Cherry and Virgin, Masanao Kawajiri's First Feature, Gets Its World Premiere at Fantasia 2026

A quiet indie romance heads to Montreal

Cherry and Virgin, the first feature film from director Masanao Kawajiri, will hold its world premiere at the 30th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, according to Anime News Network and the festival's own lineup. The film screens in Fantasia's Animation Plus section during the festival's run from July 16 to August 2, 2026, giving the long gestating project its first public showing ahead of a Japanese theatrical release in 2027.

The premiere arrives alongside a freshly released English subtitled trailer, which offers international viewers their first extended look at the film's unusual visual style.

What the film is about

Cherry and Virgin follows two thirtysomething creators who meet by chance. Ryo is a 32 year old erotic manga artist who is not used to being around women, while Ami is a 28 year old fujoshi who does not think much of men and whose ambitions of becoming a professional creator have stalled. Anime News Network describes the story as tracing their tentative relationship after that first coincidental encounter.

Kawajiri renders the pair in contrasting registers. Ami appears in full color while Ryo is drawn in stark black and white, a divide the trailer folds into a single image of the two sitting at a bar counter, one side painted and the other hatched like a manga page.

A crowdfunded, hand built production

The project has been a long time coming. Kawajiri first announced Cherry and Virgin in 2021 with a planned 2022 debut, and Anime News Network reports the film raised 2,740,730 yen, roughly 17,200 US dollars, through a Motion Gallery crowdfunding campaign that year. Toei Video is producing and distributing the finished film.

The animation leans on rotoscoping and folds in manga and live action elements, an approach in keeping with Kawajiri's background in hybrid, form bending shorts. Takashi Okado and Yaeko Kiyose lead the voice cast. For Kawajiri, Anime News Network notes, this is both his first feature film and his first commercial effort.

Why it matters

Festival premieres are often where niche and independent anime first reach audiences outside Japan, and Fantasia has become a reliable launch pad for form forward animation. A Montreal world premiere more than half a year before the film opens in Japan puts Cherry and Virgin in front of an international festival crowd first, and the new subtitled trailer signals that the team is courting that audience directly.