Japanese anime fantasy film, Mary and the Witch’s Flower released its third trailer showing the magic inside the movie’s new world. It seems to be inspired by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s unique style.
This is the solo project done by director Hiromasa Yonebayashi who used to previously work at Studio Ghibli.
Yonebayashi is best known for his directorial work on The Secret World of Arrietty and When Marnie Was There. He left Studio Ghibli around the end of 2014.
For this film, he has teamed up with his ex-colleague from Ghibli, that is producer Yoshiaki Nishimura. Studio Ponoc is Nishimura’s new production company.
The brand new trailer contains the film’s theme song ‘Rain’ which has been done by the Japanese musical group, Sekai No Owari. The trailer also showcases the enchanting world of the film in a beautiful manner.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower is based on a British children novel, ‘The Little Broomstick’ written by Mary Stewart. It is quite a different approach from the Japanese filmmakers who usually follow the conventional route of adapting a film from a manga.
The movie narrates the tale of a young girl named Mary who discovers that she has a mysterious power to become a witch, which lasts for one night only. She undergoes a whole new adventure after her discovery which unfolds the story henceforth.
There are other interesting characters like Tib – the black cat, Miss Mumblechook (voiced by Yuuki Amami), Doctor Dee (Fumiyo Kohinata), Peter, Madame Mumble (Yūki Amami), Red Headed Witch (Hikari Mitsushima), Flanagan (Jiro Sato).
The main voice cast and staff has also been announced for the film and the list is impressive. Japanese actress Hana Sugisaki has given the voiceover for Mary while Japanese actor Ryunosuke Kamiki has lent his voice for the character of Peter.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower is slated to release on 8 July, 2017. It’s being distributed by Toho.
