Philippine film distributor Pioneer Films has announced on Sunday that they will screen the anime film adaptation of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend in the country.
The company did not mention a specific release date, but says the anime film “will hit Philippine theaters as soon as quarantine is lifted.”
The country has been on an “Enhanced community quarantine” since March 17 due to public health emergency caused by COVID-19, which has affected Metro Manila and the rest of the country. As a precautionary measure, shopping malls, cinema houses and other public establishments have been closed since March 15.
Pioneer Films will serve as the film distributor in the country, while Southeast Asian anime channel ANIPLUS Asia will be its master licensee, which is similar to their arrangement for Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl anime film’s screening last November.
The anime channel has announced in November last year that they plan to screen the anime film in cinemas across Southeast Asia.
The anime film had its Southeast Asian premiere during C3 AFA Singapore 2019 last November, with theatrical screenings in Singapore happened in December last year and Thailand followed last January.
Saekano the Movie: Finale is the third and final anime adaptation based on the Japanese light novel series Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, written by Fumiaki Maruto and illustrated by Kurehito Misaki.
The light novel was serialized by Fujimi Shobo, under its Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint, from July 2012 to October 2017 with a total of 13 volumes published. The popular novel has also inspired several manga spinoffs, a visual novel game, a spinoff novel, and two television anime adaptations.
The anime film is directed by Akihisa Shibata, who served as episode director of the two previous television anime adaptations, with Kanta Kamei now serving as its chief director.
Light novel author Fumiaki Maruto returned to handle the film’s scripts, and Tomoaki Akase also returned to handle the film’s character designs, which is now produced by CloverWorks.
The Japanese voice cast from the previous adaptations who reprises their role in the anime film include:
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as “Tomoya Aki”
- Kiyono Yasuno as “Megumi Kato”
- Saori Onishi as “Eriri Spencer Sawamura”
- Ai Kayano as “Utaha Kasumigaoka”
- Sayuri Yahagi as “Michiru Hyodo”
- Chinatsu Akasaki as “Izumi Hashima”
- Tetsuya Kakihara as “Iori Hashima”
Saekano the Movie: Finale opened in Japanese cinemas on October 26, which debuted at #5 in the Japanese box office. The anime film was released in 121 screens and earned JP¥136,362,600 (about PHP64.1 million) on its opening weekend.
The first season of Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend was aired on ANIPLUS Asia, within the same week as Japan, in Winter 2015.
The second season, titled Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Flat, was streamed on Amazon Prime Video in Spring 2017 as a part of its deal with Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV to stream anime titles from its Noitamina block, which ended this year.
