Otherside Picnic

Alternate Titles

裏世界ピクニック
Urasekai Picnic

Synopsis

The Otherside is a place where dangerous creatures from ghost stories and urban legends actually exist. It is a world full of mystery, next to reality. Sorawo Kamikoshi is a university student who one day stumbles upon a door leading to the Otherside while exploring an abandoned building. There, she meets a girl named Toriko Nishina, an encounter that will change her life forever. Toriko invites Sorawo to explore the Otherside with her and explains that she is looking for a missing woman named Satsuki Uruma. In order to explore, research, and earn money, the two journey into the Otherside, where a mysterious and bizarre world awaits them.

Background

Otherside Picnic began as a yuri science-fiction novel series written by Iori Miyazawa and illustrated by shirakaba and is based on the novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It has been published by Hayakawa Publishing since 2017. The series was adapted into a manga by Eita Mizuno in 2018 and is serialized in Square Enix’s Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine.

An anime adaptation was announced in March 2020. It is being jointly produced by Liden Films and Felix Film and features Takuya Sato as director, series composer, and sound director, Ayumi Nishihata as character designer, Kazutaka Ema as creature designer, and Takeshi Watanabe handling the music. The anime’s opening theme song is "Minikui Ikimono" by CHiCO with HoneyWorks, and the ending theme song is "You & Me" by Miki Sato. The anime premiered on Jan. 4, 2021 on Tokyo MX, Sun TV, BS11, and AT-X. It is available to stream in North America and the British Isles through Funimation, in Europe through Wakanim, in Australia and New Zealand through AnimeLab, in Germany through KSM Anime, and in Southeast Asia through the Ani-One YouTube channel and Bilibili.

Characters

Sorawo Kamikoshi (Voiced by: Yumiri Hanamori)
Sorawo is a sophomore university student living in Saitama Prefecture who likes exploring abandoned buildings and stumbled upon a door leading to the Otherside by accident. She meets Toriko in the Otherside and is invited to explore it with her. She is knowledgeable in internet lore and urban legends.

Toriko Nishina (Voiced by: Ai Kayano)
Toriko is a university student looking for Satsuki Uruma, who has gone missing in the Otherside. She is a mysterious young woman and is familiar with firearms. Though positive and optimistic, she sometimes clashes with Sorawo.

Kozakura (Voiced by: Rina Hidaka)
Kozakura is a researcher of the Otherside who lives in the suburbs of Shakujii Park. She looks young and is mistaken for an elementary school student by Sorawo, however she is actually old enough to drink and drive a car. She buys items from Sorawo and Toriko acquired during the explorations of the Otherside and is the person to talk to about all things pertaining to the Otherside.

Akari Seto (Voiced by: Miyu Tomita)
Akari is a freshman at the same university as Sorawo. She practices karate and is nicknamed “Karateka” by Sorawo. She has a cheerful personality and is curious by nature. She often asks Sorawo for help when she encounters a strange phenomenon.

Music

• Opening Theme Song: "Minikui Ikimono" by CHiCO with HoneyWorks
• Ending Theme Song: "You & Me" by Miki Sato

International Streaming

• Funimation (North America, British Isles)
• Wakanim (Europe)
• KSM Anime (Germany)
• AnimeLab (Australia, New Zealand)
• Ani-One (Southeast Asia)

• Anime Site (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: Iori Miyazawa
• Original Character Design: shirakaba
• Director/Series Composition/Sound Director: Takuya Sato
• Character Design: Ayumi Nishihata
• Sub-Character Design: Tomoki Fukuchi
• Creature Design: Kazutaka Ema
• Prop Design: Mahiya Shintani, Tomomi Kimura, Hiroshi Matsumoto
• Animation Effects Director: Toru Yoshida
• Art Director: Hiroki Matsumoto
• Color Design: Hiroshi Iwaida
• 3D Director: Yuya Shiraishi
• Director of Photography: Takeshi Kuchiba
• Editing: Masahiro Goto
• Music: Takeshi Watanabe
• Music Producer: Mitsutoshi Ogura, Takuya Sato
• Music Production: Good Smile Film
• Chief Producer: Satoshi Fukao
• Producer: Yoshihiro Ishikawa, Mitsutoshi Ogura, Shota Watase, Rikimaru Mizoguchi, Yohei Kikuchi, Tomoyuki Owada, Tsuyoshi Aida, Ryuji Abe, Yasutaka Kimura, Nobuhito Hayashi
• Animation Producer: Tetsuro Satomi, Tomohito Naka, Yuta Kikuchi
• Animation Production: Liden Films, Felix Film