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The website for the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2024 is listing that Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower (Hi no Tori: Eden no Hana, literally “Eden’s Flower”), the film version of the Phoenix: Eden17 anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka‘s Phoenix manga, will compete in its Grand Competition – Feature Film category. The film festival will take place in Zagreb, Croatia from June 3 to June 8.
Ryo Orikasa’s eight-minute “Miserable Miracle!” short will screen in the Grand Competition – Short Film category. The short is a joint-production between studios from Japan, France, and Canada, and is also competing at Annecy. Gao Yuxin’s “Bottled Insects” short and Masataka Kihara’s “Toomoya!” shorts are competing in the student category.
Additionally, Mari Miyazawa’s “Konigiri-Kun: Connected?” and Akane Nakamoto’s “The One for Me” anime are competing in the “Films for Children Competition 1 (Age 3-6)” category, Azusa Fujii’s “Cossie of Chairville” anime is competing in the “Films for Children Competition 3 (Age 10-14)” category, and Miho Kidoguchi’s “Hottest Tokyo” and Michiko Soma’s “Maidens of the Ripples” anime are competing in the “Films for Youth Competition (Age 14+)” category.
Koji Yamamura‘s “Extremely Short” anime is screening outside of competition at the event.
Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower opened in Japan on November 3, and features a different ending from the Phoenix: Eden17 anime. The four-episode Phoenix: Eden17 anime debuted worldwide on Disney+ on September 13. The anime’s Japanese title is Hi no Tori: Eden no Sora (literally, Phoenix: Eden’s Space).
The anime follows a woman named Romi and her partner as they depart from the devastated Earth and head for a new life on the planet Eden17. However, life has already been made extinct on the new world, so Romi finds herself eking out an even harsher life there. The anime is based on the “Nostalgia” arc of the original manga.
Shōjirō Nishimi (Mutafukaz, Batman: Gotham Knight “Have I Got a Story for You,” Ani-Kuri 15 “Invasion from Space – Hiroshi’s Case”) directed the anime at Studio 4°C. Katsunari Mano (Death Note Light up the NEW world) and Saku Konohana (Children of the Sea) served as scriptwriters. Tatsuzou Nishida (Children of the Sea chief animator) designed the characters, and was also the chief animation director. Shinji Kimura (Children of the Sea) was the art director. The English all-boys vocal group Libera performed the ending theme song titled, “Eien no Kizuna” (Eternal Bonds).
Atsushi Wada‘s series of anime shorts, titled “Ikimono-san,” based on his My Exercise game, competed in the Grand Competition – Short Film category of last year’s festival in June 2023.
Animafest Zagreb is the second-oldest animation festival in the world after Annecy.
Sources: Animafest Zagreb’s website (link 2, link 3, link 4), Animation Business Journal (Tadashi Sudo)
