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Studio Dot's Beyond the Trail Anime Short Gets Late-Night Screenings in Japan on October 10
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Animation studio Studio Dot began streaming a trailer for its Beyond the Trail (Wadachi o Koete Yuke) theatrical anime short on Tuesday. The trailer reveals that the anime will open with late night screenings at Tokyo's Theatre Shinjuku for one week beginning on October 10, followed by screenings in other cinemas in Japan.

The Fantasia Festival in Montreal screened the anime as part of its Anime no Bento lineup of shorts on July 19. The anime screened in competition for the Satoshi Kon for Excellence in Animation Competition in the festival, and won the Bronze Audience Award for Best Animated Short. The festival describes the anime, quoting Canadian comic artist and writer Rupert Bottenberg:
In the shadow of a ruinous war, three young women are serving as soldiers in a barren, snow-swept landscape. Their task is to scour the frozen wastes for stragglers of the Iron Army, eerie, formerly human flesh-weapons. Gros and especially the inexperienced Leichte admire Esus, stronger and wiser than they. Esus has her weaknesses, though, and unhealed wounds in her heart. Somewhere out there in the vast, deadly sea of snow lie answers—to Esus' pain, and to the awful secret of this war. A truly independent, crowdfunded labour of love from a dedicated team of young volunteer animators, each contributing what they could in their spare time, BEYOND THE TRAIL is a solid, self-contained serving of science-fiction anime, imaginative and emotionally honest.
Studio Dot ran a Campfire crowdfunding campaign for the anime last year.
Artist Vab.png is the director, scriptwriter, and a key animator for the anime. CUZ is the art director and color designer, while Shimauma is the color key artist. FutaMoku and Utsuro Ishinomaki are producing. CloA and Massy are the compositing directors of photography. Shunpei Yokoyama handled the audio recording and engineering. Takuto Fukuyama was responsible for sound effects, and Keisuke Sogō (evance inc.) is the foley artist. Abu-Se-Ken, Yuki Hayashi, Lemone Ido, ZEROKU, and Mizore composed the music. Abu-Se-Ken produced the theme song "Kamome feat. Takanashi Yaya."
The cast includes:
- Lemone Ido as Licht
- Hotori Asami as Esus
- Yui Watanabe as Gros
- Kirara Ŏmori as Comet
- Yōta Kawase as Rommel
- Mana Kobayashi as Mainetenance Chief
Sources: Beyond the Trail anime's website, Comic Natalie