Summary
The latest movie in theVenomfranchise,Venom: The Last Dancejust opened in theaters at the end of last weekfor many countries. However, Japan has to wait one extra week for the movie to release there. It will hit theaters in Japan on November 1st, 2024. That means Japan has one extra week to keep building up interest in the movie before it releases, and a few anime franchises have partnered up to do just that.
The seriesBrave Bang Bravern!andThe Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGehave both posted special collaborations on their respective X (formerlyTwitter) accounts over the past week. They have quite different content, but both are cute and fun.Venomis not the most popular superhero franchise in Japan, so anything to help the movie gain traction there is good for marketing.
Venom xThe Birth of Kitaro
Two Non-Human Partners, Saving the World
The collaboration betweenVenom: The Last DanceandThe Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGeis actually an ongoing one, as the latest post is not the first time the series have crossed paths recently. The first time was back at the end of September, when a special video was posted on both of the movies' X accounts announcing a special video that would play beforeVenom: The Last Dancein Japanese theaters.
The ten-minute special video is titled “The Evilest Partner Autumn Festival 2024." The teaser for it that was posted on X was narrated by the Japanese voice of Eddie Brock, Junichi Suwabe, and Hidenobu Kikuchi, the voice ofShigeru Mizuki inThe Birth of Kitaro. In order to see the special short video featuring both stories, fans in Japan will need to be sure to arrive to the theater at least ten minutes early.
As a little reminder for this special video, one week before the opening ofVenom: The Last Dancein Japan, a cute illustration was posted onThe Birth of Kitaro’s X page. The drawing was done byThe BIrth of Kitaro’s character designer, Tōko Yatabe, and features Eddie and Brock alongside a few characters from the anime. The post reads (translated from Japanese):
I never thought thatVenomandThe Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGewould collaborate! I was surprised when I first heard about it, but when I heard the catchphrase, “Our partner is not a human!" I was struck in the knees. Both films will be hot stories of buddies from different species who save the world while relying on each other and being depended on, so please enjoyVenom: The Last DanceandThe Birth of Kitaro: The Mystery of GeGeGethis fall.”
When Yatabe explains the collaboration like that, it is easier to understand why two unlikely stories canactually collaborate together quite well. There is no news yet if “The Evilest Partner Autumn Festival 2024" will have an official English release.
Venom xBrave Bang Bravern!
These Characters Understand One Another
That was not the onlyVenomcollaboration that was revealed last week. On the 23rd, another special collaboration was shared on the accounts of bothVenom: The Last Danceand the animeBrave Bang Bravern!.Venomposted a special video of the anime character Isami Ao being questioned about the upcoming film, andBrave Bang Bravern!posted a poster of Isami, Lewis Smith, Lulu, and Bravern all watchingVenomtogether in the theater.
It may seem like another odd partnership, butBravern!is an anime about a man working together withhis unlikely partner, a giant robot. AndVenomis about how Eddie and Venom have to work together, whether they want to or not. So really, it does make sense that the characters would respectively understand one another’s situations, at least to some degree.Bravern!also has an adult demographic rather than a children’s one, and the same goes for theVenomfranchise.
