The upcoming 3DCG animated film Gamba: Gamba and his Fellows is set for release in Japan on October 10th and will be rolling out internationally in the months to come. Ahead of that, has a big, Varese Sarabande is releasing the soudntrack digitally on October 9th and with a CD coming in the future. The film has its original score composed by Benjamin Wallfisch, who talks about creating the score while trying to appeal to a wider audience.
“Even though this is a children’s movie, there are some moments of real tragedy in the story, followed by plot shifts which are quite deeply rooted in Japanese traditions,” Wallfisch described. “The idea that you must avenge the death of a loved one, a friend or simply someone who loses their life fighting for a cause you share.”
“There are so many layers to Gamba’s story, but the one thing that is consistent throughout is the sense of a child’s wonder at the world, and that anything is possible,” Wallfisch explained. “His personality is larger than life, and it was important to the director that the score helped reflect that; but at the same time there is a fragility to his character – he is only really as strong as the friends he has around him. Once you go beneath the surface of the story you find strong messages of hope in the face of adversity, all in the context of a faced-paced, visually stunning and often action-led movie.”
“Though GAMBA is well-known in Japan, the story is hardly known in the West,” said Wallfisch. “The director and producers were keen the movie has a universal appeal. This helped me make the decision not to use any Japanese instruments in the score (except for one ritualistic scene with onscreen music) – the score focuses on the universal messages of the film, through the medium of a large orchestra.”
A recent promo arrived from Japan that shows off a lot of the film as well as the theme song from Chieko Baisho. Basho previously performed the theme song to Howl’s Moving Castle as well as the insert song for Only Yesterday. She’s done some very, very minor voice acting in general, though she played the lead in Howl’s Moving Castle with Sophie.
The film is set for a Japanese October 10th, 2015 debut. Considering the popularity and sales of the 3DCG Doraemon feature, this really isn’t a surprise. The new film is based n the original 1972 novel and will be called Gamba and His Fellows and has a 2 billion yen budget to it. The film will also be getting a North American release down the line as Avi Arad is on board as en executive producer.
The full cast so far includes Yuuki Kaji as Gamba, Sayaka Kanda as Shioji, Masako Nozawa as Tsuburi, Akio Ohtsuka as Yoisho, Wataru Takagi as Manpuku, Shuuichi Ikeda as Gakusha, Yasuhiro Takato as Boobo, Keiji Fujiwara as Ikasama, Akiko Yajima as Chuta and Mansai Nomura as Noroi.
The TV series is one of those quieter pieces of anime history that never gets attention overseas due to its limited distribution. The show came from Osamu Dezaki as the overall director while working with Yoshio Takeuchi and Hideo Takayashi on scripts and episode direction. Both have a wide range of credits over the years with Takeuchi being the chief animation director and an episode director on Space Adventure Cobra while Takayashi worked on scripts for Maison Ikkoku and Master Keaton and a lot of Onii-sama e… His later works included Rainbow, RideBack and Strawberry Panic among others.
Plot concept: Gamba, a town mouse with a brave, adventurous spirit decides to go on an adventure to discover the ocean. On his way, he meets a troubled child mouse, Chuta. He says his family and other mice have been killed by a clan of weasels living on a nearby island. Chuta asks a group of ship mice, the bravest of their kind, for help, but when they find out that the villain behind this event is the terrifying weasel-leader Noroi, they give up on helping Chuta. However seeing the hopeless Chuta, Gamba promises him to save the island, his family and the other mice. Gamba and his friends team up to go on their adventure to defeat the evil Noroi and his clan.
