Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise Film Previews Theme Song

The official website for the anime film of Kazuyoshi Takeda’s manga Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise, titled Peleliu: Rakuen no Guernica in Japanese, shared a new trailer and visual on Thursday. The trailer also gives a first listen to the film’s theme song, “Kiseki no Yō na Koto,” or Something Like a Miracle, performed by Mone Kamishiraishi.

On the casting side, Rihito Itagaki voices the kindhearted aspiring manga artist Hiroshi Tamaru, while Tomoya Nakamura plays his dependable friend Keisuke Yoshiki.

The film opens in Japan on December 5. Gorō Kuji, known for Chained Soldier, is directing at Shinei Animation and Fugaku, with Junji Nishimura and original creator Kazuyoshi Takeda writing the screenplay. Toei is handling distribution, and the adaptation was first announced back in April 2021.

Takeda launched the manga in Young Animal in 2016 with research help from historian Masao Hiratsuka, and the main story wrapped in April 2021 across 11 volumes. It earned real recognition along the way, picking up an award at the 46th Japan Cartoonist Awards in 2017 and a nomination for the 25th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2021.

The story unfolds during the Battle of Peleliu, a months long World War II clash between the United States and Japan on the island of Peleliu in Palau, set in the summer of 1944. Against a backdrop of coral reefs and lush forests, it follows Tamaru, a soldier who dreams of drawing manga, quietly capturing his daily life amid a drawn out fight between roughly 10,000 Japanese troops and 50,000 American troops, and asking what the soldiers are really fighting for.

My take: Telling a story this heavy through the small, human lens of a soldier who just wants to make manga sounds deeply moving, and that gentle theme song choice feels exactly right.