Porco Rosso

is a 1992 Japanese animated adventure-fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is based on Hikōtei Jidai ("The Age of the Flying Boat"), a three-part 1989 watercolor manga by Miyazaki. It stars the voices of Shūichirō Moriyama, Tokiko Kato, Akemi Okamura and Akio Ōtsuka. Animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Japan Airlines and the Nippon Television Network, it was produced by Toshio Suzuki and distributed by Toho. Its score is by Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi. The plot revolves around an Italian World War I ex-fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. However, an unusual curse has transformed him into an anthropomorphic pig. Once called Marco Pagot (Marco Rossolini in the American version), he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso", Italian for "Red Pig". A first English-dubbed version was made for Japan Airlines and included in the Ghibli LD Box Set and on the first Region 2 DVD releases in 2002. The film was later redubbed by Walt Disney Home Entertainment and released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States and Canada on February 22, 2005. GKIDS re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on November 21, 2017, under a new deal with Studio Ghibli. Plot In 1929, Porco Rosso, an Italian World War I fighter ace and freelance bounty hunter, who has been cursed to have a pig's head, fends off an attack on an ocean liner by airborne pirates. Porco treats himself to dinner at the Hotel Adriano, which is run by his friend Gina.