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Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko Wins Hochi Film Award for Animation
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The Hochi Shimbun newspaper revealed on Wednesday that Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, Studio 4°C's anime film of Kanako Nishi's Gyokō no Nikuko-chan (Nikuko of the Fishing Harbor) novel, won the animation category in the newspaper's 46th Hochi Film Award. The film competed against Poupelle of Chimney Town, True North, and BELLE.
GKIDS has licensed the film for North America, and it plans to screen the film in theaters in 2022. The film opened in Japan on June 11.
Ayumu Watanabe (Children of the Sea, Space Brothers) directed the anime at Studio 4°C. Satomi Ooshima (Hataraki Man) wrote the script. Kenichi Konishi (Children of the Sea, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd) was the character designer and chief animation director. Sanma Akashiya (Santa Claus Tsukamaeta! screenwriter and original creator) planned and produced the film. ASMIK Ace distributed the film.
10-year-old Kurumi Inagaki performed a GReeeeN-produced cover of "Image no Uta," the debut single of veteran singer-songwriter Takuro Yoshida, as the film's theme song. GReeeeN performed the film's ending theme song "Taketen."
The film won the "Axis: The Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation" award as a Special Mention at Montreal's 25th Fantasia International Film Festival in August, and also won the Korean Society of Cartoon and Animation Studies (KOSCAS) President's Prize in the Special Awards category at the 23rd Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF) in October. Additionally, the film won the Scotland Loves Anime Festival's Jury Award in October.
Gentosha published the original novel in April 2014. The "human drama" novel centers on a mother named Nikuko and her daughter, Kikuko, who live on a boat. The novel follows their paths in life, and their growth. The novels have more than 350,000 copies in print.
Sources: Hochi Shimbun, Comic Natalie
