The first theatrical animated film for Chiikawa, "Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island," hit the big screen on July 24th, and its box office performance has been a massive success. It was recently announced that the film has surpassed 14.6 billion yen at the box office, marking a significant milestone.
On September 14th, the 5th bonus item, a "Secret Book" (Himitsu Hon), was announced for distribution starting on the 19th. The news sparked enthusiastic discussion, with many netizens expressing immense excitement.
This time, the bonus item is a "Secret Book". The book is a hefty 52 pages, packed with rich content related to the "Movie Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island".
A major highlight is the brand-new content personally drawn by original author Nagano-sensei. In addition to "Illustrations of the Story at the Time" drawn by Nagano-sensei during the film's production, newly drawn story chapters will also be included. Furthermore, the book specially features "Ode and the Island" (Ode to Shima) at the end. Official promotional images show pages featuring Chiikawa and other characters, as well as scenes with Ode.
A sneak peek at some of the interior pages has also been released, revealing the secrets behind the opening scenes of Chiikawa and friends embarking on their adventure, as well as special scenes not shown in the main film.
Regarding this new bonus item, netizens have commented: "Just looking at the cover gives me chills," "This is way too luxurious," "52 pages?! What a steal!" and "Guess I have to go watch it again!"
With this current momentum and positive word-of-mouth, coupled with the continuous release of bonus items to encourage fan attendance, it remains to be seen if "Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island"'s box office will become the highest of the year.