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Birthday Wonderland and Blu-ray Moribito Released Monday
posted on by Andrew Osmond
On Monday November 9, Anime Limited will release Keiichi Hara's fantasy feature film Birthday Wonderland as a Collectors Blu-ray/DVD, and in standard Blu-ray and DVD editions. The Collectors Edition will include a 40-page booklet.
On the day before her birthday, young Akane meets the mysterious alchemist Hippocrates who brings her through a basement and into a fantastical world full of magic and color. He reveals that this world is in danger, and as the "Green Goddess" it is her destiny and responsibility to save this world. The only problem? Akane just wants to go home.
The film opened in Japan in April 2019 and screened in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Russian artist Ilya Kuvshinov designed the characters and visuals, Miho Maruo wrote the script, and milet performed the image song "Wonderland." The film is an adaptation of Sachiko Kashiwaba's 1981 children's book Chikashitru Kara no Fushigi na Tabi (Strange Journey From The Basement).
Hara's previous film, Miss Hokusai, debuted in May 2015.
MVM will release a Blu-ray edition of Kenji Kamiyama's 2007 TV series, Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit. Sentai Filmworks, which released the film in America, describes the story:
"An invisible world known as "Nayug" exists parallel to this one. The egg of the Water Spirit from Nayug has been laid within Chagum, the Second Crown Prince of New-Yogo — and as a result, Chagum's father, the Emperor, has ordered him killed. After he's ensnared in an assassin's trap, Chagum is saved by a spear-wielding bodyguard named Balsa who agrees to protect Chagum as part of her journey to atone for the sins of her foster father. As Chagum interacts with Balsa's various allies, he begins to mature greatly despite his royal upbringing. Balsa and Chagum come face to face with numerous mysteries on their adventure. But who is the Water Spirit's Guardian, what secret lies behind the Summer Solstice Festival, and will Balsa be able to fend off the assassins and keep Chagum safe from the incubating egg of the Water Spirit?"
Production I.G and Kenji Kamiyama's (Eden of the East, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) 26-episode television anime series originally aired in 2007. The series adapts the first book in Nahoko Uehashi's Moribito novel series.
Anime Limited will release a standard Blu-ray edition of the two-part romcom Tokyo Marble Chocolate. It was the director debut of Naoyoshi Shiotani, who would go on to direct the Psycho-Pass franchise. It commemorated the 20th anniversary of both Production I.G, which animated it, and the music company BMG Japan. The film was inspired by two songs from BMG artists SEAMO and Sukima Switch. Production I.G described the plot as “a pure love story, colourful and sweet, yet a bit bitter, just like a piece of chocolate.”
