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Toei Animation's Foxing: Kitsuné-tsuki Anime Screens in Festivals

Toei Animation announced on Thursday that FOXING: Kitsuné-tsuki, a new short anime film by its Eterna Animation brand, will screen in a number of festivals in the film festival circuit. The first of these will be the Fantasia International Film Festival, where it will screen on July 18 in competition for the Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation, followed by a screening at the Indy Shorts Film Festival on July 22 and 23, as well as a screening at the Regina International Film Festival and Awards, which takes place on August 12 to 22.

Toei Animation describes the short film:

Shinano is a character designer drifting through a monotonous routine. Her work is absorbed into a commercially driven system, and on social media, she feels no sense of belonging, deepening her loneliness.

One day, Koyami—a fox-masked character from her old doodles—appears, followed by other discarded creations, blurring reality and imagination.

As she wanders through her own mind, Shinano realizes they are fragments of herself—the shape of her loneliness—and chooses to keep creating while living with it.

Takeru Shinozuka is directing the short film in his commercial directorial debut, and is also writing the script and designing the characters. Daisuke Sakaguchi is composing the music. Miho Wataya stars in the anime.

Yoshihide Moriyama is producing the anime and Kenta Oka is the associate producer.

Eterna Animation introduced the short film at the MIFA Talent Panel during the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

The short film will debut this year.

Toei Animation launched the new original animation brand called Eterna Animation, in celebration of the studio's 70th anniversary, this year. Toei Animation stated regarding the new company:

Through Eterna Animation, the company will establish a sustainable creative platform dedicated to the ongoing production of original works. The initiative also places a strong focus on discovering and nurturing emerging creative talents as part of a next-generation animation project model.

[...] The brand name "ETERNA" (meaning "eternal") reflects Toei Animation's aspiration to create works that linger deeply in the hearts and memories of viewers. Guided by five core creative values—Originality, Exclusivity, Artistry, Quality, and Decency—the brand seeks to deliver new stories, spotlight new voices, and explore expressive new forms of animation with artistic freedom and lasting emotional impact.

Source: Press release