Break of Dawn

Alternate Titles

ぼくらのよあけ
Bokura no Yoake

Synopsis

It’s summer of the year 2049. Yuma Sawatari, a fourth-year elementary school student living at the Asagaya Apartments, is fascinated by the comet “SHIII Arvill” that will soon pass close to Earth. Meanwhile, Nanako, the Sawatari family’s household AI Autobot, has been hacked by an unknown entity that turns out to be an alien called The February Dawn who crashed on Earth in 2022 after experiencing trouble entering the atmosphere and has been lying dormant camouflaged as an apartment building. A top-secret mission and an unforgettable summer are about to begin!

Background

Break of Dawn started as a manga series written and illustrated by Tetsuya Imai that was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon seinen manga magazine from January to October 2011. It was published in two collected tankobon volumes under the Afternoon KC imprint and will also be released in English by Kodansha USA, who licensed the series in July 2022.

A theatrical film adaptation was announced in March 2022. It is being produced by Zero-G and features Tetsuya Imai as director, Dai Sato handling the screenplay, Takahiko Yoshida as both animation character designer and chief animation director, and Masaru Yokoyama composing the music. The anime’s theme song is “Itsushika” by Daichi Miura. Screenings of the movie will begin in Japan on Oct. 21, 2022.

Characters

Yuma Sawatari (Voiced by: Hana Sugisaki)
Yuma is a fourth-year elementary school student living at the Asagaya Apartments. He is a bright and energetic boy with a mischievous side. He has thorough knowledge of space and lights up whenever it’s in the news. He also loves robots but is repulsed by the Autobot Nanako for some reason and stubbornly refuses to listen to her.

Nanako (Voiced by: Aoi Yuki)
Nanako is the Sawatari family’s household AI Autobot. She speaks just like a human and is able to perfectly handle housework. She supports the family in all aspects of their daily lives, but she is shunned by Yuma who finds her irritating. She goes into hibernation while being hacked by The February Dawn.

Shingo Kishi (Voiced by: Natsumi Fujiwara)
Shingo is a fourth-year elementary school student living at the Asagaya Apartments. He is Yuma’s classmate and playmate. He likes playing video games at home, and Yuma and Ginnosuke often come over to play. He has a shy side, and often fights with his older sister Wako, who is gloomy and always makes fun of him.

Ginnosuke Tadokoro (Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto)
Ginnosuke is a sixth-year elementary school student living at the Asagaya Apartments. As the older of the bunch, he often plays with Yuma and Shingo, who both call him “Gin-kun.” He is a laid-back boy with good grades and is a peacemaker who is able to make rational decisions about anything. Influenced by his late father, he wants to help those in need.

Honoka Kawai (Voiced by: Inori Minase)
Honoka is a fifth-year elementary school student who meets Yuma and the others through The February Dawn’s core. She lives together with her novelist father. She is acknowledged at school as the “class enemy” and is ignored. She has a straightforward personality and hates cowardice. She can also be stubborn and quite dishonest.

Wako Kishi (Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu)
Wako is Shingo’s older sister and is a fifth-year elementary school student. She is called “Wakosuke” by both Yuma and Ginnosuke. At first glance, she seems to have a lot of friends, but she is always worried about how others see her and compulsively checks her social media. She is amazed at Shingo and the others who always do nothing but game with the same members and often makes fun of them.

Haruka Sawatari (Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa)
Haruka is Yuma’s mother. She often works the night shift and values Nanako, who helps out with all the housework. She is at a loss with how to handle Yuma and his opposition to Nanako. She is Ryo and Yoshitatsu’s childhood friend.

Ryo Sawatari (Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya)
Ryo is Yuma’s father. He is always busy with work from morning to night. Though he usually gets home late at night, he is a kind father who puts his family first when it’s most important. He quietly watches over the relationship between Yuma and Nanako. He is childhood friends with Haruka and Yoshitatsu.

Yoshitatsu Kawai (Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda)
Yoshitatsu is Honoka’s father and a famous novelist. He is divorced from his wife and lives together with Honoka. Driven by his writing work, he always has an exhausted air about him, but he is a kind and thoughtful father. For some reason, he has a core of The February Dawn. He is childhood friends with Ryo and Haruka and used to be in love with Haruka.

The February Dawn (Voiced by: Romi Park)
The February Dawn is the artificial intelligence of an unmanned probe that came from a distant planet. It came to Earth in 2022 to investigate but suffered damage when entering the atmosphere. It camouflaged itself as one of the buildings in the apartment complex where Yuma and the others live and went dormant, but in 2049 is reactivated for a certain reason and begins talking with Yuma and the others using Nanako’s system.

Mifuyu Kishi (Voiced by: Natsuko Yokosawa)
Mifuyu is Shingo’s mother. She is close with the Sawatari family, whose son Yuma is friends with her son.

Music

Theme Song: “Itsushika” by Daichi Miura

• Anime Site (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: Tetsuya Imai
• Original Character Design/Conceptual Design: pomodorosa
• Director: Tomoyuki Kurokawa
• Screenplay: Dai Sato
• Animation Character Design/Chief Animation Director: Takahiko Yoshida
• Music: Masaru Yokoyama
• Production: Kodansha
• Animation Production: Zero-G