{ "id": "ep7vadjrx8", "slug": "children-of-the-sea", "title": "Children of the Sea (海獣の子供)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features", "label": "Japanese anime features", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features.yr-2014-2026", "label": "Released 2014 to 2026", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features.yr-2014-2026" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features.yr-2014-2026", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020: Released 2014 to 2026", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features.yr-2014-2026", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features", "label": "Japanese anime features", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features.yr-2014-2026", "label": "Released 2014 to 2026", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features.yr-2014-2026" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Children of the Sea (海獣の子供, Kaijū no Kodomo) is a 2019 Studio 4°C anime film directed by Ayumu Watanabe, adapting Daisuke Igarashi's manga, with music by Joe Hisaishi and Kenshi Yonezu's theme song, released June 7, 2019.", "snippet": "Children of the Sea (海獣の子供, Kaijū no Kodomo) is a 2019 Studio 4°C anime film directed by Ayumu Watanabe, adapting Daisuke Igarashi's manga, with music by Joe Hisaishi and Kenshi Yonezu's theme song, released June 7, 2019.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.anime-features.yr-2014-2026", "markdown": "# Children of the Sea (海獣の子供)\n\n**Children of the Sea** (海獣の子供, *Kaijū no Kodomo*) is a 2019 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Ayumu Watanabe and produced by [Studio 4°C](https://www.edgepedia.org/studio-4-c), adapted from Daisuke Igarashi's manga of the same name. It follows Ruka, a 14-year-old girl who has lost her place at home and at school over a long summer, as she meets Umi and Sora, two boys said to have been raised by dugongs, and is drawn into mysterious events unfolding across the planet.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/89501/) • [2](https://mantan-web.jp/article/20190606dog00m200062000c.html) The film was released in Japan on June 7, 2019, runs 111 minutes, and was distributed by Toho.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/89501/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | June 7, 2019 (Japan), 111 minutes, distributed by Toho Eiga Jigyō-bu[1](https://eiga.com/movie/89501/) |\n| Source material | Manga by Daisuke Igarashi, serialized in Monthly IKKI (Shogakukan) from 2006 to 2011[3](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/article/article-15334/) |\n| Manga honors | 38th Japan Cartoonists Association Award Excellence Prize; 13th Japan Media Arts Festival Manga Division Excellence Prize[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=92013) |\n| Director and studio | Ayumu Watanabe (his fourth theatrical feature); animation by Studio 4°C[5](https://kaijunokodomo.studio4c.co.jp/) |\n| Music | Joe Hisaishi; theme song \"Umi no Yūrei\" by Kenshi Yonezu[6](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/works/pages/50.html) |\n| Main cast | Mana Ashida (Ruka), Hiiro Ishibashi (Umi), Seishū Uragami (Sora)[7](https://jfdb.jp/title/8931) |\n| Production time | About five years including storyboarding, with planning beginning around 2014[8](https://animestyle.jp/2019/07/09/15754/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and source\n\nThe film adapts Igarashi's first long-form manga, a sea adventure about the mystery of life. Ruka, a middle-schooler who has trouble putting her feelings into words, causes trouble in her club on the first day of summer break and loses her place both at school and at home. She visits the aquarium where her estranged father works and meets Umi, a boy who swims with the fish in the great tank, and his older brother Sora. As the three grow closer, strange phenomena begin occurring across the Earth, and sea creatures begin moving toward Japan.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/89501/) • [9](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0023809) • [10](https://pictures.dmm.com/lineup/kaijunokodomo/)\n\nThe manga ran in Monthly IKKI from 2006 to 2011 and earned the Excellence Prize in the Manga Division of the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival as well as the 38th Japan Cartoonists Association Award Excellence Prize.[3](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/article/article-15334/) • [4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=92013) Producer Eiko Tanaka of Studio 4°C has said the studio once considered adapting the work internally but set the project aside because of its vast scale; the film arrived eight years after the serialization ended.[3](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/article/article-15334/)\n\n## Production\n\n**A long hand-drawn effort.** Watanabe has estimated the production, including the storyboarding period, took about five years, and said most of that time \"was spent on the drawings.\"[8](https://animestyle.jp/2019/07/09/15754/) • [2](https://mantan-web.jp/article/20190606dog00m200062000c.html) CGI director Ken'ichirō Akimoto dates the project's start to about six years before release, with full-scale production running roughly three years.