Summary
Animation studio Cloverworks announced Trapezium as a new film, offering stunning visuals and a coming-of-age story revolving around an aspiring idol artist. Trapezium, written by former idol Kazumi Takayama, promises to go beyond surface aesthetics and explore the protagonist’s journey in the idol industry. Trapezium’s teaser trailer hints at a unique idol anime that focuses more on the main character’s struggles rather than flashy stages, making it a standout in the genre.
Anime studio Cloverworks revealed that they are adapting the novel trapezoid into a movie. It was revealed through a new teaser video released on YouTube. The film, about an aspiring idol artist, currently has a Japanese release date of May 2024 and there is currently no sign of an international release.
Anime focusing on the idol industry is nothing new, but Cloverworks’ vision of Trapezium seems to offer more fantastic visuals, while the story focuses on the main character’s coming of age. Trapezium’s creator, Kazumi Takayama, herself an idol, promises that this theme will go beyond surface aesthetics.
With its trailers, the film will bring a lot of entertainment to audiences beyond those who love the idol anime genre.
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Trapezium combines coming-of-age drama with idol aspirations
The trailer is currently hosted on Aniplex’s YouTube channel, with a synopsis included in the description. Translated, it describes the plot as follows:
On May 10, 2024, a coming-of-age story unfolds, depicting ten years in the life of a girl who aspires to become an idol. Yu Higashi, a first-year high school student, lives his high school life by setting four rules for himself to “definitely become an idol”: “I will not use social networking services” , “I won’t have a boyfriend”, “I won’t stand out at school”, and “I will make friends with beautiful girls from east, west, south, north”. What was the outcome of the dream that Yu pursued throughout his high school life?
Trapezium was originally written by Kazumi Takayama, who was previously a first generation member of the idol group Nogizaka46, meaning the author has a deeper awareness of the idol industry she is a part of. The staff involved in the project were no slouches either: director Masahiro Shinohara was involved in the Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai series, and Koji Masunari, who supervised the film, created the storyboards for both. Oshi no Ko and Tonikawa. Between the staff and the original story, Trapezium has a creative team familiar with creating dramatic stories revolving around both everyday life and idols.
Idol anime is a growing sub-genre in the industry, often combining underdog stories about rising to the top as star performers, with singing and dancing routines that can sales caused fans to run out to buy music albums and attend live concerts on stage. The market has seen everything from series like The Idolmaster and Love-Live, to parodies like Zombieland Saga. However, Trapezium’s teaser trailer shows little of the flashy stages and instead focuses on the main character’s struggles. In this sense, it might be accurate to say this is a coming-of-age film with an idol frame, rather than an “idol anime” that comes with built-in expectations.
Cloverworks has been in the industry news several times recently. In addition to providing animation support for the popular show Spy Although Trapezium’s March release date only takes into account Japan so far, the idea of a story originally written by an idol, when combined with the breathtaking visuals shown so far, , making it very likely that it will come to the West sooner or later. It wouldn’t be surprising if the likes of Crunchyroll or Netflix eventually announced that trapezoid will appear on their services soon.
Source: YouTube (Aniplex), Anime News Network