New Shirobako Film Reveals Release Date with Trailer, Poster

With as widespread in popularity that anime has become in recent years, more fans than ever are now curious as to how anime productions come together. While not a complete answer to how new series come to be, one fun way to at least get your bearings with the industry is with Shirobako. With the original run of the anime series coming to an end four years ago, now we need the series more than ever. Luckily, Shirobako is making its return with a new film actually set four years after the events of the original TV series.

Currently scheduled for a release in Japan on February 28, 2020, the new Shirobako film has unveiled both a new trailer and poster teasing how far the Musashino Animation has come in the time away from our screens. Check out the trailer in the video above, and you can find the poster below!

Tsutomu Mizushima will be returning from the original anime to direct the film for P.A. Works, Michiko Yokote will be supervising the script, Ponkan8 will be designing the characters, and Kanami Sekiguchi will be serving as chief animation director. A new character named Kaede Miyai will be joining the film and she’ll be voiced by Ayane Sakura.

Returning cast members for the film include Juri Kimura as Aoi Miyamori, Haruka Yoshimura as Ema Yasuhara, Haruka Chisuga as Shizuka Sakaki, Asami Takano as Misa Todo, Hitomi Ohwada as Midori Imai, Shuya Nishiji as Yutaka Honda, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Tatsuya Ochiai, Yuri Yamaoka as Erika Yano, Hiroyuki Yoshino as Taro Takanashi, Ai Kayano as Rinko Ogasawara, Masaya Matsukaze as Hayabusa Watanabe, and Mai Nakahara as Yuka Okitsu.

Shirobako is an original anime series directed by Tsutomu Mizushima for Warner Entertainment Japan and P.A. Works. Airing 2014-2015, this 24 episode series follows Aoi Miyamori and her four friends who continued their love of animation in their high school’s animation club, and have made a full career out of it! The series became immensely popular with anime fans as they referenced many of the production trials and tribulations in the industry at large.

Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series for an English language release, and describes it as such, “Aoi will never forget how she felt the day her high school animation club’s labor of love was shown at the cultural festival. But two years after graduating, she works as a production assistant for an animation studio, the reality of her job has somewhat diminished her enthusiasm. Despite the long hours and the daunting schedule, she still hopes to fulfill the promise she and her friends Ema, Shizuka, Misa, and Midori made: to one day reunite and make a real anime of their own as professionals!”