To commemorate the 100 years of its establishment, Shogakukan, one of the biggest publishers in Japan released a special movie on Aug 8, 2022.

The movie takes us through the journey of Shogakukan from ‘0’ to ‘100’. It focuses on the publishers establishment process 100 years ago and the founders struggle and ideology. The movie showcased how the company got its name and how it fought through the Great Earthquake in 1923 and shifted to Tokyo from Okayama and also the effects of world war 2.

Furthermore, it showcases the company’s journey throughout the years and the variety of magazines they have published since their inception. The magazines include but not limited to manga, fashion magazines, weekly magazines, information magazines, illustrated books, dictionaries etc.

It also encapsulates the generations of growth seen in every art and content and also the medium of content consumption.

The movie features Nana Komatsu taking us through the journey. Along with her, voice acting legend  Koichi Yamadera, also features in the film as a narrator. It also featured animation made by manga artist Inio Asano.

Nana mentioned about the film, “It was a 4-day shooting period, but I was able to have a lot of fun acting in the set and art that gave me the illusion that I was about to start shooting a long-term movie and we are asking for a sense of fulfillment.” She further added, that she is truly honored to have this opportunity.

Watch the movie here:

The movie is being directed by Takahiro Miki, who Shogakukan contacted with the idea in December 2021. Taiki Ueda too will partner with Miki on the movie while Shu Kanematsu is in charge of the music.

Shogakukan Inc. is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan.

Source: Twitter Shogakukan