US and Canada Gets Theatrical Screenings for Daisuke Igarashi’s “Children of the Sea” Anime Film

American distributor GKIDS has just announced that they will be holding limited theatrical screenings for the anime film adaptation of Daisuke Igarashi’s manga Children of the Lost Sea (Kaiju no Kodomo). GKIDS and Fathom Events will be holding the US screenings on April 20 & 22—the former date will feature the film in Japanese with English subtitles, while the latter will screen the film in English dub.

Canada, on the other hand, will get the film a little later—on April 22 & 23. It was not stated what language dub will be used on those dates for the film’s Canadian run.

Tickets will be sold starting March 12.

An English-subtitled trailer was also released by GKIDS, which you can watch here.

Those who will buy the tickets to these screenings will also get to watch an exclusive interview with the film’s director Ayumu Watanabe and CGI director Kenichiro Akimoto.

The film also features the music of renowned composer Joe Hisaishi, who is well-known for working on the musical scores of classic Studio Ghibli films like Princess Mononoke and Porco Rosso.

Viz Media holds the rights to release the Children of the Sea manga in English, and they describe the the story as such:

When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does.

Ruka’s dad and the other adults who work at the aquarium are only distantly aware of what the children are experiencing as they get caught up in the mystery of the worldwide disappearance of the oceans’ fish.

Teen voice actors Mana Ashida and Hiiro Ishibashi play lead characters Ruka Azumi and Sora, respectively. Actor Yosuke Kubozuka’s son Airu Kubozuka is playing Umi. This is the latter’s first-ever voice acting role.

Children of the Sea is directed by Ayumu Watanabe, who has directed several Doraemon films as well as anime series such as Koi wa Ameagari no You Ni (Love is Like After the Rain) Keinichi Konishi, known for his work on 2003 anime film Tokyo Godfathers, is in charge of character design and is chief animation director as well. The movie is produced by Studio 4°C and was released in Japanese theaters las June 2019.

Source: Anime News Network