News

Lonely Castle in the Mirror Anime Film Casts Mana Ashida as Ōkami-sama

The official website for the anime film of Mizuki Tsujimura's Lonely Castle in the Mirror (Kagami no Kojō) novel revealed on Monday that Mana Ashida (live-action Bunny Drop's Rin, Children of the Sea's Ruka) is voicing the character Ōkami-sama, the mysterious girl who has a wolf mask that hides her face. Ōkami-sama gathers the seven children to the castle, and holds the key to the story.

The film will open in Japan on December 23.

Ami Tōma is voicing protagonist Kokoro, after auditioning for the role.

Other cast members include: (Top row, left to right in image above)

• Sakura Kiryū as Aki, a cool and collected older sister figure to everybody
• Takumi Kitamura as Rion, a soccer player who easily gets along with everybody
• Aoi Miyazaki as Kitajima-sensei, a kind-hearted teacher at an alternative school
• Rihito Itagaki as Subaru, who seems to show a detached way of living life

• Naho Yokomizo as Fūka, a girl who has lived for the piano since childhood
• Minami Takayama as Masamune, a gamer with a sense of sarcastic humor
• Yūki Kaji as Ureshino, a boy who goes at his own pace and easily falls in love
• Kumiko Asō as Kokoro's mother

(Clockwise from top left in image above) Akiko Yajima, Karen Miyama, Ayaka Yoshimura, and Anji Ikehata.

Keiichi Hara (Colorful, Miss Hokusai, The Wonderland) is directing the film at A-1 Pictures. Miho Maruo, who wrote the script for Hara's Miss Hokusai and The Wonderland films, is penning the script. Keigo Sasaki (Blue Exorcist, ERASED, The Seven Deadly Sins) is designing the characters, and is also the chief animation director. Russian artist Ilya Kuvshinov, who drew the character designs for The Wonderland, is credited for visual concept and castle design. Harumi Fuuki, who has composed the music for Hara's prior films, is returning. Shochiku is distributing the film.

Doubleday released the novel in English in April 2021, and it describes the story:

In a tranquil neighbourhood of Tokyo, seven teenagers wake to find their bedroom mirrors are shining.

At a single touch, they are pulled from their lonely lives to a wondrous castle filled with winding stairways, watchful portraits and twinkling chandeliers. In this new sanctuary, they are confronted with a set of clues leading to a hidden room where one of them will be granted a wish. But there's a catch: if they don't leave the castle by five o'clock, they will be punished.

As time passes, a devastating truth emerges: only those brave enough to share their stories will be saved.

Tsujimura released the original novel in Japan in 2017. It won the 2018 Japan Booksellers' Award, topped Da Vinci magazine's Book of the Year list in 2017, and won the grand prize in the King's Brunch Book Prize 2017. Erewhon will release a hardcover English edition of the novel on October 18.

Tsujimura's Anime Supremacy! (Haken Anime!) also inspired an upcoming live-action film adaptation that opened on May 20. Vertical released the novel in English in October 2017.

Tsujimura wrote the story for Naoshi Arakawa's A School Frozen in Time manga, which Vertical released in English. Tsujimura also penned the script for the Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Chronicle of the Moon Exploration anime film in 2019.

Sources: Lonely Castle in the Mirror anime film's website, Comic Natalie