The latest trailer for the animated feature film "The Camphor Keeper" (directed by Ito Tomohiko, scheduled for release on January 30, 2026), based on the novel by Higashino Keigo, which has sold over one million copies, was released on YouTube on December 19th. The trailer depicts the protagonist, Naoi Reito, who lives a lonely life relying on luck, growing up through his job as the "The Camphor Keeper" and the people he meets after meeting his aunt, Yanagisawa Senshu. The trailer also gives a glimpse into the "secret" of Senshu, who ordered Reito to become the "The Camphor Keeper." This is the first time that one of Higashino's works has been adapted into an animated feature film.
It was also announced that singer Uru will perform the theme song, "Tsukiyo no Soba ni" (Moonlit Night by My Side). The song was written by rock band back number. This is the first time the band has written a song for a female artist since BTS in 2021. Before her debut, Uru released a cover of "back number" on YouTube, and that video led to her joining her current management and making her major debut. This song is a special one that has been realized after about 10 years. You can listen to the song in the latest trailer.
Uru said, "I was thrilled to be asked to sing the theme song for ' The Camphor Keeper of the Camphor Tree', and I was thrilled with two things: first, that it is a work by Higashino Keigo, whom I have read for a long time, and that back number would be providing the music for it. I was also inspired by projecting the protagonist of this work, Reito's way of life and his growth as a person, onto myself, and I sang it with the intention of breathing that directly into the wonderful music and lyrics that (Shimizu) Iori-san wrote. There are some aspects of human emotions that cannot be expressed in words or letters, and I feel like I have received that again through this work and 'Moonlit Night by My Side'. I hope I have sung a song that makes listeners want to cherish the emotions that arise in their hearts, just as they are."
Iyori Shimizu of back number, who wrote the lyrics and composed the music for the theme song, said, "I am truly happy to have been able to be involved in the best way I could have imagined with the work ' The Camphor Keeper,' which gently places a hand on the back of a character who is searching for a path while complaining, 'Why is it that the more I live, the more difficult it becomes?' I believe that Uru's light and deep singing of the simple wish that we received from back number in the form of melody, words and performance has added an important touch to ' The Camphor Keeper' as an animation, and I hope that she has done so."
Director Ito commented, "When I heard about the plan for Uru, whose cover video of a back number song was what led to her debut, to sing one of their songs, I felt that it overlapped with the theme of ' The Camphor Keeper.' I remember telling Shimizu Iori that I wanted people to leave the cinema feeling euphoric. The addition of Uru's voice to back number's sound adds to the sense of the extraordinary, and I got the impression that it gently envelops the entire film like the moon floating in the night sky. At the same time, it made me feel like I should call my parents. I think that's what this song is like for me."
It was also announced that Takehito Koyasu, Mio Tanaka, and Akira Kamiya will appear as additional cast members. Koyasu will play Masakazu Yanagisawa, a cousin of Senshu and the representative director of Yanagisawa Group's Yanats Corporation, Tanaka will play Masakazu's younger brother Katsushige Yanagisawa, the executive director of Yanats Corporation, and Kamiya will play Toichiro Ooba, the father of Takeki Ooba, who visits the camphor tree, and the chairman of Takumiya Honpo.
"The Camphor Keeper" (Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha), published in 2020, is a novel that has sold over one million copies. It tells the story of a mysterious camphor tree, which is said to grant wishes if you pray to it, and the young man who becomes its guardian. Naoi Reito, a young man who lost his job after being unfairly fired, is driven to the brink and arrested for a mistake. A lawyer suddenly appears and tells Reito, "If you follow my client's instructions, I'll release you." Reito accepts the condition, and before him appears his late mother's half-sister, Yanagisawa Chishu, who has made a major contribution to the development of the Yanagisawa Group, a major corporation. Chishu commands Reito to become The Camphor Keeper that stands at Tsukigo Shrine. The mystery of the camphor tree will entangle Reito's life and lead him to an unexpected truth.
The anime will be directed by Ito, known for "Sword Art Online" and other works, and produced by A-1 Pictures, the studio behind "Sword Art Online" and "Solo Leveling." Actor Fumiya Takahashi will play the protagonist, young man Reito Naoi, and Yuki Amami will play the protagonist's aunt, Senshu Yanagisawa.
