It was
about time. After years of gathering dust in the inkwell, Kyoto Animation
finally brought to light one of its most lagging projects. Through a new
trailer, it was officially confirmed that the animated adaptation of Sparks
of Tomorrow (20 Seiki Denki Mokuroku) will land on Japanese
television this coming July 5. The video not only gives us a very
good dose of that beautiful animation to which the studio has accustomed us,
but also gives us a preview of "Eureka Evrika", the official opening
performed by Luna Goami, leaving the ending in the hands of Ginger
Root himself.
To put
together this project, the studio decided to give the director's chair to Minoru
Ota, who debuts leading a series for the first time. To keep the narrative
from spiraling out of control, Tatsuhiko Urahata was brought
in to oversee the scripts, while character design and lead animation fall
squarely on Kohei Okamura's shoulders. The entire construction
of this Japan at the beginning of the last century had the support of Takaaki
Suzuki, supported by the incidental music composed by Hitomi Koto.
About Sparks of Tomorrow
To give you
some context, the original novel written by Hiro Yuki won an
honorable mention at the Kyoto Animation Awards back in 2017. History throws us
back to the summer of 1907, right in the Fushimi area of Kyoto. There we follow
Inako Momokawa, the daughter of a sake brewer who is always scolding her for
being a walking mess. His only escape is to pray at the Fushimi Inari shrine,
and that's exactly where he bumps into Kihachi Sakamoto.
Unlike her,
Kihachi is a type of free spirit who passes Olympically from the Old Gods and
blindly trusts in the power of electricity. When Inako's father tries to force
her into an arranged marriage, Kihachi convinces her to send everything to hell
and run away from home. Together they embark on a vintage road trip looking
for the "Electric Catalog", a super rare book that he wrote in his
childhood, starting an adventure that mixes youthful romance with the clash
between tradition and modernity.
