Miss Hokusai — U.S. Trailer

added: Fri, Aug 26th '16

Acclaimed Japanese animation director Keiichi Hara follows up his award-winning 2010 film "Colorful" with another visually striking animated drama "Miss Hokusai," which is an adaptation of Hinako Sugiura's historical manga series.

Set in 1814, during Japan's Edo period, "Miss Hokusai" is a lyrical ode to the Japanese culture of artistry as it dramatizes the strained relationship between early 19th-century painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai (perhaps best known for his 1830 artwork "The Great Wave off Kanagawa") and his youngest daughter and apprentice, O-Ei, who was an accomplished artist in her own right.

The film comes from "Production I.G.", the Japanese anime studio behind the "Ghost in the Shell" franchise, and it features the voice of Tokyo-born actress Anne Watanabe (daughter of Ken Watanabe) as the main protagonist, O-Ei.

"Miss Hokusai," which has already opened to rave reviews in Japan, will be making its way to the States in October, opening first in New York and Los Angeles on October 14, via U.S. animation distributor GKIDS. Watch the newly-released U.S. trailer, above.

synopsis:
As all of Edo flocks to see the work of the revered painter Hokusai, his daughter O-Ei toils diligently inside his studio. Her masterful portraits, dragons and erotic sketches -- sold under the name of her father -- are coveted by upper crust Lords and journeyman print makers alike. Shy and reserved in public, in the studio O-Ei is as brash and uninhibited as her father, smoking a pipe while sketching drawings that would make contemporary Japanese ladies blush. But despite this fiercely independent spirit, O-Ei struggles under the domineering influence of her father and is ridiculed for lacking the life experience that she is attempting to portray in her art. Miss Hokusai‘s bustling Edo (present day Tokyo) is filled with yokai spirits, dragons, and conniving tradesmen, while O-Ei’s relationships with her demanding father and blind younger sister provide a powerful emotional underpinning to this sumptuously-animated coming-of-age tale.

directed by Keiichi Hara

starring Anne Watanabe

release date October 14, 2016 (NY, LA); other U.S. cities to follow