On Monday, Yuasa announced that he would direct Daisy’s Life, a Japanese-French co-production with Miyu Productions (Ghost Cat Anzu) based on Banana Yoshimoto’s novel Hinagiku no Jinsei. The novel centers on Daisy, a six-year-old girl mourning the loss of her mother following tragic accident. After meeting a strange girl named Dahlia at her window one night, the pair embark on an adventure through space and time in search of hope, healing, and perspective.
“Even among the works of Ms. Banana Yoshimoto, this is a novel that evokes visual images throughout, and while there are parts that are vividly scary, the final passage is very happy, like something I had dreamed of in the past,” Yuasa said in a statement published by Variety. “I would like to depict the life of the protagonist who works for a yakisoba restaurant in a downtown area with a 100-meter radius on a cosmic scale.”
Yuasa will be joined by screenwriter Sachiko Tanaka (Before We Vanish, Asako I & II) in adapting Yoshimoto’s novel to animation. Most notably Yoshitomo Nara, the Japanese painter who previously illustrated Daisy’s Life when it was published, will serve as the character designer for the upcoming feature. No information regarding the planned release date for Daisy’s Life has been announced.
