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Ghost Cat Anzu (known in Japan as Bakeneko Anzu-chan ), an upcoming Japanese and French theatrical anime film co-production, released a new trailer today alongside information on new cast, the official movie poster, and the official theme song performer. The film releases in Japanese theaters on July 19, 2024. Gkids, who executive produced the film, will also distribute the film in North America this year. The film will also host its world premiere at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival this month. The new cast members for Ghost Cat Anzu include: Tetsuya, Karin's Father voiced / motion-captured by Munetaka Aoki Yuzuki, Karin's Mother voiced / motion-captured by Miwako Ichikawa Osho-san, Anzu's Foster Parent voiced / motion-captured by Keiichi Suzuki (of Moonriders) The God of Poverty voiced / motion-captured by Shingo Mizusawa Tanuki voiced / motion-captured by Wataru Sawabe (of Skirt) Actors Mutsuo Yoshioka and Shohei Uno also appear in the film. Actor and musician Chiaki Sato...

The official website for the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Yuna Takagi's Fujimi Lovers ( Undead Lovers ) fantasy romance manga released a full trailer today, announcing the release date of May 10, 2024 in Japan. Clip from Cinema Today's official YouTube channel Fujimi Lovers by Yuna Takagi ran in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shonen Magazine from its May 2013 to March 2014 issues, then compiled in three tankobon volumes. The story centers on Rino Hasebe, who is chasing after Jun Kono. She believes he is "the one," but he suddenly disappears from this world when she falls in love with him. Rino and Jun meet many times in their lives, and each time Rino tells Jun that she loves him, they fall in love, and Jun "disappears". Then, Rino's undaunted love for him leads to a miraculous ending. Daigo Matsui, the director, has worked on the film adaptation for ten years after reading the original story.

With his debut feature On-Gaku: Our Sound, Kenji Iwaisawa looked to “pursue a new expression” in animation, through the juxtaposition of offbeat characters and deadpan atmosphere not often found in the medium.

Based on a manga created by Hiroyuki Ôhashi, On-Gaku follows three delinquent teenagers as they set out to form a band. Culminating in an emotional scene involving live performance, the rest of the film was fashioned to be as muted and simple as possible, for reasons related to both story and budget.

Featuring original songs by musicians Tomohiko Banse, Grandfunk and Wataru Sawabe, the comedy picked up the Annecy International Animated Film Festival’s award for Best Original Music, following its debut in Ottowa in September of 2019.

In conversation with Deadline, Iwaisawa details the musical and visual influences behind his indie passion project, the rotoscoping involved in creating it, and a scene he’s particularly proud of, that...

“On-Gaku: Our Sound,” an oddball music comedy directed by Kenji Iwaisawa, upends all that is typical of Japanese animation. glutted with mind-bending sci-fi conundrums or elaborate time-slip-body-switching fantasies. But what fuels its easy breakout to western audiences are its bona fide rock references and characters as deadpan as any Aki Kaurismaki cast.

Signs of “On-Gaku” being the year’s biggest dark horse in anime fandom came in September 2019, when it beat “I Lost My Body” and “Children of the Sea” to win the Grand Prix at the Ottawa Animation Festival. It has since been picked up stateside by Gkids and should enjoy wide fest play following its presentation in the Contrechamps Competition section at the Annecy Animation Festival, which just awarded the film a prize for its music.

“On-Gaku,” which simply means “music” in Japanese, was adapted from a revised draft of the cult manga “Ongaku and Manga,” first self-published...