Japanese Animation Film ‘Fireworks’ to Be Available Soon in North America

GKids have been the forerunners of bringing foreign animated films to the United States, including recently picking up the rights to distributing Studio Ghibli films (previously under the Disney banner). The production have gotten their hands on yet another Japanese animated film, and they look to bring it to theaters, Variety reports. Fireworks: Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?, a 2017 Japanese animated film that was nominated for Animation of the Year at the 41st Japan Academy Prize, will be released in North American Theaters in the summer.

Fireworks follows the story of a boy named Norimichi Samada whose life in a small town is fairly normal. He hangs out with his friends Yusuke, Miura, and Jun’ichi, plays pranks on their teacher, and ogles over the beauty of their classmate Nazuna Oikawa. Norimichi wants to confess his feelings to the young lady, but her family is planning to move away. Nazuna finds a ball that is revealed to have magical powers after it is put in the hands of Norimichi.

The film is based on a 1993 TV show of the same name and is directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and Nobuyuki Takeuchi with a script by Hitoshi Ohne. We are very interested to see how North American audiences will respond to the film, considering its surprisingly low aggregate score yet fairly high praises.