Modest heroes, big screens.
Earlier today, the official website for Studio Ponoc’s Ponoc Tanpen Gekijō (Ponoc Short Films Theater) film series updated with a trailer for the first entry, titled Modest Heroes (Chiisana Eiyū: Kani to Tamago to Tōmei Ningen lit. Small Hero – Crab and Egg and Transparent Human –).
The 90-second teaser previews the three stories in the feature, with character dialogue and a narrator delivering the major story elements.
Ponoc Short Films Theater: Modest Heroes hits Japanese theaters on August 24. Three shorts will be included:
- Kanini & Kanino: A fantasy tale about two crab siblings. Run Time: 15 minutes.
- Life Ain’t Gonna Lose (Samurai Egg): A human drama that displays the love between a mother and her son. Run Time: 15 minutes
- Invisible (Tōmei Ningen): A self-proclaimed “spectacle action” short that focuses on the lonesome trials of an invisible man. Run Time: 14 Minutes
Each of the shorts will feature a different director:
- Kanini & Kanino: Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Mary and The Witch’s Flower, The Secret World of Arrietty)
- Life Ain’t Gonna Lose: Yoshiyuki Momose (Ghiblies Episode 2, Space Station No. 9)
- Invisible: Akihiko Yamashita (A Sumo Wrestler’s Tail)
All three directors previously worked at Studio Ghibli on projects. Kanini & Kanino will be Yonebayashi’s first original feature.
The film’s composers are as follows:
- Kanini & Kanino: Takatsugu Muramatsu
- Life Ain’t Gonna Lose: Masanori Shimada
- Invisible: Yasutaka Nakata
The confirmed voice cast includes:
- Kanini (Kanini & Kanino): Fumino Kimura
- Kanino (Kanini & Kanino): Rio Suzuki
- Mama (Life Ain’t Gonna Lose): Machiko Ono
- Shun (Life Ain’t Gonna Lose): Sōta Shinohara
- Father (Life Ain’t Gonna Lose): Kentaro Sakaguchi
- Doctor (Life Ain’t Gonna Lose): Kentaro Sakaguchi
- Invisible Man (Invisible): Joe Odagiri
- Blind Man (Invisible): Min Tanaka
Source: Eiga Natalie
