On June 6, the press conference for Miyazaki Hayao's first anime film in 5 years, "Kaze Tachinu", was held, and it was announced that actress Takimoto Miori will lend her voice for the heroine of the film. 

"Kaze Tachinu" is an anime film adaptation of Miyazaki's manga of the same name, and it depicts the half of Horikoshi Jiro's life whose models are two men, the designer of a Zero fighter aircraft, Horikoshi Jiro, and a writer, Hori Tatsuo, who both lived in the same era. The protagonist Jiro's voice will be dubbed by Anno Hideaki, who is known as the director of the "Neon Genesis Evangelion" series. 

Takimoto's role is the heroine "Satomi Naoko". At the press conference, Takimoto commented, "As this was an amazing opportunity, I just tried my hardest. To prepare for it, I watched old movies and learned how the ladies from the era talked." The producer Suzuki Toshio revealed that Takahata Isao recommended Takimoto to voice the heroine, and the director Miyazaki held an audition for her, saying, "It can be trusted if 'Paku-san' (Takahata's nickname) said so." 

On the day, other splendid cast members were also revealed, including Nishijima Hidetoshi,Nishimura Masahiko, Steve Alpert, Kazama Morio, Takeshita Keiko, Kunimura Jun, Shida Mirai, Otake Shinobu, and Nomura Mansai.

Anime film "Kaze Tachinu" is set to open in theaters on July 20.

Source & Image: Cinematoday + "Kae Tachinu" official site