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Natsume Anime Film Opens at #1, Gintama 2 Falls to #8

Natsume Yujin-cho the Movie: Ephemeral Bond (Natsume Yūjin-Chō: Utsusemi ni Musubu), the anime film of Yuki Midorikawa's Natsume's Book of Friends (Natsume Yūjin-Chō) manga, topped the Japanese box office rankings in its opening weekend. It opened in 136 theaters, and sold 117,473 tickets to earn 172,144,780 yen (about US$1.5 million). It is projected to earn over 1 billion yen (about US$8.7 million).

Aniplex of America will screen the film at the Anime NYC convention on Friday, November 16 at 7:45 p.m. EST.

The film features a returning cast. In addition, Kengo Kōra plays Mukuo Tsumura, a young man whom Natsume meets and befriends. Sumi Shimamoto plays Yorie Tsumura, Mukuo's mother. Ayumu Murase plays Daisuke Yūki, Natsume's schoolmate from elementary school. Viking comedy duo member Eiji Kotōge plays Monmonbō, a yōkai who has come to take its name back from Natsume. Viking comedy duo member Mizuki Nishimura plays Roppon-ude, a six-armed yōkai who aims to take Natsume's book.

Midorikawa supervised the film's original story. Animation studio Shuka returned from the television anime's fifth and sixth seasons to animate the film. Takahiro Ōmori again served as chief director, but Hideki Ito was the new director. Sadayuki Murai again handled series composition, Tatsuo Yamada returned for yōkai design, and Makoto Yoshimori again composed the music. Uru performed the film's theme song "remember."

Gintama 2: Okite wa Yaburu Tame ni Koso Aru (The Law is Surely There to be Broken), the second live-action film based on Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga, fell from #4 to #8 in its seventh weekend. The film earned 39,592,800 yen (about US$347,300) from Friday to Sunday. The film has earned a cumulative total of 3,494,612,300 yen (about US$30.66 million).

The film opened in Japan on August 17 in 345 theaters. The film earned over 800 million yen (about US$7.27 million) from Friday to Sunday to rank #1 in its opening weekend.

The film's story covers both the "Shinsengumi Crisis" and the "Shogun Reception" arcs, the latter of which features the introduction of the Shogun. The film stars Shun Oguri as Gintoki Sakata, Masaki Suda as Shinpachi Shimura, Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura, Masami Nagasawa as Tae Shimura, and Masaki Okada as Kotarō Katsura.

The live-action film of Mitsuharu Yanamoto's Hibiki: Shōsetsuka ni Naru Hōhō (Hibiki ~How to Become a Novelist~) manga dropped off the top 10 in its third weekend.

Non Non Biyori Vacation, the anime film of Atto's Non Non Biyori manga, remained at #1 in the Japanese mini-theater rankings in its sixth consecutive weekend. The film opened on August 25.

Sources: Eiga.com, Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC