Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend Trailer Previews Theme Song
This film adapts the final novel volume, making it the narrative endpoint for the main light novel series that concluded in October 2024 after a decade of serialization.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime News Network, Anime Corner.
The official website for the anime film Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend began streaming the main trailer on Monday, June 15. The trailer previews the theme song "Turn the World Upside Down" performed by Tōko Kirishima. The film is set to open in Japanese theaters on October 16. It is the latest installment in the Rascal Does Not Dream franchise, adapting the 15th and final volume of Hajime Kamoshida's light novel series. The film is teased as moving the story toward its conclusion. Soichi Masui returns to direct at CloverWorks, with Masahiro Yokotani handling the script and Satomi Tamura designing the characters. The band fox capture plan also returns to compose the music. Aniplex is distributing the film. The returning voice cast includes Kaito Ishikawa as Sakuta Azusagawa, Asami Seto as Mai Sakurajima, and many others. The film follows the television series Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus, which aired from July to September 2025.
The main trailer also confirms the full returning voice cast, which includes Sora Amamiya as Uzuki Hirokawa, Aya Yamane as Ikumi Akagi, Konomi Kohara as Sara Himeji, Manaka Iwami as Miori Mitō, Reina Ueda as Nene Iwamizawa, Nao Tōyama as Tomoe Koga, Atsumi Tanezaki as Rio Futaba, Maaya Uchida as Nodoka Toyohama, Yurika Kubo as Kaede Azusagawa, and Inori Minase as Shōko Makinohara.
Anime Corner notes that the film is a sequel to Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus, which concluded in September 2025. CloverWorks returns to animate the conclusion to the series, having also handled all prior entries including Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (2018) and the films Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl (2019), Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out (2023), and Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid (2023).
The light novel series, written by Hajime Kamoshida with illustrations by Keji Mizoguchi, began publication under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint in April 2014. The final volume was released on October 10, 2024, concluding a decade of serialization. The Yen On imprint of Yen Press published the Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend novel volume in English on January 6. Yen Press also publishes Tsugumi Nanamiya's manga adaptation of the series.
Anime News Network reports that the first film Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out sold 118,108 tickets in its opening weekend in June 2023, earning 175,648,924 yen (about US$1.28 million). The second film, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid, opened in December 2023 and sold 119,000 tickets, earning 164,594,554 yen (about US$1.11 million) in its first three days.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.