P.A. Works and Showgate revealed on Thursday that P.A. Works is producing Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana o Kazarou (Let Us Adorn the Morning of Farewells With Promised Flowers), an anime film opening in Japan on February 24, 2018. The film marks the directorial debut of prolific anime screenwriter Mari Okada, and she is also penning the film's script. P.A. Works opened a website for the film, which is streaming a teaser trailer.

Okada said that the film's story "will be about contact between people with interwoven meetings and partings. The story will depict a human drama like everyone has experienced at some point that gradually pierces the heart."

Okada commented on her role in the film: "As a screenwriter, I've wanted to write this story for a long time. As a director, to be able to affect things beyond the script, such as the video and sound, is both a pleasure and a challenge." She said that she chose to become a director after P.A. Works CEO Kenji Horikawa said to her that he "wanted to see a work where she gave her full 100%," and thinking about what that meant. In the end, she decided that becoming a director – with their responsibility of heading the group effort of anime production, and giving directions to each team of a studio from beginning to end – was the best way to achieve that, and asked Horikawa for the opportunity.

Akihiko Yoshida ( Nier: Automata , Bravely Default , Final Fantasy XIV games) is credited with the original character designs. Mari Okada (The Anthem of the Heart, anohana) is directing and writing the scripts at P.A. Works, and Toshiya Shinohara (A Lull in the Sea, Red Data Girl) is chief director. Yuriko Ishii (Kuromukuro, Another) is designing the characters for animation and is chief animation director. Kazuki Higashiji (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, A Lull in the Sea) is art director, and Tomoaki Okada (Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, Blast of Tempest) is in charge of art design and concept design. Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru) is composing the music, and Kazuhiro Wakabayashi (Ghost in the Shell, Bungo Stray Dogs) is sound director.

Okada has collaborated with P.A. Works many times in the past, beginning with True Tears , the studio's first production as the main animation studio for an anime production. She has written scripts for such P.A. Works productions as CANAAN , Hanasaku Iroha , A Lull in the Sea , and The Lost Village . Her other notable works include anohana , The Anthem of the Heart , Kiznaiver , and Toradora! . She recently collaborated with director Tatsuyuki Nagai to serve as the series composition for Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans . The anime was their fourth such collaboration after Toradora! , anohana , and The Anthem of the Heart . Ankoku Joshi , her first scriptwriting work on a live-action film, opened in Japan on April 1.

Source: Animate Times