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Kuramerukagari Anime Film Gets Manga

The April issue of Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Garden magazine revealed on Tuesday that Shigeyoshi Tsukahara and Twiflo's new spinoff full-length anime film Kuramerukagari is inspiring a manga adaptation (lower left in image below) that will launch in the magazine's next issue on April 5. Sanatsu is drawing the manga.

Kurayukaba won the Best Animated Feature in the Audience Awards category of the 27th annual Fantasia International Film Festival in August. The film is screening in competition at this year's Niigata International Animation Film Festival on March 15-20.

The staff describes Kuramerukagari:

This is a story that weaves together people and a town. A coal mining town crowded with small-scale excavators, commonly known as the "Hakoniwa." In this town that changes daily like a labyrinth, there's a girl named Kagari who runs a mapmaking business and a boy named Yuya who dreams of breaking free from the "Hakoniwa." Eventually, the two, along with the unique residents of the town, find themselves confronting a conspiracy that shakes the entire town. The fate of the” Hakoniwa" depends on Kagari's drawings on the map.

Tsukahara is credited for the original work, screenplay, and director of the film. Ryohgo Narita (Baccano!, Durarara!!) is credited with the original concept. Team OneOne is producing the animation. The film stars Ayane Sakura as Kagari. Kuramerukagari is the opening film for this year's Niigata International Animation Film Festival on March 15. Masayoshi Ōishi performs the film's theme song "Bokura no Hakoniwa."

The Kurayukaba project's first crowdfunding campaign ran from December 2018 to February 2019 to fund the pilot film. The campaign raised 6,901,864 yen (about US$63,000) from 397 backers: 276% of its 2,500,000 yen (about US$22,100) goal. The campaign reached its 4,000,000 yen (about US$35,300) stretch goal to create a one-minute video (the original goal was for a 30-second video).

Kuramerukagari adapts Ryohgo Narita's novella that was made available for those who backed the project at the "Rental Shop" tier (12,000 yen, or about US$110).

Twin Engine's official Motion Gallery crowdfunding campaign for the film launched in April 2020, and it aimed to raise 20 million yen (about US$188,000) to fund a film at least 40 minutes long. The campaign ended in August 2020 with 8,798,500 yen (about US$79,513).

Source: Monthly Comic Garden April issue and website