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Alison McGhee's Someday Book Gets Anime Short in Japan

The Japanese anime studio Pierrot Plus (Letter Bee, Beelzebub) produced an anime short of Someday, the New York Times #1 bestseller picture book by American author Alison McGhee, and Pony Canyon is releasing the DVD in Japan on Wednesday. The 2007 book revolves around a mother's love for her child and her hopes for her child's future. McGhee published the following excerpt on her website:

Sometimes, when you sleep, I watch you dream, and I dream too...
That someday you will dive into the cool, clear water of a lake...
Someday you will run so far and so fast your heart will feel like fire.
Someday I will watch you brushing your child's hair.

Peter Reynolds illustrated the book, and Chihiro Nakagawa translated it into Japanese. The book became a New York Times #1 bestseller in the United States, and it has sold over 320,000 copies in Japan since 2008. (The book has the Japanese title Chiisana Anata e ~Someday~.)

Kooji Nanke directed, storyboarded, shot, and drew the key animation frames for the world's first animated adaptation of the book. Nanke had previously designed the characters in Anmitsu Hime and Spoon Oba-san, and he had also overseen the opening and ending animation sequences for such anime as Ranma ½: Nettō-hen, Maison Ikkoku, and Urusei Yatsura: Only You. The actress Narumi Yasuda (Nine: Kanketsuhen's Yuri Nakao, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind's theme song) narrated the 10-minute short.

The artist kotringo (The Bears' School) sang an image song based on the book, and Avex Marketing is also releasing the song for mobile phones in Japan on Wednesday.

Source: Mu-mo

Image © Pippin Properties, Inc. 2007 © 2011 Chiisana Anata e Production Committee