Crunchyroll announced on Tuesday that Nichole Sakura (Star Wars: Visions, Superstore) will play the lead character Suzume in the English dub of Makoto Shinkai‘s Suzume (Suzume no Tojimari) film. The company also revealed the dub‘s cast and staff:

The English cast includes:

Bill Millsap is directing the English dub at Bang Zoom! Studios. Eric P. Sherman is producing the dub with co-producers Mami Okada and Mio Moroe. Okada is also the casting director. Jessica Peace is the production manager. The production coordinators include Kana Ozaki, April Garner, and Yna Vergara. Patrick Rodman is supervising the sound. Ben Harrington is handling the re-recording mix. He is also a recording engineer along with Krystal Holmes, Jonathan Brannen, and Kenneth Thompson. Brannen is also a dialogue editor, alongside Matt Wollenman. Ismael Yanez is the audio operations manager. Christopher March and Samuel Carrillo are the assistant engineers. Megumi M. Tsuji is the video technician.

Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Wild Bunch International, and Eurozoom will screen the film worldwide except in Asia starting on April 12. Crunchyroll will handle North American distribution, while Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment will handle distribution in Latin America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Africa, and portions of Europe. Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Wild Bunch International, and Eurozoom will release the film in French- and German-speaking Europe. The film is planned to screen in 199 countries and territories.

Suzume has earned a cumulative total of about 14,218,719,280 yen (about US$108.10 million) in Japan as of Sunday. The film is the 15th highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, and the ninth highest-grossing anime film of all time in Japan, having surpassed Jujutsu Kaisen 0.

The film opened at #1 on November 11 and sold 1.33 million tickets to earn 1.88 billion yen (about US$13.49 million) in its first three days.

The film sold 38.7% more tickets and earned 47.4% more than Shinkai’s acclaimed your name. film, which earned 1,277,960,000 yen (about US$12.51 million at the time) in its first three days. It also sold 14.8% more tickets and earned 14.4% more than Shinkai’s previous film Weathering With You, marking the strongest opening three days of Shinkai’s films.

Actress Nanoka Hara voices the heroine Suzume Iwato in the film. SixTONES idol group member Hokuto Matsumura (live-action Liar × Liar film’s Tōru, live-action xxxHOLiC film’s Shizuka Doumeki) made his voice acting debut in the film as Sōta Munakata, a young man who embarks on a journey with Suzume as the “Door-Closing Master.”

Shinkai (your name., Weathering With You) directed the film and wrote the screenplay. He is also credited with the original story. Masayoshi Tanaka (your name., Weathering With You) designed the characters. Kenichi Tsuchiya (your name., Garden of Words) was the animation director. Takumi Tanji (Children Who Chase Lost Voices) was the art director. CoMix Wave Films and Story Inc. produced the movie. TOHO is distributing the film. Seattle-based Hollywood film composer Kazuma Jinnouchi (Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, RWBY: Ice Queendom) scored the film alongside RADWIMPS. TikTok performer Toaka performed one of the film’s theme songs “Suzume.”

Sources: Deadline (Matt Grobar), Crunchyroll (Nicholas Friedman)

Character visuals unveiled

The teaser website for the SAND LAND Project announced on Wednesday (World Water Day) that Akira Toriyama‘s SAND LAND manga will get an anime film adaptation that will open in theaters in Japan on August 18. Sunrise, Kamikaze Douga, and Anima are producing the animation. The website also unveiled charater visuals:

Beelzebub

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Thief

Rao

The work was previously announced in December as a “screen adaptation.”

The Sand Land manga is a short series that Toriyama serialized in Shueisha‘s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from May to August 2000. Shueisha published one compiled book volume of the manga in November 2000.

Viz publishes the manga in English, and it describes the story:

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In the far future, war has destroyed the entire Earth, leaving only a barren wasteland where the supply of water is controlled by the greedy king. In search of a long-lost lake, Sheriff Rao asked the king of the demons for help…and got the king’s son, Beelzebub, and his assistant, Thief. Together the unlikely trio sets off across the desert, facing dragons, bandits and the deadliest foe of all… the King’s army itself! It’s travel adventure and tank action in this new story from Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball Z!

Toriyama began his first serialized manga, Dr. Slump, in 1980, and it inspired two television anime and multiple films. Toriyama followed it up with Dragon Ball, which ran from 1984 to 1995, and is still inspiring manga and anime sequels and spinoffs today. He is also well-known as the character designer for the Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon games.

Sources: SAND LAND film’s website, Comic Natalie

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Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.