News

Hiragana Danshi Theatrical Project is Anime With Screening on March 16

The staff of the the theatrical adaptation of NTV and Tabot, Inc.'s Hiragana Danshi: Itsura no Koe smartphone game revealed on Thursday that the adaptation will be an anime titled Gekijōban Hiragana Danshi ~Jo~ (Hiragana Danshi the Movie: Prelude) that will have a theatrical premiere screening event at the Toho Cinemas Shinjuku on March 16. The staff also revealed that MAN WITH A MISSION will perform an insert song for the anime titled "DON'T LOSE YOURSELF."

The film was previously slated to open in February.

The smartphone game's official website announced last week that the game will shut down on April 13.

Seiji Mizushima (Fullmetal Alchemist, Concrete Revolutio, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Un-Go) is directing the film at the studio DIRECTIONS. Comedian Bakarhythm is writing the film's script. Additionally, Yukiko Horiguchi (K-ON!, Lucky Star, Tamako Market) is the character designer, Tom Nagae (Time of Eve, Patema Inverted producer) is the creative director, and Masayoshi Furudate is credited as a producer. Naotaka Maeda from NTV is producing and planning the film, Maseki Geinosha is credited with planning cooperation, and NTV is credited with production.

The official website for the game streamed a promotional video for the film last June.

The game takes place in a world that has lost the ability to read and write alphabets. The player is a calligrapher, who is also the only person still able to read and write characters. The player goes on a journey to find the "Hiragana Danshi" (Hiragana Men) so letters can return to the world. The characters in the game are personifications of the different syllabary letters in the Japanese hiragana alphabet.

The game's cast includes:

• Yuuki Kaji as A
• Taichi Ichikawa as U
• Junya Enoki as Chi
• Tomokazu Sugita as Nu
• Shougo Yano as No
• Chisato as Hi
• Yō Taichi as a
• Minami Shinoda as i
• Ayumu Murase as Ko
• Megumi Ogata as Ne
• Hiro Shimono as Ba
• Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Ta

Kaji, Sugita, Suzuki, Ogata, Shimono, Ichikawa, and Yano are confirmed to return for the anime. The anime also stars Keiji Fujiwara as a peasant.

NTV and Tabot, Inc. launched the "hiragana raising puzzle" game in Japan last October. The project originated from the Ichara variety program on NTV. Mizushima and Bakarhythm have both been guests on the program in the past. The program started its third season last June, and it airs on NTV once a month.

Source: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web