News

Saekano Anime Film Debuts at #5

Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata fine, the anime film based on Fumiaki Maruto's Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend light novel series, opened at #5 on 121 screens in Japan. It earned 136,362,600 yen (about US$1.25 million) on Saturday and Sunday. The film opened last Saturday, October 26.

Kanta Kamei served as chief director at CloverWorks, and Akihisa Shibata (episode director for the two previous seasons) was the director. Fumiaki Maruto returned to write the script, and Tomoaki Takase returned to design the characters. Aniplex is distributing the film.

The novels inspired an anime adaptation that premiered in January 2015 in Japan on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block, and a second series premiered on the same block in April 2017. Aniplex of America licensed the first series under the title Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, and streamed it on Aniplex Channel, Crunchyroll, and Hulu as it aired. Aniplex of America streamed the second series under the title Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Flat on Amazon's now-defunct Anime Strike channel.

Star Twinkle Precure: Hoshi no Uta ni Omoi wo Komete (Star ☆ Twinkle Precure the Movie: Put Your Feelings into the Song of Stars), the anime film companion to the Star ☆ Twinkle Precure anime series, dropped from #3 to #6 in its second week. The film earned 86,092,500 yen (about US$790,000) from Friday to Sunday. It has sold a total of 320,000 tickets, and earned a cumulative total of 377,983,500 yen (about US$3.46 million).

The film sold 141,000 tickets and earned 160 million yen (about US$1.47 million) to rank #3 in its opening weekend. The film opened on 231 screens on October 19. The film earned 64.4% of the first-week earnings of the franchise's previous film, Precure Miracle Universe, which opened in March earlier this year. The Eiga.com site reports that that the film will initially projected to earn 1 billion yen (about US$9.2 million) during its entire run.

Yūta Tanaka (Go! Princess Precure, Eiga Mahō Tsukai Precure! Kiseki no Henshin! Cure Mofurun!) directed the film.

Her Blue Sky (Sora no Aosa o Shiru Hito yo), the original anime film by the Super Peace Busters creative team (anohana, Anthem of the Heart), dropped from #7 to #10 in its third weekend. It earned 43,212,100 yen (about US$396,500) from Friday to Sunday. The film has sold a total of 330,000 tickets and earned a cumulative total of 440,530,750 yen (about US$4.04 million).

The film sold 126,000 tickets and earned 166 million yen (about US$1.52 million) in its first four days to rank #4 in its opening weekend. The Eiga.com website had estimated that the film would eventually earn 1 billion yen (about US$9.3 million) during its run.

Her Blue Sky opened in Japan on October 11 in 318 theaters. Director Tatsuyuki Nagai, writer and director Mari Okada, and artist Masayoshi Tanaka — the members of Super Peace Busters — handled the film. Nagai directed, Okada penned the script, and Tanaka drew the original character designs and served as chief animation director. CloverWorks was in charge of animation production.

The Thunderbolt Fantasy - Seiyū Genka theatrical project debuted at #1 in the mini-theater ranking in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan last Friday, October 25.

Chō Shōnen Tantei-dan NEO -Beginning-, the live-action film for the Chō Shōnen Tantei-dan NEO franchise, debuted at #4 in the mini-theater ranking in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan last Friday, October 25.

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