Kaina of the Great Snow Sea: Star Sage Anime Film Sequel's Trailer Reveals October Premiere

Fuji TV announced on Wednesday that the film sequel to Kaina of the Great Snow Sea (Ōyukiumi no Kaina), the new television anime project from BLAME! and Knights of Sidonia collaborators Tsutomu Nihei and Polygon Pictures, will premiere in theaters in Japan this October with the title Kaina of the Great Snow Sea: Star Sage (Ōyukiumi no Kaina: Hoshi no Kenja). Crunchyroll has licensed the film, and it is streaming an English-subtitled trailer:

© 弐瓶勉／大雪海のカイナ製作委員会

The television anime premiered in Fuji TV's Ultra+ block in Japan on January 12. The anime also airs on Kansai TV, Tokai TV, TV Nishinippon, Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting Co., Ltd., and BS Fuji. The television series ended on Wednesday. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime outside Asia. Crunchyroll hosted the anime's world premiere of the first four episodes at Crunchyroll Expo on August 6.

The "boy-meets-girl high fantasy" is set in a world where land is being swallowed by the encroaching Great Snow Sea. Humanity ekes out a harsh life above the Tenmaku (a wordplay on the Japanese word for tent) that stretches from the roots to the tops of giant Orbital Trees. The story centers around Kaina, a boy who lives above the Tenmaku, and Liliha, the princess of the small country Atland in the Great Snow Sea.

The main cast members are:

• Yoshimasa Hosoya as Kaina
• Rie Takahashi as Liliha
• Ayumu Murase as Yaona
• Maaya Sakamoto as Amerote
• Katsuyuki Onishi as Olinoga
• Tomokazu Sugita as Ngaboji
• Nobuyuki Hiyama as Handagil
• Kenyuu Horiuchi as Halesola

Hiroaki Ando (Ajin, Listeners) is directing the anime, and Sadayuki Murai (Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Juni Taisen: Zodiac War, Natsume's Book of Friends) and Tetsuya Yamada (episodes of Knights of Sidonia, Juni Taisen: Zodiac War) are writing the scripts. The anime commemorates Polygon Pictures' 40th anniversary.

The manga version of the story launched in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine in February 2022. Crunchyroll is offering the manga outside Asia. Nihei is credited with the original story, and Itoe Takemoto (The Beast Player novel illustrator and manga artist) is drawing the manga.

Sources: Kaina of the Great Snow Sea anime's website, Fuji TV's livestream, Crunchyroll (Kyle Cardine)