News

Monster Strike Film Tops Box Office, Re:Zero OVA at #8

Monster Strike The Movie: Sora no Kanata (Beyond the Sky) 3DCG anime film topped the Japanese box office rankings in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on October 5 in 336 theaters, and sold 115,000 tickets to earn 151 million yen (about US$1.33 million).

Alice Hirose (live-action Silver Spoon's Aki Mikage, live-action Hyouka's Eru Chitanda) made her voice acting debut in the film as Sora, a mysterious blue-haired girl. Other cast members include Yutaka Nakano, Rica Matsumoto, Mika Doi, Tomokazu Sugita, Nobunaga Shimazaki, and Atsushi Tamaru.

Hiroshi Nishikiori (A Certain Magical Index both seasons and film, Azumanga Daioh, Trinity Seven) directed the film at CG studio Orange. Takayo Ikami wrote the script. XFlag is credited with production, and Warner Brothers is distributing. Tatsurō Iwamoto returned for the original character designs and Yuichi Tanaka adapted the designs for animation. Eiji Inomoto directed the CG animation. Masaru Yokoyama composed the music and Jin Aketagawa served as the sound director. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu performed the theme song "Kizunami."

Natsume Yujin-cho the Movie: Ephemeral Bond (Natsume Yūjinchō ~Utsusemi ni Musubu~), the anime film of Yuki Midorikawa's Natsume's Book of Friends (Natsume Yūjin-Chō) manga, dropped from #1 to #3 in its second weekend. The film earned 129,553,480 yen from Friday to Sunday (about US$1.14 million), and has earned a cumulative total of 434,489,940 yen (about US$3.84 million).

The film opened in Japan on September 29. It topped the Japanese box office rankings in its opening weekend, and sold 117,473 tickets to earn 172,144,780 yen (about US$1.5 million). It is projected to earn over 1 billion yen (about US$8.7 million).

Aniplex of America will screen the film at the Anime NYC convention on Friday, November 16 at 7:45 p.m. EST.

The film features a returning cast. In addition, Kengo Kora plays Rio Tsumura, a young man whom Natsume meets and befriends. Sumi Shimamoto plays Yori Tsumura, Rio's mother. Ayumu Murase plays Daisuke Yūki, Natsume's schoolmate from elementary school. Viking comedy duo member Eiji Kotōge plays Monmonbō, a yōkai who has come to take its name back from Natsume. Viking comedy duo member Mizuki Nishimura plays Roppon-ude, a six-armed yōkai who aims to take Natsume's book.

Midorikawa supervised the film's original story. Animation studio Shuka returned from the television anime's fifth and sixth seasons to animate the film. Takahiro Ōmori again served as chief director, but Hideki Ito was the new director. Sadayuki Murai again handled series composition, Tatsuo Yamada returned for yōkai design, and Makoto Yoshimori again composed the music. Uru performed the film's theme song "remember."

The live-action film of Rie Aruga's Perfect World manga ranked #4 in its opening weekend. The film opened on October 5 in 323 theaters, and sold 89,000 tickets to earn 17,380,800 yen (about US$153,800).

Kenji Shibayama (Nagareboshi ga Kienai Uchi ni, Kimi no Suki na Uta) directed the film, and Keiko Kanome (Time Slip Megane, Chibi Maruko-chan) wrote the script. Takefumi Haketa composed the film's music. E-girls performs the film's theme song "Perfect World."

The film stars Sandaime J Soul Brothers and Exile member Takanori Iwata (live-action Crows Explode film, right in visual right) as Itsuki Ayukawa, and Hana Sugisaki (live-action Blade of the Immortal film, left in visual right) plays Tsugumi Kawana.

Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga in English digitally, and it describes the story:

26-year-old Tsugumi Kawana reunites with her first crush from high school, Itsuki Ayukawa, at a get-together between an architecture firm and the interior design company she works at. He sends her heart aflutter, until she realizes he's now disabled, and in a wheelchair. At first she feels she couldn't date a guy in a wheelchair, but then her feelings begin to change …

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Memory Snow, The first OVA episode in the Re:ZERO franchise, ranked #8 in its opening weekend. The film opened on October 6 in 77 theaters.

The OVA features a returning cast and staff. Masaharu Watanabe directed the anime at WHITE FOX. Tatsuya Koyanagi was the chief director. Kyuta Sakai was the animation director, and also adapted Shinichirou Otsuka's original character designs for animation. Masahiro Yokotani was in charge of scenario, and original light novel author Tappei Nagatsuki was credited with scenario supervision. Kenichiro Suehiro composed the music.

The 25-episode Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- television anime of Tappei Nagatsuki's novel premiered in April 2016. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. Crunchyroll is also streaming both the Re:Zero ~Starting Break Time From Zero~ and Re:PETIT ~Starting Life in Another World from PETIT~ short anime spinoff series. Funimation released the television anime on home video with an English dub on June 19. The franchise will get a second original OVA "Hyōketsu no Kizuna" (Frozen Bonds).

The live-action film adaptation of Yuki Shiraishi's Ano Ko no Toriko manga opened at #11.

Gintama 2: Okite wa Yaburu Tame ni Koso Aru (The Law is Surely There to be Broken), the second live-action film based on Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga, fell off the top 10 in its eighth weekend. The film earned 32,390,400 yen (about US$286,600) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a total of 3,566,060,100 yen (about US$31.56 million).

The anime film adaptation of writer Hiroko Reijō and artist Asami's juvenile literature series Waka Okami wa Shōgakusei! (The Young Innkeeper Is a Grade Schooler!, or Okko's Inn) earned 25,259,000 yen (about US$223,500) from Friday to Sunday in its third week, and has earned a cumulative total of 150,045,900 yen (about US$1.32 million).

Non Non Biyori Vacation, the anime film of Atto's Non Non Biyori manga, fell off the top five mini-theater rankings in its seventh weekend, after six consecutive weekends at #1. The film opened on August 25.

Sources: Eiga.com, Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC