D.C. to Host US Premiere of Chocolate Underground

posted on 2010-03-18 13:00 EDT

Anime film based on U.K. novel follows two boys who create a bootleg chocolate factory

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The annual Washington, DC Cherry Blossom Anime Marathon will host the US premiere of the anime version of Alex Shearer's Bootleg novel on Saturday April 3 at the Freer and Sackler Asian art galleries. The film opened in Japan in January 2009 under the satirical novel's Japanese name, Chocolate Underground.

Like the novel, the film and the earlier net-streamed version follow two English boys who create a bootleg chocolate factory after their country bans chocolate. Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Kimi ni Todoke) and Trance Arts (The Prince of Tennis) had premiered their anime version on Japanese mobile phones on Valentine's Day 2008. The theatrical release added 20 minutes of new footage. Takayuki Hamana (The Prince of Tennis, Library War) directed the project.

The marathon will also screen Masahiro Ando and BONES' samurai anime film Sword of the Stranger and Mamoru Oshii's Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade. The event will also host a cosplay contest.