is a Japanese novel written by and published by AlphaPolis in 2007. It received a manga adaptation by Madoka Asahi, which began serialization in 2011 and was published as a single tankōbon volume by AlphaPolis in 2012. An anime film adaptation, directed by Kōnosuke Uda, was produced by Toei Animation and screened in Japanese theaters also in 2012.
Plot On a hot summer day, a young boy named Yuta visits the dam where his father died one year ago. At the site he meets a mysterious old man. He gives the old man something to drink and later that day the old man saves him after slipping off the dam. He wakes up to discover he is 30 years in the past. There he meets a girl named Saeko, who loves fireflies, and also befriends a boy his age named Kenzo.
Characters source:
,
Media Novel The novel was written by Masayuki Kawaguchi. The front cover for the original hardcover edition was illustrated by manga artist . It was first published as a single tankōbon hardcover volume by AlphaPolis on July 30, 2007, under its main imprint. Three years later, it was reprinted into two smaller bunkobon paperback volumes, dubbed and , on July 20, 2010, under the AlphaPolis Bunko imprint; each volume featured a different crop of the original hardcover's front-cover artwork by Kaoru Maruyama, with the "Top" volume's cover focusing on the boy climbing the stairs and the "Bottom" volume's cover focusing on the beetle crawling on the tilted tree.
To promote the then-upcoming animated film adaptation, a new tankōbon softcover edition, dubbed the , was published by AlphaPolis on March 15, 2012, retaining the hardcover's Kaoru Maruyama cover artwork but now enclosing it within an ornate white frame (typical of most AlphaPolis reissues).
For the seventeenth anniversary of the novel, a "kids' bunkobon" version for younger readers was published by AlphaPolis under its Kizuna Bunko imprint on July 15, 2024, split into two "Top" and "Bottom" volumes like the 2010 regular bunkobon reissue. Larger than the regular bunkobon but smaller than the tankōbon, each volume featured a larger typeface and in-text furigana to aid elementary-school readers in reading the kanji. Both volumes included new artworks drawn by illustrator , including the cover artworks (the "Top" cover featuring Yuta, and the "Bottom" cover featuring Saeko) which were enclosed within an ornate orange frame that is characteristic of Kizuna Bunko books; when both volumes were placed side by side ("Top" on the left and "Bottom" on the right), both covers formed a full artwork revealing Yuta and Saeko running on a field while clasping hands together.
Manga A manga adaptation, illustrated by Madoka Asahi, was serialized on the AlphaPolis Web Manga website from July 2011 to early 2012, encompassing eleven chapters. These chapters were collected into a single tankōbon paperback volume and published by AlphaPolis under the AlphaPolis Comics imprint on May 11, 2012, a week before the animated film adaptation, which the manga helped promote, was set to be premiered in theaters.
Animated film The animated film adaptation by Toei Animation was directed by Kōnosuke Uda, with screenplay written by and cinematography by Masao Ōnuki. The music was composed by Masataka Matsutoya; his wife, legendary singer-songwriter Yumi Matsutoya, performed the theme song .
It was screened in Japanese theaters on May 19, 2012, two months after the lightweight-edition tankōbon re-release of the novel, and a week after the manga was published.
Staff Directed by Kōnosuke Uda Based on the original work by Screenplay by Character design and animation direction by Music by Masataka Matsutoya Theme song "Ai to Tōi Hi no Mirai e" by Yumi Matsutoya Art by Art direction and color design by Screen design and layout direction by Cinematography by Masao Ōnuki Edited by Shinichi Fukumitsu Marketing by Produced by Planning by Executive producer: Production company: Toei Animation Distributed by Toei Company
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