Sunao Katabuchi’s long-awaited movie, The Mourning Children: Nagiko and the Girls Wearing Tsurubami Black, revealed a visual earlier today alongside the title. Manabu Otsuka, CEO of studio MAPPA, is producing the movie. Both he and Katabuchi were presenting the new work at the event. Contrail is animating the movie – this is the studio’s first major work. Contrail is MAPPA’s subsidiary, best known for the Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 ending animation. The staff for the movie includes:
- Director: Sunao Katabuchi
- Asssistant Director: Chie Uratani
- Animation Director: Masashi Ando
- Art Director: Toshiharu Mizutani
The story is set in the Heian period (794 – 1185) and it follows Sei Shonagon, a famed Japanese author, best known for The Pillow Book. The plot will focus on women in this era, while also asking existential questions about death:
Dressed in glittering junihitoe (12-layered kimono known as itsutsuginu-karaginu-mo), they respected the atmosphere, composed waka poems, and lived an elegant life while playing a game of kemari. This is the image of a thousand years ago, as described in textbooks. However, what I found on my journey was a newer and different view. We will pick up the trail of these women and take on the challenge of a thousand-year journey.
Katabuchi is a director, screenwriter, and storyboarding artist. He started his career in Telecom Animation Film and over the years he has worked in Mushi Production, Studio 4°C, Madhouse, MAPPA, and most recently, MAPPA’s subsidiary Contrail where he has been since 2019. He worked with Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. He worked as an assistant unit director on Kiki’s Delivery Service and he even trained new Ghibli animators for a while. His most recent work is MAPPA’s In This Corner of the World – a slice-of-life story set near Hiroshima during World War 2. He directed the movie and co-wrote the script with Chie Uratani, who is also his wife.
Source: MAPPA Stage 2023, Oricon
© The Mourning Children Production Committee/ KUROBURUE
