Night Is Short, Walk On Girl


Night Is Short, Walk On Girl is a 2017 Japanese animated romantic comedy film directed by Masaaki Yuasa. The film is based on the novel The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl written by Tomihiko Morimi and illustrated by Yusuke Nakamura, who also served as the film's original character designer. The film was released in North America as The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl, with a leading article added, but in other English-speaking regions without one. It has been awarded the Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year.
The film is a spiritual sequel to The Tatami Galaxy, also based on a novel written by Morimi and directed by Yuasa. Though both works share a Kyoto University setting and some characters, the plotlines are largely unrelated.

Plot

The film follows a night out for two university students: an unnamed woman – referred to as Kōhai throughout the film, and kurokami no otome in the film's credits – and an unnamed man – referred to as Senpai in the film and its credits. The senpai plans to confess his romantic feelings for the kōhai to her that night, though circumstances keep them separated for a majority of the evening.
The kōhai meets a pervert, Tōdō, at a bar. She wins the admiration of two other patrons, Higuchi and Hanuki, after punching Tōdō when he makes an advance on her. Higuchi and Hanuki lead the kōhai in gate crashing strangers' parties, where she drinks an impressive amount of alcohol. She later participates in a drinking game with Rihaku, a supernatural being, and wins.
Meanwhile, the senpai undertakes a number of adventures to find a copy of Ratatatam, a beloved book from the kōhai's childhood. After obtaining the book, he learns that she is to play the lead in the final scene of a guerilla theatre production. He attempts to replace the male lead in the scene, but is unsuccessful. Having caught a cold, the senpai returns home.
The kōhai visits the companions she has met throughout the night, all of whom have caught the same cold as the senpai, and nurses them back to health. Her final visit is to the senpai, who gives her the copy of Ratatatam and suggests visiting a used bookstore together, to which she enthusiastically assents. The film ends with the two meeting for coffee before going to the bookstore.

Cast

CharactersVoice actor
SeniorHoshino Gen
The Girl with Black HairKana Hanazawa
The School Festival Executive HeadHiroshi Kamiya
The Underpants LeaderRyuji Akiyama
Seitarō HiguchiKazuya Nakai
Hanuki-sanYuko Kaida
The God of the Old Books MarketHiroyuki Yoshino
Kiko-sanSeiko Niizuma
Nise-JōgasakiJunichi Suwabe
Princess DarumaAoi Yuki
JohnnyNobuyuki Hiyama
Tōdō-sanKazuhiro Yamaji
RihakuMugihito

Production

The film was made by most of the same lead staff as The Tatami Galaxy, including original author Morimi, original character designer Nakamura, character designer and chief supervising animator Nobutaki Itō, screenwriter Makoto Ueda and director Yuasa.
The band Asian Kung-Fu Generation also returned to write and perform the theme song "Kōya o Aruke".
To promote the film's release in South Korea, in addition the Korean band Romantic Punch were employed to create an image song, "Moonwalk in Kyoto" .

Release

Night Is Short, Walk On Girl was released in Japan on April 7, 2017.
Internationally, the film was released by Anime Limited in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 4, 2017, and by GKIDS in the United States on August 21, 2018. In Australia, Half Symbolic Films released the film in cinemas on 14 February 2019.
Rights to the English-language edition of the original novel have been acquired by Yen Press, who published it on June 18, 2019 as The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl, in hardcover and as an e-book.

Reception

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 30 reviews with an average rating of 7.4/10.

Awards and nominations

AwardCategoryNomineeResult
41st Ottawa International Animation FestivalBest Animated FeatureNight Is Short, Walk On Girl
50th Sitges Film FestivalBest Animated FilmNight Is Short, Walk On Girl
41st Japan Academy PrizeAnimation of the YearNight Is Short, Walk On Girl
Crunchyroll Anime AwardsBest FilmNight Is Short, Walk On Girl