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Vancouver International Film Festival Screens Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko Anime Film
posted on by Adriana Hazra
The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) will screen Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, Studio 4°C's anime film of Kanako Nishi's Gyokō no Nikuko-chan (Nikuko of the Fishing Harbor) novel, on October 9 and October 11. The film will screen at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts on October 9 and at the Vancity Theatre at the VIFF Centre on October 11.
VIFF describes the film:
In this spirited rebellion against patriarchal culture's body-shaming and denial of pleasure to women, Nikuko ('Meat-girl,' voiced by Shinobu Ōtake) is a plus-sized single mother who adores food, Japanese wordplay, and shifty men, and never loses her joie de vivre. After drifting half her life with daughter Kikuko (voiced by Cocomi, daughter of SMAP megastar Takuya Kimura), Nikuko settles in an idyllic fishing village, and finds work at a yakiniku joint. Kikuko's dreamy coming-of-age is jolted by a big secret in Nikuko's past.
VIFF is screening 110 feature films and over 75 short films at this year's event. The Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society hosts the festival.
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko opened in Japan on June 11.
Ayumu Watanabe (Children of the Sea, Space Brothers) directed the anime at Studio 4°C. Satomi Ooshima (Hataraki Man) penned the script. Kenichi Konishi (Children of the Sea, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd) was the character designer and chief animation director. Sanma Akashiya (Santa Claus Tsukamaeta! screenwriter and original creator) planned and produced the film. ASMIK Ace distributed the film in Japan.
10-year-old Kurumi Inagaki performed a GReeeeN-produced cover of "Image no Uta," the debut single of veteran singer-songwriter Takuro Yoshida, as the film's theme song. GReeeeN performed the film's ending theme song "Taketen."
Gentosha published the original novel in April 2014. The "human drama" novel centers on a mother named Nikuko and her daughter, Kikuko, who live on a boat. The novel follows their paths in life, and their growth. The novels have more than 350,000 copies in print.
Source: The Vancouver International Film Festival's website
