Nasu: Summer in Andalusia

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Nasu: Summer in Andalusia
Image for Nasu: Summer in Andalusia
茄子 アンダルシアの夏
(Nasu: Andarushia no Natsu)
Genre Cycling, Sports, Romance
Manga: Nasu
Authored by Iou Kuroda
Publisher Kodansha
Serialized in Afternoon
Original run 20002002
No. of volumes 3
Movie: Nasu: Summer in Andalusia
Directed by Kitaro Kosaka
Studio Madhouse
Released 21 December 2003
Runtime 47 minutes

Nasu: Summer in Andalusia (茄子 アンダルシアの夏 Nasu: Andarushia no Natsu?) is a 2003 Japanese anime film by Madhouse, directed by Kitaro Kosaka, the famed animation supervisor of the Oscar-winning anime film Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke and long-time collaborator of Studio Ghibli, and adapted from a short 3-tankōbon manga by Iou Kuroda, entitled Nasu (茄子?), which was serialized in the Afternoon manga magazine.

It was the first Japanese anime film to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival [1]. Nasu: Summer in Andalusia has been translated and dubbed into English by the anime television network Animax, who has broadcast the film in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, the Indian Subcontinent, and other regions. It was also translated into French, under the title Nasu - Un été andalou, and Italian, under the title Melanzana: Un'Estate in Andalusia.

It has been an announced that a sequel to the film, Nasu 2 (茄子2?) (temporary name), is currently being produced, which will be set in Japan on the Japan Cup Cycle Road Race, and is slated to be released in 2007.[2] The sequel film will also be directed by Kitaro Kosaka, and Ken'ichi Yoshida, another long-time collaborator of Studio Ghibli, who has worked on several Studio Ghibli films such as Princess Mononoke and Porco Rosso, will be joining as animation director.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Nasu: Summer in Andalusia follows the story of a professional Spanish cyclist, Pepe Benengeli, as he competes in a road bicycle race, similar to the Tour de France, through his home town in the Iberian region of Andalusia. As the story progresses, Pepe is faced with frustrating consequences, with him facing pressure from his sponsors and the wedding of his former girlfriend, Carmen, to his elder brother, Angel, coinciding on the same day of the penultimate stage of the bicycle race, and strives to gain the respect of his team and family.

[edit] Credits

Nasu: Summer in Andalusia was produced by the anime studio, Madhouse, and directed and written by Kitaro Kosaka, the famed animation supervisor of the Oscar-winning anime film, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, and long-time collaborator of Studio Ghibli, and was his first directorial venture. The music for the film was conducted by Toshiyuki Honda, and its sound was produced by Masafumi Mima. Its directors of photography were Katsuyoshi Kishi and Hisao Shirai, its art director was Naoya Tanaka and its editing was done by Takeshi Seyama. Its producer was Masao Maruyama and its executive producer was Tamotsu Shiina.

[edit] Voice casting

[edit] Manga: Nasu

Nasu: Summer in Andalusia was adapted from a short story, Summer in Andalusia (アンダルシアの夏 Andalusia no Natsu?), in the first volume of a 3-tankōbon manga by Iou Kuroda, entitled Nasu (茄子?), which consisted altogether of 24 chapters and was serialized in Kodansha's Afternoon manga magazine.

Nasu is a collection of stories, focusing on a returning series of characters, such as Takama, a farmer, and a young girl named Aya Takashi, who begins the series abandoned by her father and residing in Tokyo with her two younger siblings, and as the manga progresses to its second volume, leaves the city to reside in the countryside with her relatives, near Takama's farm. Apart from the chapters concerning Takama and Aya, other stories are also featured, such as one telling the chronicles of samurai in the Edo period hunting forbidden eggplant (Nasu), another set atop a futuristic Mount Fuji, another tale concerning a truck driver, and also Summer in Andalusia, the story concerning the professional Spanish bicyclist Pepe Benengeli, from which the film was adapted.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Review: Nasu: Summer in Andalusia - by Tom Mes, Midnight Eye.
  2. ^ 茄子 アンダルシアの夏 from the Japanese-language Wikipedia. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

[edit] External links

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