In September 2023, the YouTube channel of animation studio CONTRAIL revealed an over-three-minute (and now unavailable) pilot for Sunao Katabuchi‘s new project The Mourning Children: Nagiko and The Girls Wearing Tsurubami Black. A “New Edition” of that pilot has been released today.
When The Mourning Children will begin screening is still unknown at this point. Its title was announced back in May 2023, and Katabuchi said that preparations for the project began in 2017.
The stage of the film is Heian Japan. CONTRAIL says of the movie:
The film follows Kyoto during the Heian period (the 10th century) in Japan. Tens of thousands dead, gutters filled with corpses, children abandoned in the mountains, and groups of wild dogs vigilantly watching outside the city. The elegant image of the Heian period has been shown in many literary and artistic works. However, Katabuchi’s new work takes us back to Kyoto a thousand years ago, when the city was shrouded in darkness due to repeated epidemics of plague.
Staff credits (as of 2023)
• Director, scriptwriter, and original creator: Sunao Katabuchi (In This Corner of the World and Mai Mai Miracle director and writer)
• Assistant director: Chie Uratani (In This Corner of the World)
• Animation director: Masashi Ando (The Deer King co-director, character designer, and animation director)
• Music composer: Akira Senju (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
• Animation production: CONTRAIL
Source: CONTRAIL YouTube channel
