Two teaser visuals and a teaser trailer have been revealed for the upcoming Ghost Cat Anzu, which is set to premiere theatrically in Japan in July 2024. TOHO NEXT is distributing the 2D-rotoscoped Japanese and French co-production.
The trailer previews the main characters and voice cast members, which include Mirai Moriyama as Anzu and Noa Goto as Karin.
The anime film’s production staff includes Youko Kuno (The Case of Hana & Alice rotoscope animation director) as director for the animated portions, Nobuhiro Yamashita as the live-action director, and Shinji Imaoka as scriptwriter. Shin-Ei Animation and French-based studio Miyu Productions are co-producing the animation for the film, with Shin-Ei Animation focusing on character movement and Miyu Productions on the backgrounds and color.
The film screened as a work-in-progress entry at the Annecy Animation Festival in June 2023. GKIDS acquired the North American rights to the film last summer.
Ghost Cat Anzu is based on Takashi Imashiro’s original manga that was serialized in Kodansha’s Comic Bonbon from July 15, 2006 to October 15, 2007. A single tankoubon volume was released by Kodansha in 2007.
Miyu Productions describes the film’s synopsis as:
Karin, 11 years old, is abandoned by her father at her grandfather’s house, the monk of a small town in the Japanese countryside. Her grandfather asks Anzu, his jovial and helpful although rather capricious ghost cat, to look after her. The meeting of their strong characters causes sparks, at least at the beginning…
