Summary Kotatsu Festival Aberystwyth 2025
Fri 24th Oct
17:30
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time(12)
19:30
Summer Wars(12A)
Sat 25th Oct
10:30
Wolf Children(PG)
13:00
Totto-Chan(PG TBC)
15:30
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle(15)
18:00
Raffle
18:30
Perfect Blue (18)
Sun 26th Oct
13:40
Ghost Cat Anzu(PG)
15:30
The Colors Within (U)
17:20
COLORFUL STAGE!The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing (12A TBC)
Unless otherwise stated, all films are in Japanese with English subtitles.
For ticket information please contact
Aberystwyth Arts Centre Box Office on +44 (0)1970 62 32 32
Fri 25th October
17:30 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time(12)
Makoto is a typical teenage girl who spends most of her days slacking off with friends. One day while rushing to meet her aunt, she nearly gets hit by a train, but at the last second, finds herself jumping backwards in time to before the accident. She immediately makes use of her newfound ability to re-do every minor inconvenience– from poor exam results to awkward confessions of love. However, when faced with the consequences of tampering with time, Makoto must do everything she can to avoid a dire future that can’t be reversed.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a beloved early film from Mamoru Hosoda, the Academy Award-nominated director behind BELLE, Wolf Children, Summer Wars, and more. Hosoda weaves together the timeless, breathtaking visuals he is known for with a tender-hearted story of a girl navigating first love, time travel, and the perilous choices that come with both.
Japan | 2006 | 1h 38m | 12 | Mamoru Hosoda | Japanese with English subtitles | F-Rated | Trailer
19:30 Summer Wars(12A)
Kenji is a shy, part-time moderator for OZ, the virtual reality world that powers everyday life, until pretty and popular Natsuki recruits him to be her fake boyfriend. While posing as an affluent suitor to Natsuki’s family, Kenji finds that a rogue A.I. program has stolen his online identity, and Kenji is accused of hacking OZ and causing real-world catastrophes. As the destruction in OZ throws Natsuki’s family into disarray, Kenji must unite his newfound connections to overcome an impending cyber apocalypse.Against a backdrop of stunning countryside vistas and virtual spaces bursting with colour, Summer Wars is a timeless epic that explores life in the digital age from Academy Award®-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda (BELLE).
Japan | 2009 | 1h 54m | 12A | Mamoru Hosoda | Japanese with English subtitles | Trailer
Saturday 25th October
10:30 Wolf Children (PG)
College student Hana falls in love with a “wolf man” and together they have two half-human, half-wolf children, Ame and Yuki. The young family’s happy but humble life comes to an abrupt end when the father is tragically killed during a hunt. After struggling to raise her children in the busy city, Hana boldly decides to move to a dilapidated house in the countryside, in hopes that her children may one day decide their own path to happiness – whether “human” or “wolf.”
This heart-wrenching modern fairy tale is a staggering work of beauty and emotion from Academy Award®-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda. Rich with gorgeous animation and set to a poignant musical score, Wolf Children is a sweeping tale about self-discovery and the bonds of family.
Japan | 2012 | 1h 57m | PG | Mamoru Hosoda | Japanese with English subtitles | F-Rated | Trailer
13:00 Totto-Chan (PG TBC)
In Tokyo, just before World War II, there is a school that combines learning with fun, freedom, and love. This unusual school has old railroad cars for classrooms, and it is run by an extraordinary man-its founder and headmaster, Sosaku Kobayashi who is a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity. Here arrives Totto-chan, a lively little girl who doesn’t fit in at her original elementary school. Thanks to headmaster Sosaku, Totto-chan will meet unique students and learn new things, even when Japan descends into war.
Japan | 2023 | 1h 54m | PG TBC | Shinnosuke Yakuwa | Japanese with English subtitles
15:30 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle(15)
The long awaited concluding arc to one of the most popular Japanese animations ever made is about to begin. Determined to stop Muzan once and for all, Tanjiro and the Demon Slayer Corps venture into the demon’s stronghold where the battleground is set for the final showdown.
Japan | 2025 | 2h 35m | 15 | Haruo Sotozaki | Japanese with Eng Subs | Trailer
17:30 Raffle
Raffle tickets will be available for just 50p each, from the Kotatsu Festival stand.
Full details of the prizes can be found on our raffle page.
18:30 Perfect Blue (18)
Leaving the world of J-pop behind her, Mima Kirigoe begins life as an actress on a crime drama show called Double Blind. When offered a lead role in the show as a rape victim, Mima accepts the role despite reservations from her manager. However, the backlash from fans over her career change and a strange website called ‘Mima’s Room’ written by a fake Mima begin to worry her. When a stalker appears and people involved in Double Blind begin turning up dead and all the evidence pointing to her, Mima is thrown into a state of confusion, madness and paranoia.
Directed by the late Satoshi Kon and critically acclaimed as one of the finest examples of an animated thriller, Perfect Blue will leave you shocked and more than a little spooked.
