is a 2018 Japanese animated coming-of-age drama film based on the light novel of the same name by Yoru Sumino. Produced by Studio VOLN and distributed by Aniplex, the film is written and directed by Shinichiro Ushijima and stars Mahiro Takasugi, Lynn, Yukiyo Fujii, Yuma Uchida, Jun Fukushima, Atsuko Tanaka, Shin-ichiro Miki, and Emi Wakui. In the film, an unnamed male high school student befriends his classmate Sakura Yamauchi, who is revealed to have a terminal illness in her pancreas.
An anime film adaptation of the light novel was announced in August 2017. The staff for the film were revealed in March 2018, with Takagusi and Lynn being announced as the unnamed male high school student and Sakura, respectively. The remaining cast were revealed in June, July, and August 2018.
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas held its preview screening in Tokyo on July 24, 2018, and was released in Japan on September 1. The film grossed over million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the story and its message, animation, and writing. The film received several nominations from film festivals held at Sitges and Scotland.
Plot
An unnamed male high school student comes across a book in a hospital waiting room. He soon discovers that it is a diary kept by his very popular classmate Sakura Yamauchi, who reveals to him that she is secretly suffering from a fatal illness in her pancreas. Despite this, Sakura intends to maintain a normal school life and thus is drawn to him due to his relatively unfazed reaction to her condition. They begin to spend time together and become friends.
During their school break, Sakura invites him on a train trip to Fukuoka where they play truth-or-dare game and eventually share a bed in their hotel room. Afterward, Sakura's friends and classmates grow suspicious and resentful of his newfound closeness to her. The two begin doing activities from Sakura's bucket list together until she is suddenly hospitalized. During her hospitalization, the two sneak out to see fireworks together. When she gets discharged, Sakura invites him for lunch but fails to show up at their meeting place. Later that night, he learns from the news that Sakura died from a stabbing. He breaks down and does not attend her funeral.
Later, he visits Sakura's mother and asks for her diary. Her mother recognizes him and reveals Sakura left a message in the diary for him. The message tells him to keep the diary and to make her best friend Kyoko read it since she was unaware of her illness. Soon after reading the message, he immediately breaks down into tears as he never felt so much sorrow for a single person before. Sakura's mother learns of his name as Haruki Shiga before he leaves and explains how his name meaning "spring trees" corresponds to her daughter's name of "cherry blossom". Haruki meets with Kyoko, who is in denial that Sakura ever lied to her, but she runs away after reading the diary. Haruki runs after her and asks her to be his friend. In a post-credits scene, Haruki and Kyoko, who are now friends, visit Sakura's grave a year later.
Voice cast
Production
In August 2017, an anime film adaptation of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas light novel series by Yoru Sumino was announced. Shinichiro Ushijima as director and screenwriter, Yūichi Oka as chief animation director and character designer, Mayuko Koike as cinematographer, and Yumi Jingugi as editor were confirmed in March 2018 as part of the staff behind the film at Studio VOLN. In contrast to his past directing of action films, this was Ushijima's first time working on a "coming-of-age drama" genre. Additionally, Mahiro Takasugi and Lynn were announced to be starring in the film as the unnamed male high school student credited as and Sakura Yamauchi, respectively. This was Takasugi's debut in voice acting. In June 2018, Yukiyo Fujii, Yuma Uchida, Jun Fukushima, Atsuko Tanaka, and Shin-ichiro Miki were cast as Kyoko, Takahiro, Gum Boy, and "Me"s mother and father, respectively. In July 2018, Emi Wakui joined the cast in her voice acting debut as Sakura's mother. In August 2018, 3DCG director Koremi Kishi stated how the team spent a lot of time and effort animating trams and diesel railcars since they were "important elements of the [film]'s worldview." Despite the frequent use of 3D in the layout and moving backgrounds, the team tried to avoid using it "in a way that would make the technology stand out and to make it fit naturally into the screen." That month, the four members of the band Sumika were cast in undisclosed roles. The English dub cast for the film was announced by Aniplex of America in November 2018.