By Samantha Simmons

If you’ve ever wondered what life is like working in an animation studio, one popular company in Japan might have just the thing for you. Studio Ghibli, famous for its films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke and Kiki’s Delivery Service, has announced that it will begin publishing its monthly newsletter Neppu online for free. The monthly distribution will begin with this month’s issue, which was published today.

The print copy of the newsletter has been available for the past few years, but has only been available in about 40 bookstores. Due to the high demand of the newsletter but the low access to potential readers, Studio Ghibli finally decided to go digital. This upgrade will reach more audiences and hopefully help the newsletter gain more popularity. However, the digital copy will not contain all the content of the print copy.

Neppu focuses on giving readers and inside look into the Ghibli animation studio. It features staff anecdotes, stories about life in the studio and a look at the culture of animation. The entirety of the newsletter is printed in Japanese.

This month’s issue will focus on digital versus print media. Yomiuri Shinbun Group’s representative director Tsuneo Watanabe will discuss the work of the late anime producer, Seiichiro Ujie. daisuke Tsuda, Mitsunori Sugihara, Tatsuya Inoue, Nobuo Kawakami and Eiji Otsuka are this month’s featured writers.

The newsletter is available online in PDF format until November 11.

To take a look at this exciting newsletter, download the PDF file at the newsletter website by clicking here!

(Hint: Click where it says “Neppu” in the first paragraph, next to the image of newsletter volume 10)