Jan 20, 2017

Anime directed by Masaaki Yuasa "The Other Side of the Wall"

Japanese auteur Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Ping Pong, The Tatami Galaxy) directed not one, but two animated features that will be released in spring 2017. The newly announced Lu Over the Wall (Yoake Tsugeru Lu no Uta) released a trailer this week:

The film's story, according to Crunchyroll, “follows the encounter and relationship between a junior high school boy Kai who lives in a fishing port town and Lu, a mermaid girl comes from the sea.”

Manga artist Youko Nemu provided original character designs, while Nobutake Ito (The Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong) adapted the designs for animation and served as animation director. Yuasa co-wrote the screenplay with veteran film and anime screenwriter Reiko Yoshida, and Takatsugu Muramatsu composed the soundtrack.

Yuasa's own studio Science Saru, which he runs with Eunyoung Choi, produced the film. Lu Over the Wall will be released by Toho Animation in Japan on May 19, 2017, just a little over one month after the debut of Yuasa's other upcoming feature, Night is Short, Walk On Girl.

Yuasa will surely have something to say about these films when he appears in March as a special guest at the GLAS Animation Festival in Berkeley, California.