Industry news website Natalie posted a clip from ( the Movie: A Gift From Freya), the first anime film for Epoch‘s toy line, on Tuesday. The clip shows Freya and Blues talking atop a hill while observing the Sylvanian village bathed in sunset.
The CG film answers the question of what is the secret that makes the Sylvanian village a wonderful place. In the story, the rabbit girl Freya is trying to make everyone happy, with her mom’s birthday and the Sylvanian village’s annual star festival serving as the backdrop.
The film will open on November 23.
The cast for the film includes:
- Yuina Kuroshima as Freya
- Mayu Matsuoka as Stella, Freya’s older sister
- Nonoka Murakata as Creme, Freya’s younger sister
- Yū Aoi as Terry, Freya’s mother
- Satoshi Hino as Frazier, Freya’s father
- DAIGO as Blues, a Husky
- Inori Minase as Lyla, Freya’s Persian cat friend
- Akeno Watanabe as Cocoa, Freya’s little brother
- Kaede Hondo as Ralph, a boy squirrel
- Misa Watanabe as the Narrator
Kazuya Konaka (, 2003 ) is directing the film, with Hirotoshi Kobayashi (2003 , , ) penning the script. Jun Ichikawa (, , ) is composing the music. Frebari is producing the film. Pop duo Puffy (PuffyAmiYumi) is performing the film’s theme song “SweetSweet.”
The toy line inspired a new television anime that premiered on Tokyo MX and Sun TV in October 2022. The new cast members for that anime included Aya Yamane as Freya Chocolate, Saya Tanaka as Lyla Persian, Madoka Murakami as Ralph Walnut, Eriko Kadokura as Melinda Cakebread, and Misaki Watada as Creme Chocolate. LandQ studios is animating the series. The franchise also has a new, full 3DCG anime titled (: Freya’s Go For Dream!), which premiered on Tokyo MX on July 6.
Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment animated the franchise‘s 2017 anime series, which received a second and third season in 2018 and 2019.
Japanese company Epoch created the original toy line in 1985. The franchise inspired a 1987 American animated series, as well as 1998 British stop-motion animated series. The franchise also inspired a three-episode Japanese CG anime video series in 2007. In the United States, the franchise is also known as Calico Critters.
Source: Comic Natalie
