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'Farewell, My Dear Cramer' Soccer Anime Film Delayed to Early Summer

The official website for the anime project for Naoshi Arakawa's Farewell, My Dear Cramer (Sayonara Watashi no Cramer) manga announced on Friday that Eiga Sayonara Watashi no Cramer First Touch, the film part of the project, has been delayed from its originally planned April 1 opening. The staff members are now aiming for an early summer opening, with an exact date to be provided sometime later. The announcement noted that the delay was due to "various circumstances," but expressed hopes of a resolution to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The announcement did not reveal any new details on the premiere for the accompanying television anime, which was also slated to premiere with the film this April.

The Eiga Sayonara Watashi no Cramer First Touch film will adapt the Sayonara, Football junior high prequel manga.

Seiki Takuno (Boarding School Juliet, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches) is directing the film at LIDEN FILMS, and Natsuko Takahashi (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Cutie Honey Universe) is writing the script. Eriko Itō (Hamatora, Ane Log) is designing the characters, and Masaru Yokoyama (Your Lie in April, Fruits Basket) is composing the music. Toei is distributing the film.

Aika Kobayashi is performing the film's theme song "Sora wa Dare ka no Mono Ja Nai" (The Sky Doesn't Belong to Anyone), as well as the opening theme song for the project's television anime.

Kodansha Comics is releasing the manga digitally simultaneously with its Japanese release, and also plans to release the manga in print. The company describes the manga:

With no soccer accomplishments to speak of during the entirety of Sumire Suo's junior high school years, the young wing gets an odd offer. Suo's main rival, Midori Soshizaki, invites her to join up on the same team in high school, with a promise that she'll never let Suo “play alone.” It's an earnest offer, but the question is whether Suo will take her up on it. Thus the curtain opens on a story that collects an enormous cast of individual soccer-playing personalities!

Arakawa launched the manga in May 2016. Kodansha published the manga's 13th volume in Japan in October 2020.

Sources: Farewell, My Dear Cramer anime's website, The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web