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San-X's Sumikko Gurashi Characters Get 2nd Anime Film Next Year
posted on by Egan Loo
San-X's Sumikko Gurashi characters are inspiring a second film that will open throughout Japan next year. The announcement came on the first anniversary of the first film's opening, and designer Yuri Yokomizo drew an illustration to celebrate the news:
Fanworks is returing to animate the tentatively titled Eiga Sumikko Gurashi 2 (Sumikko Gurashi the Movie 2), and ASMIK Ace is distributing.
Sumikko Gurashi debuted in 2012 as slightly negative characters who like to stay in the corner of a room. The characters include "Shirokuma," a polar bear who is sensitive to cold; "Penguin?" (with a question mark in its name), a penguin who is unsure if it is actually a penguin; "Tonkatsu," a piece of pork cutlet that was left uneaten; "Neko," a shy cat; and "Tokage," who hides his nature as one of the last dinosaurs.
The first film's story begins when the Sumikko Gurashi characters find a mysterious picture book in the basement of a cafe they always go to. The film features new locales, items, and characters.
The first anime film opened in Japan on November 8, 2019 in 114 theaters and ranked #3 in its opening weekend. The film sold 104,000 tickets and earned 121 million yen (about US$1.11 million) over the weekend, but sold 114,280 tickets and earned 132,873,500 yen (about US$1.22 million) from Friday to Sunday of that week. The film eventually sold a total of 1.22 million tickets, and it earned 1.4 billion yen (about US$12.8 million) at the box office in Japan as of February 4. It won the award for Best Animation of the Year at the 29th Annual Japan Movie Critics Awards this year.
Mankyū (Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Theater, Jaku-San-Sei Million Arthur) directed the film at Fanworks. Takashi Sumita (Europe Kikaku) penned the script. Kaori Hino (Napping Princess, In This Corner of the World) was the art director.
The franchise has inspired toys, books, stationery material, and video games.
Source: Comic Natalie
