Sing a Bit of Harmony Anime Film's Animated Music Video Streamed
Shochiku began streaming a music video with lyrics for Funimation and J.C. Staff's original anime film coproduction Sing a Bit of Harmony (Ai no Utagoe o Kikasete) on Tuesday. The video features animated footage and stills from the film and uses the insert song "You Need a Friend: Anata ni wa Tomodachi ga Iru." Tao Tsuchiya performs the song.
The film will open in Japan on October 29. Funimation will screen the film in theaters in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand in early 2022.
Funimation describes the film:
Sing a Bit of Harmony tells the story of the beautiful and mysterious Shion (Tao Tsuchiya) who transfers to Keibu High School where she quickly becomes popular for her open-hearted personality and exceptional athletic talent... but she turns out to be an AI (artificial intelligence) in the testing phase! Shion's goal is to bring chronic loner Satomi (Haruka Fukuhara) “happiness.” But her strategy is something no human would expect: she serenades Satomi in the middle of the classroom. After finding out that Shion is an AI, Satomi and her childhood friend, engineering geek Toma (Asuka Kudo), steadily warm up to the new student. Along with the popular and attractive Gotchan (Kazuyuki Okitsu), the strong-willed Aya (Mikako Komatsu), and judo club member "Thunder" (Satoshi Hino), they become more and more moved by Shion's singing voice and earnestness even as her antics bewilder them. But what Shion does for Satomi's sake ends up involving them all in some serious pandemonium… Get ready for the heartwarming story of a not quite market-ready AI and her classmates!
The cast includes:
- Tao Tsuchiya as Shion Ashimori
- Haruka Fukuhara as Satomi Amano
- Asuka Kudo as Tо̄ma
- Kazuyuki Okitsu as Gocchan
- Mikako Komatsu as Aya
- Satoshi Hino as Thunder
- Kenjiro Tsuda as Saijō
- Sayaka Ohara as Mitsuko
- Kenji Hamada as Nomiyama
Japanese comedian Kazlaser and former Takarazuka actress Miyu Sakihi will also voice as-yet unspecified roles in the film.
Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Time of Eve and Patema Inverted) is directing the film. Yoshiura and Ichiro Okouchi (Code Geass, Princess Principal, Seven Days War) are co-writing the script. Kanna Kii, the creator of the Seaside Stranger manga, drew the original character designs. Shuichi Shimamura (Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile) is designing the characters for animation, and is also the chief animation director.
Ryō Takahashi (Sk8 the Infinity) is composing the music, and Yohei Matsui (Ensemble Stars!) is writing the songs.