It has been announced that director Shoji Kawamori, known for the popular anime series "Macross" and "Aquarion," will be producing his first original feature-length animated film, "Labyrinth's Bookmark," which will be released in January 2026. Based on the "three sacred treasures" of director Kawamori's hit series - "song," "sci-fi," and "love triangles," the film will be a "pop, slightly horror, otherworldly escape drama" that incorporates the smartphones that everyone has in their hands these days.
Taichi Hashimoto, who participated in "Revisions" and "HUMAN LOST", will be in charge of the script, and Risa Ebata, who has worked with Director Kawamori on "Macross Frontier " and "Macross F: The Song of the Night", will be in charge of character design. Sanzigen will be producing the anime.
The story is about the main character, an ordinary high school girl named Maezawa Shiori, whose smartphone suddenly breaks one day and she finds herself lost in a deserted, other-worldly Yokohama. In order to stop her other self from suddenly appearing and going on a rampage, she must try to escape from the strange smartphone labyrinth.
A teaser visual featuring Shiori was released with the tagline, "When my smartphone cracked, I found myself in another world." A trailer was also released on YouTube, depicting Shiori, who was living the daily life of an ordinary high school girl, suddenly getting trapped in her smartphone and facing a number of predicaments. The trailer also featured a mysterious girl, a pink rabbit, and a strange character flying through the air with missiles flying about.
Director Kawamori commented, "The story of "The Labyrinth' was born from the idea of smartphones, which every modern person uses, as ``another self'' that accumulates data and personal information. If your smartphone breaks, it may mean that your heart will break. A girl is trapped in a smartphone labyrinth and her ``other self'' begins to run wild in the real world of Yokohama. I have aimed to create an emotional, pop entertainment piece that combines song and horror, where emotions explode and stamps fly everywhere, as the story travels between the ``other world of the heart'' and the real world. This is the first time I have written a completely original story for a movie. I hope you will watch to see how the showdown between the two ``protagonists'' turns out!"
◇Staff (titles omitted)
Director: Shoji Kawamori ▽Original work: Slow Curve, Vector Vision, Gaga, Fuji Television▽Character design: Ebata Risa▽Screenplay: Hashimoto Taichi▽Animation production: Sanzigen▽Planning and production: Slow Curve▽Distribution: Gaga
