A feature film reboot of “1 Litre of Tears,” one of Japan’s most beloved books, leads a three-title slate from Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures at Hong Kong FilMart, alongside an animated youth romance and a sibling drama centered on autism.
Targeting a 2027 release with Nishikido Ryo attached, the reboot is based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Kito Aya, first published in 1986, which compiles the diary entries she kept after being diagnosed at age 15 with spinocerebellar degeneration, a rare illness. She kept writing for as long as her condition allowed, and died at age 25. The book and its series have sold over 2 million copies worldwide. A director has yet to be announced. Alongside the Aya adaptation, a separate film drawn from the memoir by her mother, Kito Shioka — documenting their time together through her daughter’s illness — has also been greenlit.
Also on the slate is “You, Fireworks and Promise,” an animated romance set for release July 17. Voiced by Sato Shori and Hara Nanoka ± who previously provided the voice of the heroine in Shinkai Makoto’s “Suzume” — the film follows Natsume Makoto, a quiet high schooler whose classmate Hayama Aki has long treasured a childhood drawing of fireworks inscribed with the words “You will meet Natsume Makoto,” though Makoto has no memory of it. As the two dig into the drawing’s origins, they uncover a promise made 81 years earlier — one that has endured across generations.
Rounding out the slate, “Parallel and Vertical” reunites director Kobayashi Shotaro (“Kaasan Mom’s Life,” “Mestro!”) with a cast led by Yasuda Shota and Non, who appeared in Nikkatsu’s “The Hotel of My Dream.” Slated for an Aug. 28 release, the drama centers on a brother with autism who communicates with very few words, and the sister who has devoted her life to protecting him, only to realize that the dynamic between them is actually the reverse.