[11](https://area.autodesk.jp/case/animation/studio4c/) The film was made by combining hand-drawn animation with 3DCG at a high level, an approach the Agency for Cultural Affairs' program materials describe as central to the work.[12](https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/pdf/92070001_01.pdf)\n\n**Characters drawn by hand, creatures in CG.** Human characters were drawn by hand, while fish and other marine life were handled in 3DCG. More than 40 real marine species were built as CG models, with staff studying how real fish swim, observing at aquariums and learning skeletal structure from web videos, so the models would not look like objects merely moving.[13](https://www.dhw.ac.jp/news/2019kaiju_no_kodomo_report/) • [3](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/article/article-15334/) For schooling-fish scenes that would be impractical to draw by hand, the team used particle systems supplemented with hand-animated irregular fish, and, at Watanabe's request to draw the school as if it were a single living creature, consulted the University of Tsukuba, which classified fish swimming into 12 types.[14](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201910-atsuc2019.html) For whales and whale sharks, normal maps rendered surface texture and dripping water, and the original manga's pen strokes were applied as textures on the CG models.[11](https://area.autodesk.jp/case/animation/studio4c/)\n\n**Digital inking introduced mid-project.** Digital drawing was not planned when production began in 2014; animator Akiko Itagaki proposed using the animation functions added to CLIP STUDIO PAINT, and character designer and chief animation director Kenichi Konishi and Watanabe approved the experiment. Of the film's 66 key animators, 11 drew digitally, and digital inking was used heavily in crowd scenes gathering dolphins, orcas, and other marine animals from around the world.[15](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201905-cgw250-t2kaiju.html)\n\n**Fidelity to the original.** Watanabe said that reshaping the manga into an easier form for animation \"would not be the right answer,\" and that the team tried to concretize the original as much as possible.[2](https://mantan-web.jp/article/20190606dog00m200062000c.html) Konishi, who served as character designer, chief animation director, and animation director, said that \"Igarashi's drawings themselves account for much of the work's appeal.\"[3](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/article/article-15334/) At a Tokyo International Film Festival panel, he noted that while the film is praised for expressing the manga's art, the drawings are not in fact that similar; for scenes such as large fish schools, the staff studied the balance of the original's compositions and rebuilt the imagery as design rather than adding information until it became muddy.[16](https://secure.eiga.com/news/20191102/17/)\n\n## Music and cast\n\n[Joe Hisaishi](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-hisaishi) composed the score; for the composer of *Princess Mononoke* and *Spirited Away* it was his first feature-length animated film since [Studio Ghibli](https://www.edgepedia.org/studio-ghibli)'s *The Tale of the Princess Kaguya* (2013).[5](https://kaijunokodomo.studio4c.co.jp/) The theme song, \"Umi no Yūrei\" (Sea Ghost), was written and performed by singer-songwriter [Kenshi Yonezu](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenshi-yonezu), who said he had read the manga as a teenager and had hoped to write a song if it were ever adapted.[6](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/works/pages/50.html) • [17](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/364942)\n\nThe casting matched actors close to the characters' ages: Mana Ashida, known for the drama *Mother*, voiced Ruka; Hiiro Ishibashi, the Japanese dub voice of Miguel in Pixar's *Coco*, voiced Umi; and Seishū Uragami voiced Sora. The supporting cast includes Gorō Inagaki as Ruka's father Masaaki, Yū Aoi as her mother Kanako, Tōru Watanabe, Min Tanaka as the marine scientist Jim Cusack, and Junko Fuji as Dede.[5](https://kaijunokodomo.studio4c.co.jp/) • [7](https://jfdb.jp/title/8931)\n\n## Festival screenings and related works\n\nThe film screened in the Contrechamp section of the 2019 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the Noves Visions section of the 2019 Sitges–Catalonian International Film Festival, and the feature competition of the 2019 Ottawa International Animation Festival.[7](https://jfdb.jp/title/8931) In December 2019 it was shown at the 53rd Japanese Film Festival in Russia organized by the Japan Foundation.[18](https://www.jff.jpf.go.jp/article/4820-2/) It has since circulated in Japan Foundation programs abroad, including screenings in India, Seychelles, Egypt, and Morocco.[19](https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/about/result/pr/2024/pdf/pr_2024.pdf)\n\nStudio 4°C released a companion live-action documentary, *Turep: In Search of \"Children of the Sea\"* (81 minutes, 2019), directed by Nobutaka Yamaoka. It follows a missing man through six labeled videotapes of interviews with specialists on the sea, life, myth, dialogue, and the universe, raising the possibility of humans living underwater; Igarashi himself appears among the interviewees.