Anime Movie 'Naze Ikiru: Rennyo Shounin to Yoshizaki Enjou' Announced

by arsonal
Apr 6, 2016 8:40 AM | 22 Comments

An official website has opened for an anime movie titled Naze Ikiru: Rennyo Shounin to Yoshizaki Enjou, which will open at Human Trust Cinema Shibuya on May 21, 2016. It is based on the 2001 book Naze Ikiru written by Kentetsu Takamori. That book was later published in English in 2006 under the title You Were Born for a Reason: The Real Purpose of Life.

Takamori is the chairman of Jodo Shinshu Shinrankai, an organization which conveys the teachings the Buddhist monk Shinran, who lived during Japan's Kamakura period. Shinran is considered to be the founder of Shin Buddhism, the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.

Synopsis
Ryouken, a young man who hates temples and monks, laments his misfortunes but finds hope in his soon-to-be-born child. An unfortunate accident took everything from Ryouken. In the days of self-abandonment and suffering in darkness, Ryouken finds the teachings of the high priest Rennyo. In it, he finds answers to the question "Why live" as explained by the sage Shinran. As he is drawn into the teachings and no longer hesitates, Ryouken becomes Rennyo's apprentice. The number of worshippers increase, but the Honganji temple becomes a target of the other sects, forcing Ryouken and Rennyo to flee from Kyoto. In order to find a new place to teach, they arrive in Yoshizaki (now in Fukui Prefecture) in the Hokuriku region.

Cast
Rennyo: Koutarou Satomi (Agatha Christie no Meitantei Poirot to Marple)
Ryouken: Katsuyuki Konishi (Beelzebub)
Takafusa Nori: Hideyuki Tanaka (Saint Seiya)
Chiyo: Ayumi Fujimura (Shinryaku! Ika Musume)
Michimune: Takaaki Seki (Sanzoku no Musume Ronja)

Staff
Director: Hideaki Ooba (Denkou Chou Tokkyuu Hikarian)
Script: Kentetsu Takamori, Kiyoto Wada (Senpai to Kanojo live-action film)
Character Design: Masaaki Kawanami (Hetalia Axis Powers)
Art Director: Kunihiko Inaba (Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica)
Music: Tooru Hasebe
Music Production: Miracle Bus
Sound Director: Yasunori Honda (Shouwa Monogatari)
Studio: Studio Deen
Distribution: Suurkiitos

Official site: http://www.nazeikiru-eiga.com/

Source: Moca News

Naze Ikiru: Rennyo Shounin to Yoshizaki Enjou on MAL

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20 of 22 Comments Recent Comments

Wow, both the English title and the cover make me want to throw up.

Apr 6, 2016 10:20 PM by MortalMelancholy

arsonal said:

Doomdoctor said:
So, who else found the synopsis cheesy?

The basic structure of the story where Rennyo is forced into exile out of Kyoto is historically accurate. The likely fictional element is the character Ryouken.

Historical accuracy aside, a man who hates religion going through sufferings only to find solace and answer to the meaning of live in the teachings of a prominent religious figure seems a little cheesy to me probably because of my formerly religious background.

vnusia said:

Doomdoctor said:
DEEN, Making anime great again...

So, who else found the synopsis cheesy?

Me. It remainds me of others anime which at first seemed interesting but were in fact just advertising for Buddhism. I don't have anything about it but it's the way they were made : too simplistic, not to say naive, and at the end really boring. So don't count me in for this one.

I would probably look into the community's reception of it first(if there's any).

Apr 6, 2016 10:05 PM by Doomdoctor

DEEN FINDS A WAY

literally

Apr 6, 2016 4:44 PM by royaldocks

Matoro_Mahri said:
I, for one, welcome our new DEEN overlords.

Taking over the world with niche period pieces and BL.

Apr 6, 2016 3:03 PM by stand

Half of those DEEN memes feel irrelevant now XD
Glad to seen the studio doing great :D

Apr 6, 2016 2:17 PM by GoldenDevilGamer

Deen making another historical series. Is it just me or are they really stepping their game up?

Apr 6, 2016 1:10 PM by KaoruMatsuoka

Doomdoctor said:
So, who else found the synopsis cheesy?

The basic structure of the story where Rennyo is forced into exile out of Kyoto is historically accurate. The likely fictional element is the character Ryouken.

Apr 6, 2016 12:25 PM by arsonal

Based Deen for Saving Anime of 2016.

Apr 6, 2016 11:55 AM by Gridley

Doomdoctor said:
DEEN, Making anime great again...

So, who else found the synopsis cheesy?

Apr 6, 2016 11:45 AM by vnusia

So it's anime based on a Buddhist text.

Cool.

Apr 6, 2016 11:18 AM by Boiiiiiiiiii

The synopsis looks interesting.

Apr 6, 2016 10:49 AM by Album

Those designs don't excite me at all, but it sounds good.

Apr 6, 2016 10:04 AM by ichii_1

This looks like a Josei. Count me in.

Apr 6, 2016 9:46 AM by Mayuka

Yeah, it's confirmed now:
The Parasytes have taken over DEEN and replaced the entire staff, with the sole purpose of creating interesting anime. There is just no other way to explain this drastic change in output by now.

Not that I am complaining, I am positively surprised. It's just so... rare for an anime studio to constantly do this by now.

Apr 6, 2016 9:45 AM by Nidhoeggr

Stark700 said:
Sounds interesting. DEEN is making anime that I've been quite interested in recently.

Especially Super Lovers right?

Just kidding

Apr 6, 2016 9:40 AM by Xenocrisi

lol what's up with DEEN this year?

Apr 6, 2016 9:04 AM by Z4K

Sounds like something I would enjoy but not sure it will reach to a broad audience.

Apr 6, 2016 9:03 AM by Tenth

Hope it doesn't turn out to be just an advertisement for buddhism but rather an origin story.

Apr 6, 2016 9:03 AM by NaturalPerm

This sounds fresh. I'll stay on it for a PV.

Apr 6, 2016 9:01 AM by Ramkec