and excited at the same time.  Ni No Kuni, translated The Second Country, is a both a PS3 and Nintendo DS game being developed by Level 5 and Studio Ghibli.

Immediately from the screen shots you can see how the character design strongly resembles art by the studio.  The story is about a young boy, Oliver, whose mother dies (so many of Miyazaki’s stories start with tragedy).  The boy’s doll soon comes to life and explains to him that he may be able to revive his mother in an alternate world or “second country”.  This is what sets the main character on his quest.

Gameplay will be similar to many Japanese RPGs, with overworld maps and battle sequences.  Again this is exciting because the lack of traditional JRPGs has been depressing.  And this one has everything going for it.  Excellent art design, great sound track, and an amazing story teller.

The game will be two separate stories for the PS3 and DS, but from the looks of the trailers for the DS, they will not be cutting any corners.  The game has only had a release date announced for Japan, 12/09/10,  but they would be stupid not to make the jump to other regions.