'Donten ni Warau Gaiden' New Movie Trailer Shows That There's More to the Kumo Brothers' Lives Than Transporting Criminals
The first of the planned "Donten ni Warau Gaiden (Laughing Under the Clouds Side Story)" trilogy is coming in a little less than a month, and Shochiku Films has just unveiled a 60-second trailer on its official YouTube account.
Subtitled "Ketsubetsu, Yamainu no Chiaki (Parting, The Oath of the Yamainu)," it is only the first in a series of three movies that will be featuring a series of side stories to the original "Donten ni Warau" anime series based on Kemuri Karakara's popular supernatural adventure manga. These side stories will vary from ones that take place before the anime series' timeline to those that will pick up where the main series has left off.
The original series took place during the 11th year of the Meiji period, during which, a giant prison was built in the middle of Lake Biwa in order to nip the increasing crime rate on its bud.
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Following the Meiji Restoration, many criminals, including samurais who have taken to rebelling against their fallen positions, were arrested but were breaking out of their jail cells right after.
The giant prison in Lake Biwa was meant to keep them imprisoned for good. However, in order to bring these criminals there, the government needed a form of transport, which the Kumo brothers, Tenka, Soramaru, and Chutaro, provided to the best of their abilities.
But every kind of work, especially one that involves ferrying criminals across distances, has its own complications that can easily bleed into the personal lives of the people who do them, as well as those who patiently await their return, as teased in the recently released promotional trailer.
The upcoming movie will be directed by Tetsuya Wakano and will feature animation done by Wit Studio, whose previous works include "Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan)" and "Mahou Tsukai no Yome (The Ancient Magus' Bride)."
"Donten ni Warau Gaiden: Ketsubetsu, Yamainu no Chikai (Laughing Under the Clouds Side Story: Parting, The Oath of the Yamainu)" will be released in various Japanese theaters on Saturday, Dec. 2. Fans who come to watch the movie during its two-week run will be treated to one of four coasters designed by either the manga creator, Kemuri Karakara or the anime character designer, Kii Tanaka.
