Grotesqqque anime film lands a Tokyo festival slot

Atsushi Nishigori's Grotesqqque has been selected for the animation section of the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival, Aniplex announced on 18 September. The festival runs from 26 October to 4 November 2026 across the Hibiya, Yurakucho, Marunouchi and Ginza districts of Tokyo, a little over a week before the film reaches Japanese cinemas on 6 November.

A completion screening comes first

Before the festival, Aniplex will hold a completion screening at Shinjuku Wald 9 on 10 October, with two sessions: 16:30 followed by a stage greeting, and 19:30 preceded by one. All seats are reserved and cost ¥2,400. A Ticket Pia pre-reserve lottery opens at 11:00 on 19 September and runs until 23:59 on 1 October, with results on 2 October and general sales between 3 and 9 October. Kana Ichinose, Sara Minami, Kazu Inoue, Aruno Nakanishi, Miku Ichinose, Nao Tomisato and Ikumi Hasegawa are listed as guests, and the line-up is subject to change.

Three stories in one film

Grotesqqque is an omnibus of three parts — ÆLIENS, 4649 Girl and Nocturne: En Cette Nuit Grotesque — which the official site summarises as aliens, gyaru and vampires. Nishigori directed The Idolm@ster and Darling in the Franxx and served as chief animation director on Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, and the film is animated at CloverWorks. The main roles are voiced by Kana Ichinose and Sara Minami, with Nogizaka46's Kazu Inoue, Aruno Nakanishi, Miku Ichinose and Nao Tomisato, and Gen Hoshino also appears in the cast. Thirty-five artists contributed music across techno-pop, Vocaloid, city pop, loud rock, rap, EDM and classical. The last trailer we covered focused on the 4649 Girl segment, also known as Yoroshiku★Girl; the film's release date and the shape of its release have not changed.

Our opinion

A Tokyo International Film Festival slot is a useful credential but it is not a distribution deal, and it is worth being precise about what this announcement does and does not give the film. What it does give is a month of respectable surroundings before a Japanese release, and a completion screening with seven cast members on stage is a confident signal from Aniplex that the finished film holds up as a cinema event rather than a curiosity. The omnibus format is the genuine gamble here. Three segments in one ticket means three chances to lose an audience, and Nishigori has built a career on projects that are either adored or argued about — Darling in the Franxx managed both in the same run. The casting leans hard on idol fandom to fill those seats, which is smart commercial arithmetic, but the more interesting question for anyone outside Japan is whether a festival selection translates into European or British distribution. Nothing in this announcement answers that, and an omnibus with three distinct tones is exactly the kind of film that gets a single festival week and then nothing. Fingers crossed, scepticism intact.