Chiikawa Film Appears on FNS Kayousai Ahead of July 24 Release
The FNS Kayousai appearance and the July 3 information day represent a coordinated promotional push for Chiikawa's first film, a franchise that has grown from a Twitter manga to a multimedia phenomenon with over 400 million YouTube views.
Reporting from 2 sources: KAI-YOU, Anime Anime.
The first theatrical film adaptation of Nagano's Chiikawa franchise, "Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island," enters its release month with a series of promotional events. On July 1, characters from the film appeared on Fuji TV's music special "2026 FNS Kayousai Summer," where Hachiware performed the opening theme "Kutsuzure" alongside the Suginami Children's Choir. The performance marked the first television broadcast of the song. The film's cast includes Haruka Aoki as Chiikawa, Masato Tanaka as Hachiware, and Ari Ozawa as Usagi, with additional characters voiced by Yuka Iguchi, Takayuki Asai, Yuma Uchida, Miyuri Shimabukuro, Momono Harumi, Tsuguo Mogami, and Minori Suzuki. The film adapts the "Siren Arc" and "Island Arc" from the original manga, which began serialization on X in 2020. Kei Oikawa directs, with animation production by CygamesPictures and distribution by Toho. On July 3, a day-long event called "The Summer of Movie Chiikawa is Coming DAY" will deliver six major announcements, culminating at 20:00 with a premiere of a new video on YouTube's Toho MOVIE CHANNEL. The film opens nationwide in Japan on July 24.
The film's opening theme "Kutsuzure" was written by original creator Nagano. The song is performed by Hachiware, voiced by Masato Tanaka. The FNS Kayousai appearance is scheduled between 18:30 and 19:00, within the three-and-a-half-hour live special hosted by Masaki Aiba and Fuji TV announcer Sayaka Inoue.
Beyond Chiikawa, Hachiware, and Usagi, the FNS segment will feature additional characters from the film: Momonga, Kurimanju, Rakko, Shiisa, Furuhonya, Shima Jiro, and Siren. The film's full production credits include character designer Tomoko Tsuji, concept artist Masaki Hashimoto, CG director Yoshinori Nakano, and music by Shugo Tokumaru and Chikara Kamimizubaru. CygamesPictures, the animation studio, is known for the action scenes in "Umamusume: Pretty Derby - A New Door."
New scene cuts from the 90-second trailer released on June 1 have been revealed. Special features on the film are scheduled for the July 3 issue of "Nikkei Entertainment!" and the July 6 issue of "Da Vinci." A collaboration campaign with Yokohama City will run from July 24 to August 2. The film's original soundtrack is priced at ¥3,300.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.