Warner Bros. Japan announced
at a press conference on Saturday that Level
5 is producing an anime film of its Ni
no Kuni video game franchise that will debut this summer.
Yoshiyuki Momose (The Legend of the Galactic Heroes character
designer, Only Yesterday and Pom Poko storyboarder) is returning from the game series to direct the
film, and Hayao Miyazaki's longtime collaborator Joe Hisaishi (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) is returning to compose
the music. Level
5 CEO Akihiro Hino is the executive producer
and scriptwriter, and he is also credited with the original work. OLM (Pokémon, Inazuma
Eleven franchises) is animating the film. Warner
Bros. Japan is the distributor.
Hino and Momose
attended the press conference. The event revealed character designs and a
teaser trailer.
Actor Kento Yamazaki (live-action Death Note's L,
live-action Orange's Kakeru
Naruse) is starring in the film as the protagonist Yū.
In
the story, Yū is a high school student, and his best friend is Haru and his
childhood friend is Kotona. Through a certain incident, they travel back and
forth between reality and Ni no Kuni. When Kotona's life is put in danger, the
three must make "the ultimate choice."
Warner Bros. Japan had teased on Thursday that it would make a big
announcement on Saturday. The teaser stated that the "global" project
has been in the works for 10 years, and is a new challenge from "a person
who launched a movement in Japan."
Hino had teased on
Thursday that he might be involved with the film, stating "What is this?
As I thought..."
The official
website for the AnimeJapan 2019 convention revealed last month that
the event's Cobalt Blue Stage will hold the "Warner Brothers Film New Film Stage Event" on March 23 from 3:15 p.m. to
3:50 p.m. The stage event will provide more details. Staff and voice actors for
the project will appear.
Level 5 debuted the fantasy role-playing game Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for
the PlayStation 3 in Japan in 2011, after a Ni no Kuni: Shikkoku no Madōshi game for Nintendo DS in 2010 and a game for Japanese phones. Namco Bandai Games then released Ni
no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch outside Japan in 2013. The
RPG featured cut scenes from Studio Ghibli.
Level 5 released the Ni
No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom PlayStation 4 and PC game on
March 23.
Update: Added visual and
details about story and staff. Source:
Ni no Kuni anime film's website
Source: LINE Live
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Warner Bros. Japan, Level 5 Reveal Ni no Kuni Anime Film for Summer 2019