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Masaaki Yuasa's Japan Sinks: 2020 Anime Reveals Trailer, More Cast, July 9 Premiere
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Sakyō Komatsu's Japan Sinks (Nihon Chinbotsu) science-fiction novel.
The newly announced cast are:
(Note: character name romanizations are not confirmed.)
Hiroyuki Yoshino as Haruki Koga
Nanako Mori as Nami Miura
Kenshō Ono as Kaito
Umeji Sasaki as Kunio Ashida
The 10-episode series will debut worldwide on Netflix.
The previously announced cast are (from left to right in image above):
- Darwin's Game's Shuka) as Ayumu Mutō, the 14-year-old protagonist who throws herself into track team practice in her hope to participate in the Olympics
- World Trigger's Yūma Kuga) as Gō Mutō, Ayumu's younger brother who connects to the world through online games
- Chibi Maruko-chan's Kotake Sakura) as Mari Mutō, the Mutō family's mother and a former competitive swimmer who is optimistic even in the face of disaster
- Detective Conan's Ginshiro Toyama) as Kōichirō Mutō, the Mutō family's clever and tenacious father
The film will canceled due to concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. Instead, an online version of the festival will be held from June 15 to 30.
The original disaster sci-fi novel begins when a series of natural disasters hit Japan. Massive tectonic shifts cause volcanic eruptions from remote Japanese islands, triggering earthquakes, and eventually triggering more eruptions in volcanoes in the Japanese mainland. Through it all, a team of scientists attempt to convince the Japanese government that the Japanese archipelago will soon sink beneath the sea sooner than anyone expected.
The new anime moves the setting from 1970s Japan to modern Japan. While the original announcement of the anime mentioned the story would be set just after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, this detail has now been removed in the recent announcement, and is now simply set in "modern Japan" (the Olympics are now delayed). The story centers on the Mutō family, and the siblings Ayumu and Gō. The four of the Mutō family are caught in an earthquake that hits Tokyo, and attempt to escape the city, while disaster claws at their heels.
Yuasa is directing the anime at his Science SARU studio, with Kiyoshi Hirose is in charge of editing.
Komatsu debuted the original novel in 1973, and the novel has inspired two live-action films — one that also debuted in 1973, and another in 2006 by Tokihiko Ishiki. The novel is regarded as a science-fiction classic in Japan and around the world.
released a subtitled DVD of Higuchi's live-action film.
Yuasa and Science SARU are also Hideo Furukawa's novel.
Source: Press release
