Sand Land creator Akira Toriyama recently expressed his gratitude to fans who came to see the film in theaters.
Among Toriyama’s extensive body of work, Sand Land pales in comparison to behemoths like Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. The film begins its theatrical run in Japan on August 18. According to details on Anime News Network, Toriyama’s message of thanks to Sand Land viewers appeared in a 15-minute preview of Toho’s film, which premiered on the company’s official YouTube channel on September 1. Tomozaku Sugita , who plays Toriyama’s favorite character, Swimmer’s Papa, read the artist’s message at the beginning of the video.
ANN’s translation is as follows: “Thank you so much to all the wonderful fans who came to see the movie Sand Land! The number of people watching the film is still not as high as expected, but we have received some very positive feedback.” Some lovely people even shared that they were surprised to find the movie extremely moving. In particular, the praise for the mecha appearing in Sand Land is entirely thanks to the hard work of the animation team. Who out there hasn’t seen the movie, is debating whether to watch it or is afraid to go to the theater: Don’t think too much! I really hope everyone gets a chance to see this movie.”
Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land manga debuted in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump in November 2000. The story is set in a desert wasteland where most water sources have been destroyed by war or natural disasters. This forced the people to rely on their greedy ruler, who massively overcharged for the precious resource. Desperate to help his people, a small town sheriff named Rao teams up with Demon Prince Beelzebub and another demon named Thief to track down the mysterious Phantom Lake, a reservoir rumored to have a supply of Endless water supply. Toho’s 15-minute preview highlights the humor between this unlikely trio.
Sand Land’s animation was produced through a collaboration between Anima (BELLE, ..//hack the Movie), Sunrise (Inuyasha,Gundam Build Fighters) and Kamikaze Douga (Tales of Crestoria: The Wake of Sin). Toshihisa Yokoshima (Cocolors, Tales of Crestoria: The Wake of Sin) is in the film’s director’s chair. Hayashi Mori (Cells at Work! Code Black) wrote the script. Yuji Kaneko (Mobile Suit: Cucuruz Doan Island) was the Art Director of Sand Land. Kazuhiro Yamaji (One-Punch Man), Mutsumi Tamura (Is it Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon?) and Cho (One Piece) play Rao, Beelzebub and Thief, respectively.
Currently, Sand Land’s North American release date is 2024. The original Sand Land manga is available in English on VIZ Media.
Source: Toho’s Youtube Channel, via Anime News Network