Japan | 1998 | 1h 21m | 18 | Satoshi Kon | Japanese with English subtitles | Trailer
Sunday 27th October
13:40 Ghost Cat Anzu(PG)
©Takashi Imashiro / Kodansha
Karin, 11 years old, finds herself abandoned by her father in a small Japanese town, where her grandfather, a monk, resides. Her grandfather asks Anzu, his jovial and helpful, although rather capricious, ghostcat, to look after her. As their spirited personalities collide, sparks fly—yet perhaps only in the beginning.
Japan | 2024 | 1h 37m | 15 tbc | Yôko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita | Japanese with English subtitles | F-Rated | Trailer
15:30 The Colors Within (U)
Totsuko is a high school student with the ability to see the ‘colours’ of others. Colours of bliss, excitement, and serenity, plus a colour she treasures as her favourite. Kimi, a classmate at her school, gives off the most beautiful colour of all. Although she doesn’t play an instrument, Totsuko forms a band with Kimi and Rui, a quiet music enthusiast they meet at a used bookstore in a far corner of town. As they practise at an old church on a remote island, music brings them together, forming friendships and stirring affections. Will they discover their true ‘colours’?
Japan | 2024 | 1h 40m | U | Naoko Yamada | Japanese with English subtitles | F-Rated | Trailer
17:20 COLORFUL STAGE!The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing (12A TBC)
COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing is an animation film by studio P.A.WORKS featuring an all-new Hatsune Miku and the first film with the iconic Virtual Singer. Based on HATSUNE MIKU: COLORFUL STAGE!, a game about high school students finding their true feelings through music in an alternate world called “SEKAI” with the help of Hatsune Miku.
Ichika is a high school musician who can enter a mysterious place called “SEKAI,” where she and her friends express their innermost emotions through music alongside Hatsune Miku. One day after giving a live performance, Ichika meets a new Miku that she has never seen before. No matter how hard this new Miku tries to sing, she struggles connecting with the hearts of her listeners. Miku must rely on the help of others to find a way to sing again.
Japan | 2025 | 1h 50m | 12A TBC | Hiroyuki Hata | Japanese with English Subs | F-Rated | Trailer
Also available in our Marketplace – Saturday & Sunday only
Kotatsu Festival Stand
A selection of Japan/Anime/Manga related goods. All money raised on this stand will be used to help fund future Kotatsu Festival events. To reduce the use of plastic bags, please bring your own bags if possible.
Japan-bits
Selection of cute amigurumi – hand made characters, and Japan-themed items.
Manga Kissa (Manga Café) – free of charge
Why not settle down in our comic corner and read some of your favourite manga or general Japan-related books or magazines. If you have any spare reading material, please consider donating them to our reading area.
Please don’t take them home, so others can enjoy!
Kotatsu Film Critics’ Award
The Kotatsu films will be judged by a panel of three critics.
Dr Dario Lolli
Assistant Professor in Japanese and Visual Cultures
Dario Lolli is an Assistant Professor at Durham University, where he teaches Japanese cinema, animation, and courses on visual cultures and digital media. His in-progress monograph examines anime franchises at the interface of appropriation, counterfeiting and the rise of transnational licensing. In Japan, he has been researching anime production materials since 2017 as a permanent member of the Archive Centre for Anime Studies at Niigata University. His work has appeared in journals including Convergence, Media, Culture & Society, and Mechademia, as well as in edited collections such as The Cambridge Companion to Manga and Anime
Seiji Kano
Seiji Kano is a scholar of film and a specially appointed professor at Tokyo Zokei University. He has lectured at Asia University, Joshibi University of Art and Design, and Taisho University.
The director of the Institute of Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki Films, he advised, spoke at, and contributed to the exhibition catalogue for the Takahata Isao Exhibition – The Man who Planted Japanese Animation. He directed and organized the Ohtsuka Yasuo Exhibition: Toy Box of Animation & Military, and has written several contributions for Asahi Shimbun’s Ronza magazine, among other publications. He edited and compiled the following books: Ohtsuka Yasuo: Miscellany of a Hobbyist (dourakumono zakkijou), Ohtsuka Yasuo: Social Chronicles of a Hobbyist (dourakumono kouyuuki), and the Panda! Go, Panda! Fanbook. He was also lead editor of Filmmakers 25: Isao Takahata. As an author, he has written The Complete Hayao Miyazaki, Light and Shadow in Frozen (Anna to yuki no jouou no hikari to kage), and The Pioneers of Japanese Animation: New Edition (Nihon no animeshon wo kizuita hitobito shinban), among other works.
Yuichi Ito
Born 1962, co-director of I.TOON Ltd. He is a skilled animator in several mediums, most notably clay, using those skills in everything from character design to animation itself. His representative works include NHS E’s Knyacki!, which celebrates its 30th anniversary, NORABBITS’ MINUTES for Shochiku’s 110th anniversary, Mister Donut’s Pon de Lion TV advertisements, the animation segments of Hikaru Utada’s traveling music video, and the music video for Ken Hirai’s kimi ha omodachi (“You’re my friend”).
His 2011 short work Harbor Tale won the prize for best animation and the audience award at the Zlin Film Festival in the Czech Republic. In 2020, he sat on the international jury for the Hiroshima International Animation Festival. He is a Professor of Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts’ Graduate School of Film and New Media, auditor at the Japan Animation Association, and a board member of ASIFA-JAPAN.