Get out the tissues, there’s a new movie from the makers of one of the most touching anime series on Crunchyroll

From the creators of the beloved animated series Kind are reuniting for a brand new movie that just got a release date.

Fureru is the latest work from the creative team behind Super Peace Busters, which consists of writer Mari Okada, director Tatsuyuki Nagai, and artist Masayoshi Tanaka. The trio originally collaborated on the Toradora! anime before moving on to their most famous work – Anohana, an anime series that tells the story of a group of friends who are heartbroken by childhood loss. It’s a tearjerker and you’ll find it often listed as one of the saddest anime.

They followed that up with another bittersweet anime, 2015’s Anthem of the Heart, and then their most recent film, Her Blue Sky The first trailer for Fureru was released late last year, using mostly clips from their three previous projects to build hype for what’s to come, and potentially lay the groundwork for the kind of emotional rollercoaster we’re about to experience.

Previously scheduled for a fall 2024 release, Fureru has now been confirmed to hit Japanese theaters on October 4, 2024. The release date was recently announced along with the film’s first full trailer, which revealed more of the story. As explained by Crunchyroll, Fureru is a coming-of-age film set in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district that follows three childhood friends who discover a hedgehog-like creature with magical powers, which forces them to explore their bonds with one another. The new trailer also shows a clip from the anime’s theme song, Monotone, sung by Yoasobi, the singer of Oshi No Ko’s popular opening song, “Idol.”

While details are still thin on the ground, the setting of Fureru sounds like it would be perfect for fans of Anohana. This classic also features a magical MacGuffin, which is found in Anohana. (Spoiler warning) It is the ghost of Menma, the protagonist’s deceased friend, who has not yet entered the afterlife.

With her old childhood friends torn apart by a trauma they suffered early in life, Menma reappears to ask them to reunite in order to fulfill her last wish, healing their wounds and being together again in the process.

Scenes from the anime Anohana showing the main character as a teenager and younger self. — Image Source: Anne Price

If this brief description is enough to bring tears to your eyes, then oh boy – you’re in for an emotional journey. Anohana is a beautiful, moving story about grief, love, loss, and finding the strength to keep going after something happens to shatter your life. It also has an incredible opening, with songs that perfectly capture that wistful, sad, yet hopeful and uplifting feeling of anime. You can listen to the full opening song, as well as the lovely ending song.

There are many reasons why I will always remember Anohana, but one thing I will always remember very clearly is that – for some unexplainable reason known only to me – I decided to watch Anohana and another emotional anime Your Lie in April back to back, and ended up crying my eyes out after watching them. If you haven’t seen these two anime before, you should definitely experience them – but don’t watch them back to back like I did, but watch something light and fun in between, like Camping or Days of Leisure.

If you want to watch Anohana: The Flowers I Saw That Day, you can watch every episode with a Crunchyroll Premium subscription. If you also want to watch Your Lie in April, the leading anime streaming service also has the excellent Your Lie in April in its library.

If you’re looking for more anime, learn how the fantastic action anime Lycoris Recoil is getting a spinoff and how Crunchyroll is offering a ton of shows for free during the Olympics. We also have a post about how the classic anime Ranma 1/2 is returning to Netflix later this year.