[20](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/works/en/pages/51.html)\n\n## Reception\n\n**Praise for image and sound, division over story.** Reviews consistently singled out the animation. Cinema Today's two critics averaged 4.5 out of 5, with one describing the hand-drawn depiction of waves and foam as a Japanese craft distinct from Disney's, reaching its peak in the climax \"festival of birth\" linking sea, sky, and stars.[21](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0023809/review) An Agency for Cultural Affairs media-arts review described the film as the fruit of hand-drawn and CG techniques converging at a high level after the manga's eight-year gap.[3](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/article/article-15334/)\n\nAudience scores were more divided. On Filmarks the film holds 3.6 out of 5 across about 25,800 reviews, with 55 percent of ratings in the 3.1–4.0 band; on Eiga.com it averages 3.4 across 309 reviews.[22](https://filmarks.com/movies/80105) • [23](https://eiga.com/movie/89501/review/) The recurring criticism, noted by the film commentary site Real Sound, is that many characters speak transcendent, meaning-laden lines that seem to voice the author's ideas, and that the film inherits this quality of the manga, making it a work that \"chooses its viewers.\"[24](https://realsound.jp/movie/2019/06/post-374100_3.html) A Pia/Real Sound analysis likewise observed that viewers overwhelmed by the imagery coexist with viewers who find the story and dialogue hard to follow, and that the gap between Ruka's everyday problems and the vast oceanic events she encounters is very large.[25](https://lp.p.pia.jp/article/news/55516/index.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [海獣の子供：作品情報・声優・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/89501/)\n2. [海獣の子供：アニメで「可能な限り原作を具体化」渡辺歩監督が語る, MANTANWEB](https://mantan-web.jp/article/20190606dog00m200062000c.html)\n3. [手描き作画と3DCGの共鳴『海獣の子供』, メディア芸術カレントコンテンツ（文化庁）](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/article/article-15334/)\n4. [海獣の子供：作品情報・映画レビュー, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=92013)\n5. [アニメーション映画「海獣の子供」公式サイト](https://kaijunokodomo.studio4c.co.jp/)\n6. [STUDIO4℃ WORKS｜海獣の子供](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/works/pages/50.html)\n7. [JFDB：海獣の子供](https://jfdb.jp/title/8931)\n8. [渡辺歩・小西賢一が語る『海獣の子供』前編, WEBアニメスタイル](https://animestyle.jp/2019/07/09/15754/)\n9. [海獣の子供 (2019)：キャスト・あらすじ・作品情報｜シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0023809)\n10. [海獣の子供, DMM pictures](https://pictures.dmm.com/lineup/kaijunokodomo/)\n11. [STUDIO4℃が語る映画『海獣の子供』制作の裏側, Autodesk AREA Japan](https://area.autodesk.jp/case/animation/studio4c/)\n12. [文化庁プレス資料：海獣の子供（渡辺歩）](https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/pdf/92070001_01.pdf)\n13. [STUDIO4℃メイキング特別講義＆『海獣の子供』冒頭15分プレビュー, デジタルハリウッド大学](https://www.dhw.ac.jp/news/2019kaiju_no_kodomo_report/)\n14. [『海獣の子供』監督&CGI監督が語る作画とCGの組み合わせ方, CGWORLD](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201910-atsuc2019.html)\n15. [デジタル作画も導入！STUDIO4℃が描く『海獣の子供』の画づくり, CGWORLD](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201905-cgw250-t2kaiju.html)\n16. [「海獣の子供」はどの国でも同じリアクション, 映画.com ニュース](https://secure.eiga.com/news/20191102/17/)\n17. [海獣の子供, allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/364942)\n18. [JFFロシア『海獣の子供』上映を終えて, JFF Theater](https://www.jff.jpf.go.jp/article/4820-2/)\n19. [国際交流基金 2024年実績報告（日本映画祭上映記録）](https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/about/result/pr/2024/pdf/pr_2024.pdf)\n20. [STUDIO4℃ WORKS｜トゥレップ～「海獣の子供」を探して～](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/works/en/pages/51.html)\n21. [海獣の子供 (2019)：映画短評, シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0023809/review)\n22. [海獣の子供：作品情報・レビュー・評価, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/80105)\n23. [海獣の子供のレビュー・感想・評価, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/89501/review/)\n24. [賛否があぶり出した原作付き作品の課題, Real Sound](https://realsound.jp/movie/2019/06/post-374100_3.html)\n25. [『海獣の子供』なぜ賛否を巻き起こす結果に？, ぴあ映画/リアルサウンド](https://lp.p.pia.jp/article/news/55516/index.html)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Japanese anime features › Released 2014 to 2026*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/children-of-the-sea", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/children-of-the-sea.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Children of the Sea (海獣の子供)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/children-of-the-sea. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Children of the Sea (海獣の子供)](https://www.edgepedia.org/children-of-the-sea)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/children-of-the-sea](https://www.edgepedia.org/children-of-the-sea). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Children of the Sea (海獣の子供)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/children-of-the-sea. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Children of the Sea is a 2019 Studio 4°C anime film directed by Ayumu Watanabe, adapting Daisuke Igarashi's manga, with music by Joe Hisaishi and Kenshi Yonezu's theme song, released June 7, 2019." }