Yoshitomo Nara and Banana Yoshimoto Collaborate on Animated Film 'Daisy's Life'

Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, known for his melancholic child figures, and acclaimed writer Banana Yoshimoto are teaming up for an animated film titled 'Daisy's Life,' set for release in 2026. The film adapts Yoshimoto's 2000 novel 'Hinagiku no Jinsei,' following six-year-old Daisy who loses her mother and moves in with her aunt. Animation director Masaaki Yuasa announced the project, which will be produced by his newly founded studio Ame Pippin alongside Paris-based Miyu Productions, recently honored at Cannes and Annecy. Nara, who had a major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 2024, will design the anime. The co-production between Japan and France explores themes of childhood, loss, and rebirth, blending Nara's visual style with Yoshimoto's narrative. Nara previously created cover art for Yoshimoto's books.