While I don’t at all agree with her characterization of either Ursula K. Le Guin or Studio Ghibli as “sadly lacking in humor, appealing characters, or a coherent plot,” Abigail Nussbaum does have a good point when she asks
…can I just ask why, in light of the furor that met the Sci Fi Channel’s decision to cast their version of Earthsea with white leads, hasn’t there been a similar uproar at Studio Ghibli’s decision to do the same?
Most of the characters in the Earthsea books — the second of which I’m actually reading right now — are quite clearly not white. And that’s understandably very important to many readers and Le Guin. I understand that this is first, and perhaps foremost, a Japanese film for Japanese audiences, and there just aren’t a whole heck of a lot of Japanese people with the copper-colored skin of most of the Earthsea characters. And I haven’t read the book, or books — it appears to be a mix — on which the movie is based. But the trailer is still fairly disappointing.