Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ayumu Watanabe directs. Takatsugu Muramatsu scores. Kiyoshi Hirose cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in English, Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 5 years ago.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Japanese.
• 3Original score by Takatsugu Muramatsu. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Kiyoshi Hirose shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Shinobu Otake and Cocomi and Natsuki Hanae carry the top of the cast.
• 6IMDB entry: tt13758684 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 7Only 71 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Original score

Takatsugu Muramatsu

Editing

Kiyoshi Hirose

Runtime

97 min · 1h 37m

Status

Released

Original language

JA

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (2021) ↗

Also by

Ayumu Watanabe

• 
  Doraemon: Ganbare! Gian!!

  2001 · ★ 8.6
• 
  Space Brothers #0

  2014 · ★ 8.3
• 
  Dorami-chan: Wow, The Kid Gang of Bandits / The☆Doraemons: Strange, Sweets, Strange? / Doraemon: Nobita's the Night Before a Wedding

  1991 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Doraemon: The Day When I Was Born

  2002 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Nobita's the Night Before a Wedding

  1999 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur

  2006 · ★ 7.4

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Theatrical Announcement Trailer [Subtitled]

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Trailer [ENG SUB]

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Chris Sawin2021-08-28
  ★ 8/10

  Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is so simple on the surface, but is also complex and meaningful as an animated film. The ending of the film juggles tearing at your heartstrings and having everything come full circle. It feels like Kikurin is ashamed of embracing the fact that she’s becoming a woman while Nikuko is dangerously content with her gender and sexuality. They’re both lonely, but they find solace in each other’s company. Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is an animated journey that allows its audience to feel a full spectrum of emotions throughout the escapades of Nikuko and Kikurin. Its beautiful animation is only secondary to the warmth in your chest the film leaves you with once you see that last plate served at the grill house that so many townspeople frequent. Full review: https://hubpages.com/entertainment/Fantasia-Fortune-Favors-Lady-Nikuko-Review

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Yoshimoto Kogyo

  JP

• 

  STUDIO4℃

  JP

Key crew

• Theme Song PerformanceKurumi Inagaki
• Key AnimationMoaang
• Key AnimationKou Horio
• Key AnimationMiyaso
• Key AnimationProro
• Supervising Animation DirectorKenichi Konishi
• Art DirectionShinji Kimura
• CGI DirectorTakanori Nakajima
• Color DesignerMiyuki Ito
• Sound DirectorKoji Kasamatsu
• Second Unit DirectorKenichiro Akimoto
• EditorKiyoshi Hirose
• Key AnimationDaiki Harashina
• ProducerMitsugu Yamada
• Key AnimationHarumi Yamazaki
• Key AnimationKatsuya Yoshii
• Key AnimationHisashi Eguchi
• Key AnimationRen Onodera
• ProducerJunya Komatsu
• Key AnimationKaori Hayashi
• Animation DirectorKanako Yoshida
• AnimationKAWAHAGI
• Key AnimationNobuyuki Takeuchi
• Background DesignerSakako Itakura

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• friendship
• based on novel or book
• slice of life
• anime
• life lessons
• family problems
• mother and daughter

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2021-10-24· Animation Is Film Festival
• Theatrical2022-06-03NR
• Digital2022-07-19NR
• Digital2025-09-01· HBO Max
• Physical2022-07-19NR· Blu-ray / DVD

Also known as

International titles

• Gyokō no Nikuko-chanJP
• Gyokou no Nikuko-chanJP
• Nikuko of the Fishing HarborUS
• Fortune Favours Lady NikukoGB