Masaaki Yuasa’s Lu Over the Wall listed under Anime Limited for Annecy 2017
Not long after we posted our news report of In This Corner of the World being part of the Annecy competition for this year, we noted that two other anime films will also be part of the animated category. Today one of them may have offered a surprise license announcement.
As mentioned there are two anime films also nominated for the Animation category for Annecy 2017 – A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) and Lu Over the Wall (Yoake Tsugeru Lu no Uta). A Silent Voice has already been confirmed to be released under Anime Limited (and will also be available for digital distribution very soon this month), while the other is relatively new since its Japanese theatrical release is close. The point here is that it appears Annecy may have unintentionally leaked a license acquisition as the UK distributor Anime Limited was listed under the Distribution credits on the film’s main page.
This is quite honestly no surprise as Anime Limited stated numerous times that they are a fan of the director’s previous works. For instance they already have a couple of their licenses including Kick Heart, Ping Pong the Animation, The Tatami Galaxy, and have supported the very successful kickstarter of Mind Game’s Blu-ray release in Japan.
Alongside director Masaaki Yuasa for the film, we have producer EunYoung Choi (assistant director for Ping Pong), script writer Reiko Yoshida (Aria the Animation), artistic director Hiroshi Ohno (Wolf Children), sound director Eriko Kimura (Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt) and composer Takatsugu Muramatsu (When Marnie Was There).
Lu Over the Wall will be released in Japanese theaters on May 19th 2017.
Story synopsis for Lu Over the Wall (via Annecy):
Kai is a boy who lives in a lonely fishing village. One day, he meets and befriends Lu, a mermaid who likes singing and dancing. But the townspeople have always thought that mermaids bring disaster. Something happens that puts a huge rift between Lu and the villagers, endangering the town.
And that’s not the only interesting news we have to share. Lu Over the Wall was also listed alongside a number of other anime films due for UK theatrical release later in the year on the Launching Films website. The website has already listed Napping Princess which Anime Limited had announced back in March for a theatrical nationwide release. The films listed on the website are as follows:
Fireworks (Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka?) from studio SHAFT and directed by Akiyuki Shinbou. Both are known for handling the March comes in like a Lion series as well as the Monogatari franchise (the director himself mostly worked on Bakemonogatari and Kizumonogatari).
The Maiden Galaxy (Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome) from director Masaaki Yuasa based off the novel from the same author behind The Tatami Galaxy. The film’s English name is also known as The Night is Short, Walk on Girl across other media.
The 20th anniversary screening of Perfect Blue, celebrating 20 years of this iconic thriller from the late director Satoshi Kon. The movie is available to own on Blu-ray and DVD from Anime Limited.
There’s no official word yet on whether Anime Limited can confirm or deny the license regarding Lu Over the Wall (or even the other two; Fireworks and The Maiden Galaxy), but for now the chances are relatively high. Perhaps the news regarding Lu Over the Wall could crop up at MCM London Comic Con later this month!
