To You in the Beyond film reveals six character videos
The anime adaptation of Akiko Abe's novel has released six character videos focused on what each character is hiding, ahead of its 9 October opening in Japan.
To You in the Beyond has released six character videos that turn the focus from its bright island summer to what each character is hiding. The anime film opens in Japan on Friday 9 October.
What the six videos cover
The set gives each lead a turn: Kazuki Tsukigase, the boy who leaves the city for a high school on a remote island, and Nao, the girl he finds unconscious in a cove and who whispers the year 1974 when she wakes. Kazuki's friend Mikiya Ozaki, the islander Kōzu and Kazuki's teacher Nishina each get their own video, and the sixth turns to his classmates.
Who voices them
Hiroya Ishibashi voices Kazuki and Anna Nagase plays Nao. Hiroshi Tamaki takes the role of Kōzu and Naohito Fujiki plays Nishina, while the classmate video adds Sumire Uesaka, Wataru Hatano, Nobuhiko Okamoto and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka.
Junichi Wada directs the film at TMS Entertainment, with Hechima handling character design and chief animation direction. Tota performs the theme song, Olive. The film adapts Akiko Abe's novel, and it has also been booked for Hungary's MondoCon in October and a first Taiwan screening at the Taichung International Animation Festival.
Our opinion
A character video drop is usually housekeeping, but this set is doing real work. The first promos sold a hazy seaside romance; these six trade that glow for the things each character would rather avoid, which is the right promise for a story built on a girl who has slipped half a century forward. Whether the film earns the darkness is another question, but the marketing has stopped pretending this is only a summer idyll.