A 75-second look at “nervous romance animation” Cherry and Virgin has been released, presenting to audiences its lead pair and varied visual expressions.
For the characters, male protagonist Ryo, a 32-year-old erotic manga artist, is notably depicted in black-and-white, while female protagonist Ami, a 28-year-old fujoshi, has full colors and more elaborate shading and post-processing. The respective styles of their character designs is another point of differentiation.
The new preview’s release also came with the announcement of a 2027 release date.
Cherry and Virgin is directed by Masanao Kawajiri, whose short film A Japanese Boy Who Draws also featured a diverse visual presentation. The upcoming movie is said to resemble its predecessor by using animation as its base, while incorporating live-action and manga elements.
Ryo and Ami are voiced by Takashi Okado and Yaeko Kiyose, respectively. Okado and Kiyose also provided actual performances for the anime’s rotoscoping.
Aside from Kawajiri, the production credits include manga artist Katsuya Takayanagi as Ryo’s character designer, manga artist Ryo Nakaharu as Ami’s character designer, and Mic Maeda as color designer and image board artist. Illustrators Nishizawa 5mm and lack will guest star.
Cherry and Virgin previously launched a crowdfunding campaign in 2021, managing to raise 2,740,730 yen (~US$17.2 thousand) out of its 3 million yen goal. The money is intended to fund local screening events and appearances at international movie festivals, things like posters and leaflets, and rewards for supporters.
Source: @candvMovie
