News

Many of the biggest anime phenomena are the ongoing series that have accrued hundreds, or even thousands, of episodes over the years. That said, anime feature films have the potential to hit even greater heights due to factors like bigger budgets and their compulsion to tell standalone stories.

Related: 10 Anime Movies That Wasted Great Premises

Particular anime movies like Akira, Spirited Away, or even more recent fare like Promare have become evergreen classics that showcase what this medium can accomplish. However, there are many impressive anime movies that slip through the cracks and haven’t achieved the same notoriety, despite the level of excellence behind them.

Updated on May 8th, 2023 by Casey Coates: This list has been updated to include trailers and to reflect Cbr's current publishing style.

Belladonna Of Sadness Release Date: June 30, 1973

Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness is 50 years old and yet modern anime movies struggle...

Speaking at Singapore’s Atf, Erika North outlined ambitious plans to push into a region that is fast becoming ground zero in the global streaming wars.

Erika North, Amazon Prime Video director, local originals Apac, has announced that the global streamer is planning to make a big push into Southeast Asia, expanding on its existing activity in Japan, India and Australia, and is seeking local-language projects to build out its slate.

“Today is a particularly exciting moment at Amazon Prime Video in that we are going to be expanding into Southeast Asia,” said North, speaking at the on-going Asia TV Forum & Market.

Japanese director Keiichi Hara is probably best known for his 2007 film Summer Days With COO. His new film Colorful has just won both the Special Distinction and the Audience Award at this year's Annecy International Film Festival Awards. The film is based on the young adults' novel by Eto Mori that won the 1999 Sankei Children's Publishing Cultural Prize. Embedded below is the very colorful (...sorry!) trailer....

The official website for Colorful, the latest animated film by Keiichi Hara (Summer Days with Coo), has been updated with a full trailer. This one opens and closes with a live-action shot of actress Kumiko Aso reading from Eto Mori’s original novel.

The story involves a spirit referred to only as “boku” (me) who has recently died. “Congratulations! You’ve won the lottery!”, an angel informs him. In order to learn from his mistakes and to get a second shot at life, the spirit is put in the body of Makoto, a 14-year-old who recently committed suicide. While his life in this new body is pretty easy at first, it isn’t long before he understands why the previous resident chose his fate, as he’s now stuck in the same situation Makoto was and forced to deal with the confusing eccentricities of his family and friends. However, he...

Toho has released a second teaser for their upcoming animated film, Colorful, which was directed by Keiichi Hara (Summer Days with Coo) for Sunrise animation studio.

Based on Eto Mori’s award-winning novel geared toward young adults, the story involves a spirit referred to only as “boku” (me) who has recently died. “Congratulations! You’ve won the lottery!”, an angel informs him. In order to learn from his mistakes and to get a second shot at life, the spirit is put in the body of Makoto, a 14-year-old who recently committed suicide. While his life in this new body is pretty easy at first, it isn’t long before he understands why the previous resident chose his fate, as he’s now stuck in the same situation Makoto was and forced to deal with the confusing eccentricities of his family and friends. However, he eventually begins to think about the true meaning behind this challenge.

Colorful, the latest animated film by Keiichi Hara (Summer Days with Coo) is set to open in Japan this Summer and earlier today Toho finally revealed its impressive voice cast.

The announced cast of voice actors includes Aoi Miazaki, Akina Minami, Kumiko Aso, Kazato Tomizawa, Michael, Jingi Irie, Akiyoshi Nakao, Keiji Fujiwara, and Katsumi Takahashi - an eclectic mix of live-action and voice talent.

Based on an award-winning novel by Eto Mori, the film’s story involves a spirit referred to only as “boku” (me) who is placed into the body of a 9th grader named Makoto who recently committed suicide. At first, his new life seems like it will be easy, but the experience becomes more challenging as he gradually discovers some of the problems Makoto was dealing with at the time he decided to kill himself.

Aoi will play one of Makoto’s classmates, Shoko; Minami will play...

First Teaser Trailer for Colorful from director Keiichi Hara and animation studio Sunrise. The upcoming anime is based on an award-winning novel by Eto Mori and tells the story of an nameless spirit that has recently died just to win a second chance in heaven’s very own lottery. The spirit gets put in the body of a 14-year old boy who recently committed suicide, but what looks like a real gift from heaven at first quickly turns into a real challenge as the spirit has to confront the problems of the “original owner” of his new body.

[See post to watch Flash video]

[via Nippon Cinema]...

Toho has released a teaser for their upcoming animated film, Colorful, which was directed by Keiichi Hara (Summer Days with Coo) for Sunrise animation studio.

Based on Eto Mori’s award-winning novel geared toward young adults, the story involves a spirit referred to only as “boku” (me) who has recently died. “Congratulations! You’ve won the lottery!”, an angel informs him. In order to learn from his mistakes and to get a second shot at life, the spirit is put in the body of Makoto, a 14-year-old who recently committed suicide. While his life in this new body is pretty easy at first, it isn’t long before he understands why the previous resident chose his fate, as he’s now stuck in the same situation Makoto was and forced to deal with the confusing eccentricities of his family and friends. However, he eventually begins to think about the true meaning behind this challenge.