AnimeNYC 2019 Recap: Gkids

Gkids is a lot younger a company than I realized, having only been around for 8~11 years, but they’ve been doing pretty well for themselves.

Their biggest title is naturally Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering For You. This is Gkids’ largest release so far, with the film set to have a nationwide screening. For those not at the con, there are two types of screenings: the fan preview screenings, and then the proper nationwide releases. The fan preview screenings, which will be on January 15th and 16th, will feature a Q&A session with Makoto Shinkai himself. Nationwide releases, in both the sub and dub, will begin on January 17th.

Promare, this year’s darling, is also getting a special redux showing. Thanks to word of mouth and the fan praise, this movie ballooned to a spectacular size, and is being shown yet again at the end of the year. The redux includes the special short Side: Galo, which shows Galo’s initiation into Burning Rescue, and will be on two dates: December 8th for the sub and December 10th for the dub. While Side: Lio will not be featured in this redux, the panelists said that the other short will be shown in the future.

White Snake is the first Chinese animation title that Gkids is in charge of distributing, originally done by Lightchaser Animation. While they are still a fairly new company, in the growing Chinese animation market, they are the veterans. This movie is a prequel to the original legend of the white snake and acts almost as an origin story, taking a few thousand years before the legend itself. There is a lot of detail put into the film, for each character has a different style of martial art. Very important to Gkids was inclusivity, and the dub cast is comprised of all Asian-American voice actors. White Snake will preview in Los Angeles on November 15th, and everywhere else in the country on November 29th.

As for home releases there are a couple! Genius Party/Genius Party Beyond, featuring top talent in the field giving free reign over short films, is now available. The Case of Hana and Alice, a prequel to the popular live-action film, is also now available. Summer Days with Coo, with the same director as Miss Hokusai, will be available for digital download on January 7th, and out in Blu-ray and DVD on January 21st.

Lastly, is Ghibli Fest 2019. There are only two movies left, with Princess Mononoke’s dubbed version being shown on the 20th. The last installment is The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which will show the dub on December 16th, and the sub on December 18th. It will also feature an introduction by Noelle Stevenson, the creator of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Lumberjanes. While nothing is set in stone yet, there might possibly be a Ghibli Fest in 2020, fingers crossed.

Altogether, a pleasant and informative panel. Although I’m still sad i didn’t win that sweet Promare signed poster!