a mole in charge of the illumination in the village. Junpei Takiguchi as Seiichi, a walrus painter as Kinuyo, a hedgehog who operates the village tailor with her sister Asami Saori Hattori as Asami, a hedgehog who operates the village tailor with her sister Kinuyo Tetsuo Sakaguchi as Tsunekichi, a kitsune who operates a black market Takashi Miike as Rakosuke, a sea otter philosopher Wataru Takagi as Johnny, a common gull astronaut who flies around the village in a UFO Mitsuo Iwata as Kappei, a kappa who operates a taxicab Other characters, such as Shishō (Dr. Shrunk), Mr. Honma (Lyle), Maiko (Katie) and her mother (Kaitlin), and Roland (Saharah), make non-speaking appearances. Production Dōbutsu no Mori was first announced in a May 2006 issue of the online Japanese magazine Hochi Shimbun, with a theatrical release date set for the following December. The movie entered production due to the success of Animal Crossing: Wild World, released for the Nintendo DS the previous year, which had shipped over 3 million copies in Japan alone. Jōji Shimura was attached to direct, having previously worked on manga-to-film adaptations such Shin Angyo Onshi and Master Keaton. Some of the Animal Crossing series staff assisted with production, and worked to give the movie the same wide audience appeal as the video games themselves. Those who ordered advance tickets before the film's debut were eligible to receive vouchers which could be redeemed for hard-to-obtain gold tools in Animal Crossing: Wild World. In October 2007, Nintendo of America made a statement that they had "no plans" to bring the film to North America. Music Music for Dōbutsu no Mori was contributed by Animal Crossing series composer Kazumi Totaka and arranged by Tomoki Hasegawa, with the film featuring numerous themes from the games. The film's official theme song is by Taeko Ohnuki, which plays over the end credits. An official soundtrack album was released in Japan on December 13, 2006, by VAP containing 46 tracks from the movie along with five bonus songs from Animal Crossing: Wild World. Release Box office Dōbutsu no Mori was released theatrically in Japan on 16 December 2006 where it was distributed by Toho. It debuted in Japanese theaters as the third highest-grossing Japan-only film of its opening weekend behind Letters from Iwo Jima and Eragon, earning approximately (). By the end of 2006, the movie had a total revenue of ¥1.526 billion ($12,915,432),