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Sylvanian Families/Calico Critters Franchise Gets Its 1st Anime Film

Epoch announced on Friday that its Sylvanian Families toy line will have its first anime film titled Gekijōban Sylvanian Families: Freya Kara no Okurimono (Sylvanian Families the Movie: A Gift From Freya), which will open in Japan this fall. 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 the Sylvanian village's annual star festival serving as the backdrop.

Kazuya Konaka (Rayca, 2003 Astro Boy) is directing the film, with Hirotoshi Kobayashi (2003 Astro Boy, Dr. Pinoko no Mori no Bōken, Atagoal wa Neko no Mori) penning the script. Jun Ichikawa (The Morose Mononokean II, True Cooking Master Boy, Seven Days War) is composing the music. Frebari is producing the film.

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.

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: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web