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Zannen na Ikimono no Jiten Anime Film Casts Comedians Oniyakko Tsubaki, Tsukasa Saitō, Kōsei

The official website for the new film in Fanworks' anime adaptation of the Zannen na Ikimono Jiten (Humorous & Adorable Evolutionary Creatures or literally, Encyclopedia of Pitiful Creatures) book series announced on Wednesday that comedians Oniyakko Tsubaki (center in image below), Tsukasa Saitō (right), and Kōsei (left) will star in the film as the platypuses Rate, Pas, and Pura, respectively. The three characters are part of the film's Australia segment "Leroy no Home Tree," and form the Zannen Trio, who appear in the story in some scenes to sing.

The cast members include Natsuki Hanae as Leroy the koala (top left in image above), Maaya Uchida as Usao the Japanese hare (top center), Hiro Shimono as Usagizaki-sempai, Tsuyoshi Muro as the story's mole co-navigator Mogumogu (bottom left), and Sairi Itō as the co-navigator and Mogumogu's daughter Gurara (bottom right).

The film will open on July 8.

The film will have different directors and scriptwriters for each of its three segments. Previous Zannen na Ikimono Jiten unit director Yūji Uchiyama is directing and writing the scripts for the film's Antarctica segment, titled "Pentabi" (Penguin Journey). Midnight Horror School and Web Ghost PiPoPa creator Naomi Iwata is directing the Australia segment "Leroy no Home Tree" (Leroy's Home Tree), with a script by Yoichi Kato (Space Brothers, Scarlet Nexus). Kei Yoshimizu (Zumomo to Nupepe, Tatakae! Space Attendant Aoi) is directing the Azumino, Japan segment titled "Hachiawase no Mori" (Forest of Encounters), with a script by Toru Hosokawa (Polar Bear's Café).

Motohiro Hata performs the film's theme song "Cider."

The book series' Tadaaki Imaizumi returns to supervise the film, and Aeon Entertainment will distribute.

The book series offers humorous introductions to surprising animal facts, such as "raccoons don't really wash their food," "dolphins would drown if they fell completely asleep," and "chameleons change their colors at will."

Takahashi Shoten began publishing the book series in 2016.

Mariko Tokunaga directed the books' first 10-episode anime series, which premiered in August 2018. Pop Team Epic series director and scriptwriter Jun Aoki directed two subsequent series in March 2019 and July 2019. The fourth and latest five-episode series (also directed by Aoki) premiered in January 2021. The book series also inspired 24 live-action shorts that ran from October 2020 to March 2021.

Sources: Zannen na Ikimono Jiten film's website, Comic Natalie