GKIDS has released an English-dubbed preview for cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood (known in Japanese as cocoon Aru Natsu no Shōjo-tachi Yori), the television adaptation of Machiko Kyō’s wartime manga, Cocoon.
© Machiko Kyo (AKITASHOTEN) / NHK, NEP
North American audiences will be able to see the film in theaters starting September 4, courtesy of GKIDS. Screenings will be offered in both Japanese with English subtitles and with an English voice dub. Additionally, the distributor plans to make the anime available on home video formats.
The project recently held its North American premiere on July 10 during this year’s JAPAN CUTS festival, followed by its Canadian premiere at the 30th annual Fantasia International Film Festival.
Originally, the anime debuted on BS-NHK in March 2025 before transitioning to a broader broadcast on NHK General that August.
The main voice cast features Hikari Mitsushima as Mayu alongside Marika Itō as San.
Behind the scenes, the production was directed by Yukimitsu Ina, whose past credits include serving as animation director for Tatami Time Machine Blues. The musical score was crafted by kensuke ushio, recognized for his work on A Silent Voice, Chainsaw Man, and DAN DA DAN. Veteran Studio Ghibli animator Hitomi Tateno served as the animation producer, with animation handled by the studio Sasayuri.
Set on a tropical southern island, the original story follows close friends San and Mayu as students at a prestigious all-girls academy. When conflict shatters their country, the students are pulled into wartime support duties, eventually tasked with caring for wounded soldiers on the front lines. As the brutal conflict drags on, San and Mayu face the heartbreaking loss of their peers one by one.
Machiko Kyō originally published the manga in 2010—marking 65 years since the end of World War II—while the anime adaptation arrived in 2025, exactly 80 years post-war. Viz Media holds the English publishing rights for the manga.
In addition to Cocoon, Kyō is known for the manga Mitsuami no Kami-sama, which was serialized in Shueisha’s now-closed Jump X (Jump Kai) magazine and won a prize at the 18th Annual Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize in 2014. That title was previously adapted by Production I.G into a 28-minute short film titled Pigtails. The short debuted internationally in April 2016 at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival—taking home the Platinum Remi Award in Classic Cel Animation—and went on to earn several other accolades, including a Diamond Award at the California Film Awards.
Source: Press release