Shingo Natsume's Sonny Boy Anime Competes at Annecy This Year

This year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival announced on Tuesday that the first episode of Shingo Natsume and Madhouse's original science fiction anime Sonny Boy is screening in competition at this year's event in the TV Films category.

Other Japanese works in competition include Yoriko Mizushiri's "Anxious Body," Atsushi Wada's "Bird in the Peninsula," Honami Yano's "Honekami," and Ryo Hirano's "Krasue" in the Official Short Films category, and Koji Yamamura's "Hokkyoku-Guma Suggoku Hima" in the Young Audiences Short Films category.

Established in 1960, Annecy is the world's oldest and largest animation film festival. This year's event will run from June 13-18 in the French town of the same name

The 12-episode Sonny Boy series premiered in July 2021. Funimation streamed the anime as it aired in Japan.

The science-fiction ensemble drama centers around 36 boys and girls. On August 16, midway through a seemingly endless summer vacation, middle school third-year student Nagara, the mysterious transfer student Nozomi, and their classmates are suddenly transported from their tranquil daily lives to a school adrift in an alternate dimension. They must survive with the powers that have awakened within them.

Natsume conceived the story and directed and wrote the anime at Madhouse. Norifumi Kugai (ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.) handled the anime characters designs based on the original designs by manga artist and illustrator Hisashi Euguchi (Perfect Blue, Roujin Z, Eiji, Stop! Hibari-kun, Mujin Wakusei Survive).

Sources: Annecy International Animation Film Festival's website, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web