Sho moves into his great aunt's house and soon discovers the presence of tiny people, the Borrowers, living there. A 14-year-old Borrower named Arrietty strives to prove herself by helping her father gather materials that her family needs from Sho's new home. However, Arrietty and Sho meet, breaking the rule that humans must not know about the Borrowers' existence. As Sho and Arrietty's relationship develops, human interference endangers the Borrowers' lives. Arrietty and Sho work together to try and protect the Borrowers' way of life. The Borrower Arrietty was officially announced by Studio Ghibli on 16 December 2009. The film, an adaptation of Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers, marked the directorial debut of Ghibli animator Hiromasa "Maro" Yonebayashi, with supervision by Hayao Miyazaki. The film opened in roadshow release in Japan on 17 July 2010. Though the original story was set in 1950's England, this version of the story is set in present-day Koganei, the western suburb of Tokyo where Studio Ghibli is located.