Nihon Wire
← Back to News
🎬 Anime & Manga

August 8, 2026

Voice Star Natsuki Hanae Narrates Trailer for Korean Film 'The Last Dear Daughter'

🇯🇵 Originally reported by 映画ナタリー - 最新ニュース

Translated from Japanese with commentary

View Original (Japanese) →

BODY: A beloved anime voice, a Korean tearjerker, and a very good cat — that's the unlikely trio powering the newly released trailer for the family drama "The World's Last Dear Daughter!" ("Sekai de saigo no itoshii musume!"), now live on YouTube.

The clip's Japanese narration is handled by Natsuki Hanae, the actor best known internationally as Tanjiro Kamado in the "Demon Slayer" series and Ken Kaneki in "Tokyo Ghoul." His warm, familiar voice guides viewers through the film's central relationship: an ordinary father and his daughter, whose everyday bond forms the emotional core of the story.

Alongside the trailer, the film's Japanese distributor released a batch of new stills, offering the first substantial look at the movie's tone. Judging from the footage, expect a gentle, tear-adjacent family drama — the kind of small-scale, feelings-forward Korean cinema that has built a devoted following in Japan. And yes, a cat features prominently enough to earn a mention in the film's own promotional copy, adding a note of comfort to the father-daughter story.

Casting a headline anime voice actor to narrate a live-action foreign film's trailer is a shrewd, increasingly common play in the Japanese market, where a recognizable seiyū can pull an entire fanbase toward a title they might otherwise overlook.

The insider take

In Tokyo, star voice actors have quietly become one of the most reliable marketing levers in film distribution. Hanae is A-list — his name alone trends when attached to a project — and slotting him onto a mid-budget Korean import's trailer is less about the narration itself than about borrowing his enormous "Demon Slayer"-era reach. It's the same logic that puts idols and comedians into dubbing booths: for a quiet foreign drama competing against blockbusters, a familiar voice is often the difference between a limited run and a word-of-mouth hit among Japan's deeply engaged anime and Korean-film crossover audience.

Originally reported by 映画ナタリー - 最新ニュース (Japanese).

#anime

More in Anime & Manga

Hear this story on the podcast

Nihon Wire Daily covers Japan's top stories in 10-15 minutes. Fridays are free — go daily for $5/mo.

Go Daily → $5/mo