Thanks to Madman, we had the chance to see Studio Ghibli’s new masterpiece Arrietty on Blu-Ray.

Based on Mary Norton’s book ‘The Borrowers’, Arrietty is a story about “Tiny People” in the human world, where their existence is a myth which suddenly changes when our main character Arrietty (voiced by Mirai Shida) gets involved in trying to help a 12-year-old kid, Sho (voiced by Ryûnosuke Kamiki) who suffers a heart disease, hence becoming very close to each other, raising suspicions amongst housemaids.

Directed by Hirosama Yonebayashi of a screenplay by the great Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away), Arrietty follows the style of every Miyazaki story with likeable characters and cute childish innocence enjoyable for all ages.

The Blu-Ray quality is stunning with crystal clear images which make us appreciate all the work behind the film even more, including marvelous art direction and great attention to detail in every scene, using vibrant colors and elaborated 2D animation. Moreover, it also includes a fantastic special feature made especially for anime/manga fans such as alternate angle storyboards to show us how some of the scenes can look from another perspective.

You can select the audio in English (we prefer the original Japanese with English subtitles), which has well-known actors voice such as Saoirse Ronan as Arriety, Mark Strong as Pod, and Olivia Colman as Homily, just to name a few.

Special features of course include interviews with Hayao Miyazaki (it’s very interesting as Miyazaki talks about the creative process behind the film), director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and the English voice cast.

Meanwhile there are original Japanese trailers, TV Spots and Arrietty‘s song music video, making this DVD release a complete Studio Ghibli package to complete your collection.

Madman brings Arrietty to Australia in DVD and Blu-Ray, a film on top of our favorite list from 2011′s Japanese film festival and a must have for all the Studio Ghibli fans.

Arrietty available now on DVD and Blu-Ray

Read our full Arrietty movie review here.