Certain names being attached to a crew will always make me sit up and pay attention; Junichi Sato (Sailor Moon, Princess Tutu, Kaleido Star) and Mari Okada (AnoHana, Maquia) are two of those names. According to a report on both Comic Natalie and Otaku USA, both of these anime heavyweights will be working together on a new full-length anime movie with animation produced by Studio Colorido.
The title of the movie is Nakitai Watashi wa Neko o Kaburu and is an original story penned by Mari Okada. The story follows a young girl living in Tokoname, Aichi, who has a crush on a boy at her junior high. She pursues him daily but he never takes any real notice of her. That is until she discovers a magical mask that allows her to become a cat. Using this form, she gets closer to her crush but soon discovers that magic always comes with a price.
The lead characters will be played by Mirai Shida (who will be taking on the role of the young girl named Miyo). Opposite her will be Natsuki Hanae (who will be playing the male love interest named Kento).
Junichi Sato will be co-directing the feature with Tomotaka Shibayama at Studio Colorido, with Mari Okada writing the script. Studio Colorido is a relatively new studio, having only been formed in 2011 by producer Hideo Uda. Along with this newly announced feature, the studio has only produced a handful of productions including the recent movie Penguin Highway and the newly launched series of Pokemon web shorts which hit the Internet this past January.
Nakitai Watashi wa Neko o Kaburu is set to be released on June 5th, 2020, in Japan and I’m already anxiously awaiting the announcement revealing theatrical screenings in the west. So, if anyone wants to get right on that, that would be fabulous, thanks!
