actress Keiko Kitagawa described this role as "challenging", and he added that she "wanted to express the freshness of the voice of [Jack] as much as possible." Mana Ashida, an avid reader who is a big fan of the original book series, said that she was "highly motivated" to play the role of Annie in this film. She said that she "enjoyed the adventure as much as Annie", to the extent that she felt that "she was flying into the book to be with Annie." Mana Ashida had previously voiced Agnes in the Japanese version of the 2010 film Despicable Me. Ashida and Kitagawa had previously worked together in the 2011 television drama special Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni that was aired on 5 August 2011 on the Nippon Television network. Kitagawa described Ashida as "a professional child actress", while Ashida said that "Kitagawa is very kind and friendly". Art director Toshiharu Mizutani's previous works includes the anime films Piano no Mori (2007) and Akira (1988). Composer Akira Senju previously composed theme songs for the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime series. Theme song Singer-songwriter Kana Uemura sings the theme song of the film, "Message", which is released on 4 January 2012, her 29th birthday. She is also voice-cast in the film. Release Magic Tree House made its debut at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival on 23 October 2011. It was featured as one of the festival's special screenings. The film was released in Japanese cinemas on 7 January 2012, and was also featured at a release ceremony at Shinjuku Piccadilly that day. The DVD, Blu-ray & limited edition of the film were released on 3 August 2012. References External links 2011 anime films Ajia-do Animation Works 2010s children's fantasy films Fantasy anime and manga Films based on American novels Films based on fantasy novels 2010s Japanese-language films Films with screenplays by Ichirō Ōkouchi Films about witchcraft Films directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori