We imagine fictional worlds colliding all the time. What would happen if the Doctor had a run-in with Darth Vader? Could Rick the weird scientist leave Morty behind and travel with Michonne from The Walking Dead? What if The Last of Us’ gaming world collided with Animal Crossing? (Now that would be wild.) We may never know the answers to these burning questions… unless you have fanfic that you’d like to share with the class. But we do know that The Legend of Zelda and the Studio Ghibli universe go together like peanut butter and jelly. YouTuber RwanLink used his creative chops to create Castle Town, a fanmade film set in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time‘s world with a Studio Ghibli aesthetic.
RwanLink put 600+ hours into his venture—which he created using Unreal Engine 5—with 30+ characters and a full storyline in the span of just one month. That’s basically a full-time job on top of whatever he does for a living. The love for fandom and creativity is apparent. The short film clocks in at less than 20 minutes and it is so visually stunning and comforting. It’s the perfect way to celebrate 25 years of Ocarina of Time. The character’s expressions and music compensate for the lack of dialogue as we follow Link on a brand-new adventure. And yes, we saw the teaser before, but this is a longer trailer with even more animation.
Zelda fans took to RwanLink’s comments to give him lots of love. From praising his skills to simply thanking him for putting so much love and care into celebrating the game, there’s so many heartwarming exchanges. This speaks to the enduring power of both universes, which are still going strong after all this time.
We hope to see more of The Legend of Zelda fan films in the style of Studio Ghibli in the future.