When Netmarble’s adventure-crafting game Bloomwalker was first shown off at Gamescom in 2025, it was pretty clear that the devs were taking a lot of inspiration from Studio Ghibli movies like Howl’s Moving Castle. As of today, that inspiration is now semi-official, as the latest trailer for Bloomwalker at Tokyo Game Show 2026 confirms that Netmarble’s game will be part of the same universe as Level-5’s Ni no Kuni RPG franchise.
If you missed the first trailer for Bloomwalker last year, when it was previously known as Project Bloomwalker, the similarities between the game and Studio Ghibli’s animation style can’t be overstated.
A living, moving house and a tiny sentient fire that helps cook your food? Howl’s Moving Castle. A giant magic cat with a big creepy grin? My Neighbor Totoro. An anti-pollution story about cleansing a forest? Princess Mononoke.
While the art style is particularly evocative of Level-5 and Studio Ghibli’s Ni no Kuni games, there was a good explanation for that. Netmarble developed and produced the controversial mobile spin-off Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds back in 2021.
Earlier today at TGS 2026, we got our first new look at Bloomwalker since it was first revealed, and a tiny piece of info hidden right at the end of the new trailer pointed to an unexpected crossover: the copyright info for both Ni no Kuni and Level-5.
To clarify, this is the first time we’ve heard of Bloomwalker being in any way officially related to Ni no Kuni, with the last mainline game in the franchise being Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom in 2018. It’s also unclear exactly how Bloomwalker is related to the series, or how much involvement Level-5 has in its development.
Considering that Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds was developed entirely without Level-5’s help, it would come as no surprise if Level-5 simply licensed Netmarble the Ni no Kuni IP for Bloomwalker. Likewise, Studio Ghibli hasn’t been involved in the series since 2011, following the release of the original Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.
This might be good news for fans of the Ni no Kuni series, since Level-5’s reputation has taken a massive hit recently following the backlash to a genAI-laden presentation that aired on September 10. Netmarble will have a lot to prove itself, however. Its previous Ni no Kuni game used blockchain junk that wasn’t stripped out until just this year.
