The Simpsons can still pull a little magic out of a pile of crap, the latest example being an amazing Hayao Miyazaki/ Studio Ghibli tribute in this week’s episode. It’s a creative and respectful nod to Miyazaki’s work, even if it seems like he isn’t really retiring once again.
Otto is the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro, The Kwik-E-Mart is standing in for Howl’s Moving Castle, and a myriad of other Simpsons characters appear as characters from across Studio Ghibli’s history. It’s one of the nicer and more creative things I’ve seen recently outside of the couch gags.
Slate has put together a full annotation video, but hopefully you already have the knowledge to point them out yourself. I’m off to shuffle around my Netflix queue because I suddenly feel nostalgic.
(Via Fox)
