The actress that gives life to Suzu and the music of Kotringo.
The acclaimed actress Non plays the main character Suzu and according to Director Sunao Katabuchi, he cannot imagine anyone else for the role. Her gentle and soft voice is accompanied by the voice acting skills and talent of Yoshimasa Hosoya, Natsuki Inaba, Minori Omi, Daisuke Ono, Megumi Han, Nanase Iwai, Ushiro Shimane and Mayumi Shinya. Even Shochiku’s Tengai Shibuya has a special appearance.
Kotringo is in charge of the music, making her incredibly naturally soft voice a sweet caress that gently envelops the world of Suzu.
Director Sunao Katabuchi and the original author Fumiyo Kouno –
Making History through Trust for the second time –
The previous film by Sunao Katabuchi, “Mai Mai Miracle” (2009), which won the Excellence Award at the 14th Annual Media Arts Festival, greatly resonated among the audiences and achieved an exceptional long-run screenings. Now, based on a several year process of accumulating documents, field survey and an unprecendented amount of interviews, his incredibly thorough research brings us to Suzu’s endearing everyday life.
As for the original works, the manga won the first prize in the 13th Media Arts Festival Manga Division along other important accolades. And also thanks to a vast amount of informative research and an ever-challenging attitude towards manga innovation, Fumiyo Kouno received the support of thousands of fans and bookstores.
The two joined forces in the NHK animation “Flowers Bloom”, and delivered fantastic results, only to do so again now in this feature film to the delight of many in 2016.
A Crowdfunding Campaign that gave birth to an animation gem which will tell its story a hundred years from now
The campaign was called “I want to see this movie” and gathered 39,121,920 yens for its initial production funding from 3,374 supporters. “In this Corner of the World” happened thanks to these voices from all over Japan, and those voices have turn into a light that will continue to shine for many, many others. This film that they helped create will undoubtedly be loved for the next 100 years.
The unprecedented circumstances 18-year-old Suzu has to face.
The story begins when, in February 1944, for better or worse, Suzu becomes a bride in Kure, a major base of the Japanese Navy at that time. This was the city where the Navy’s largest battleship, the “Yamato”, was also based in.
As a bride in a strange land and coming from Hiroshima City, Suzu becomes the wife of civil official Shusaku Hojo.
Moving in with her new husband’s kind parents, she starts her new life along her very strict sister-in-law Keiko and her sweet daughter Harumi. Along with the nice neighbors Mrs. Chita, Mrs. Kariya and Mrs. Domoto, she discovers the joys of everyday life in Kure.
However, supplies become scarce gradually, forcing Suzu to make do with whatever she can for food and clothing, still being able to sometimes draw a nice picture of their daily life.
One day, Suzu gets lost in the city and meets a courtesan called Rin who is somehow linked to her. On another time, she meets her old classmate Mizuhara who has become a sailor in the cruiser “Aoba”, an encounter with unexpected mixed feelings.
On March 19th 1945, Kure suffers several air raids that fill up the sky, and many things that Suzu cherished are lost. However, everyday life goes on. But then, the Summer of 1945 arrives…
Mr. Katabuchi’s comments
I’d like to portray the sense of ordinary daily life in animation. “In this Corner of The World”, while facing war, so the wonder of everyday life is highlighted. Everyday life becomes a miracle on itself by observing regular people’s emotions go by. This is why I knew I had to do this.
I believe that the movies that are made are not limited by what we can create but by what the audience can imagine. Thus, if you go outside of what regularly is encompassed in a video clip, you can make a movie that can go beyond and spread anywhere in the viewers’ minds. To pursue reality is not to find the limits of the world, quite the contrary, I believe that what exists in the world can be perceived through the things that we cannot see, those that we can only imagine.