#New Natsume Yujin-cho Movie Comes to Singapore on February 27

Muse Asia announced on their social media that the Natsume Yujin-cho: Ishiokoshi and Ayashiki Raihou-sha (loosely translated as Natsume’s Book of Friends: The Waking Stone and the Suspicious Visitor) will be coming to Singapore for a special screening. The fan’s screening is scheduled for February 27 and will have a general release on March 4. Ticket sales will start on February 11 and 25 for the fan screening and general screening respectively. Dates for Malaysia and Brunei are unconfirmed due to COVID-19 regulations. 

The movie, adapted from the original story by Yuki Midorikawa, is animated by Shuka. Takahiro Omori is serving as chief director and works with Sadayuki Murai on the screenplay, while Hideki Ito is serving as director and works with Miyuki Oshiro on storyboarding and production. Tatsuo Yamada is both the youkai designer and action animation director, while Hiromitsu Hagiwara is the  sub-character designer. Eri Yamazaki and Orie Tanaka are serving as animation directors, Hitoshi Tamura as cinematographer, and Makoto Yoshimori as music composer. Aniplex is distributing the movie.

The original cast from the Natsume’s Book of Friends franchise will be reprising their previous roles. Hisako Kanemoto (Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki) joins the veteran cast and will be voicing the character Mitsumi.

The 52-minute movie will be released with its original Japanese audio, featuring both English and Mandarin subtitles. The movie will spotlight two stories from the manga, “Ishiokoshi” and “Ayashiki Raihou-sha,” which are described as:

Ishiokoshi

Natsume meets a small “youkai”, a spirit, named Mitsumi in the woods. It is said that he is entrusted with the task of “Ishiokoshi”, which is to wake up the divine youkai “Iwatetsu”. However, for the reward of Sake, Nyanko-sensei and the youkai begin plotting to steal the task. Mitsumi weighs on Natsume’s mind, so he decides to help Mitsumi with his task.

Ayashiki Raihou-sha

A mysterious visitor appears in front of Tanuma. Nearly every day, the visitor visits Tanuma, talks to him a little, and leaves. Natsume is worried for Tanuma when he learns that the visitor is a youkai, but Tanuma has come to enjoy these interactions with the youkai. It seems like the youkai means no harm, but Tanuma’s physical health gradually starts to deteriorate.

The fans’ screening ticket comes with an official Japan movie bundle set, which includes a canvas board, an L-file, a mask holder and a magnet. Muse Asia will also be hosting a Fans’ Screening giveaway featuring two autographed signature boards from the voice actors Kamiya Hiroshi (Natsume) and Kazuhiko Inoue (Nyanko-sensei). Fans who have purchased the fans’ screening tickets will be eligible to enter, and can take part in the physical draw at the movie bundle collection counter. The lucky draw will come on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Source: Muse Asia