With the release of the third and final manga volume of Donten ni Warau Gaiden in Japan last month, we learned that an anime adaptation was in the works for it. This adaptation is being done as a theatrical film that will see WIT Studio stepping in to do the animation and now some new details have surfaced about it. According to the English page setup on the Shochiku Films site, the project is being listed as three films that run 60-minutes each. It also reveals that Tetsuya Wakano will be directing this incarnation of the property.
The manga serves as side story material that takes place during and after the main series which saw simulcast from Funimation and a home video release as well. Check out our review of the original series.
The TV series was directed by Hiroshi Haraguchi based on the scripts by Yuuya Takahashi with Doga Kobo animating it. Takao Maki worked on the character designs for the series.
The series stars Yūichi Nakamura as Tenka Kumo, Yuuki Kaji as Soramaru Kumo, Tsubasa Yonaga as Chūtarō Kumo, Takahiro Sakurai as Shirasu Kinjō., Mamiko Noto as Nishiki, Shinichiro Miki as Naoto Kagami, Rina Satou as Botan, Kenichi Suzumura as Abe no Hirari, Hiro Shimono as Rakuchō Takeda, Hiroki Yasumoto as Seiichirou Takamine and Sayaka Ohara as Kiiko Sasaki.
Original plot concept: In the dawn of the Meiji period, the Gokumonjou, an inescapable prison, has been established in the middle of an enormous lake to counter the soaring crime rates the new era has brought. Serving as the ferrymen are the famous Kumou brothers: the eccentric family head, Tenka; the reckless but noble second son, Soramaru; and the guileless youngest, Chuutarou. In spite of their grim work, the three lead relatively peaceful lives in the ever-cloudy town of Oumi, together with their housekeeper, Shirasu Kinjou.
But buried in the long history of Oumi is the legend of the terrifying “Orochi,” a serpentine beast that awakens every three hundred years in a human vessel. Unbeknownst to Soramaru and Chuutarou, the actual job of the Kumou family is to seal the Orochi away before it fully revives—or the world will be plunged into destruction. Amid the monster’s next resurrection, the Kumou family must find the resolve to keep laughing under the clouds.
[Source: WTK]
