The official website of Kyoto Animation’s Violet Evergarden franchise has announced on Monday that the opening of the upcoming film will be postponed.
In a statement, the production committee has decided to delay the release of Violet Evergarden: The Movie due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, but also states that the film is close to completion.
The anime film’s new release date has not been set, but it will be announced on their platforms.
This will be the second time the upcoming film’s opening date in Japanese cinemas has been postponed, as it was originally scheduled to premiere on January 10, but the production committee has decided to delay the release.
The anime film’s new theatrical premiere date was set on April 24.
Violet Evergarden is an anime series based on a Japanese light novel series, written by Kana Akatsuki and illustrated by Akiko Takase.
The novel has won the grand prize in the fifth Kyoto Animation Award competition in 2014, marking the first time that any submitted work has earned the grand prize on any of its three categories, which are the novel, scenario and manga.
KA Esuma Bunko, which is the light novel imprint of the anime studio, had published three volumes of the novel series.
Taichi Ishidate, who is the director of the anime series, will return to work on the upcoming anime film, where he will be joined by other staff members including scriptwriter Reiko Yoshida and character designer Akiko Takase.
Yui Ishikawa will reprise her role as the titular character “Violet Evergarden”.
The franchise had released Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll, which serves as a side-story to the main storyline, in Japanese cinemas last September 6.
The anime film was initially set to screen for just two weeks, but extended to at least five weeks due to public demand, which earned an accumulative total of JP¥641,980,500 (about PHP295.6 million).
VIVA International Pictures, the foreign film distribution arm of VIVA Entertainment, had released the spinoff film last March 11, which was screened exclusively at SM Cinema branches nationwide.
The film was only screened in cinemas until March 14, due to restrictions imposed by the government caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Industry sources had previously revealed to Anime Pilipinas that the upcoming anime film has also been acquired by the film distributor.
The anime adaptation was aired on Japanese television during the Winter 2018 season, which was streamed by Global streaming giant Netflix on a simulcast basis in select countries, including the Philippines.
The streaming platform also added Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll side-story film to their lineup last April 2.
