The production committee behind the
ambitious animated adaptation of Witch on the Holy
Night (known in Japan as Mahoutsukai no Yoru) decided to
put a slam dunk to the suspense. During a special event of the franchise held
this Tuesday, it was officially announced that this long-awaited film will land
in Japanese theaters on November 20. The announcement marks a very
important milestone for Type-Moon fans, who had been waiting
forever for concrete updates on the jump of this work to the big screen.
To understand the immense plot weight of this
film, we have to go back to the mid-nineties. This story was one of the first
raw creative collaborations between iconic writer Kinoko Nasu and
artist Takashi Takeuchi, laying the mythological foundations for
what we now popularly know as the Nasuverse. The plot transports us
to the late 1980s to follow in the footsteps of Aoko Aozaki, who, after being
surprisingly named as heir to her family's magical legacy, is forced to move
into a lonely hilltop mansion to be instructed by the ruthless and enigmatic
witch Alice Kuonji.
Magic, family jealousy and a bestseller
Although the original text was kept for years,
its evolution to the visual novel format in 2012 changed
everything. The tremendous current profitability of this license was
demonstrated with its recent global re-releases on PlayStation 4, Nintendo
Switch and Steam, far exceeding 150,000 copies sold worldwide. This film
adaptation will not only capture Aoko's complicated balance between her school
life, the arrival of the peculiar transfer student Soujyuro Sizuki and the
lethal attacks orchestrated by her resentful older sister, Touko Aozaki, but
will serve as a direct connection to understand the background of key
characters who later shine in gems such as Tsukihime and The
Garden of Sinners.
Considering the spectacular technical level
that Type-Moon projects usually receive in cinematic format
