The Colors Within (きみの色, Kimi no Iro) is a 2024 original theatrical anime film directed by Naoko Yamada and produced by studio Science SARU. Staff credits also include screenplay writer Reiko Yoshida, character designer Takashi Kojima, and music composed by Kensuke Ushio. The film first screened at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2024 before being theatrically released in Japan on August 2024.
Background:
“Totsuko is a high school student with the ability to see the ‘colours’ of others. Colours of bliss, excitement, and serenity, plus a colour she treasures as her favourite. Kimi, a classmate at her school, gives off the most beautiful colour of all.
Although she doesn’t play an instrument, Totsuko forms a band with Kimi and Rui, a quiet music enthusiast they meet at a used bookstore in a far corner of town. As they practice at an old church on a remote island, music brings them together, forming friendships and stirring affections. Will they discover their true ‘colours’?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, September 2025.
Science SARU were known for their unique presentations, which primarily came from director Masaaki Yuasa, but as the years have progressed their portfolio of projects have diversified a bit whilst also maintaining a distinct art style from other anime shows and films. Two notable projects came from a collaboration with director Naoko Yamda, who’s well-known for directing a lot of Kyoto Animation titles including K-On! and Tamako Market, and writer Reiko Yoshida, who also contributed to Kyoto Animation as well as dozens of other projects throughout their career going as far back as the Virtua Fighter adaptation and Digimon Adventure films.
Their first collaborated work together was the 2021 television series The Heike Story which streamed first before broadcast if memory served me right and was also announced rather fast by Funimation who had the English speaking territory rights. Whilst I own the series I haven’t gotten around to watching it but I heard it was an overlooked series when it was first released. The collaboration eventually continued with a theatrical film called The Colors Within, which is more light-hearted with a core focus on music. Science SARU works have featured music a lot even if it wasn’t the core part thanks to Kensuke Ushio’s work, especially with Devilman Crybaby.
Anime Limited acquired the UK & Ireland rights for theatrical and home video, while North American distributor GKIDS acquired the US & Canada rights. Both distributors released the film at the cinema but I didn’t get a chance to watch it due to work getting in the way. GKIDS released the film first many months prior to Anime Limited’s release and also included the 18-minute short film Garden of Remembrance with their release, which isn’t included here as the latter didn’t secure the rights – though having said yet, they do tend to get their hands on these sorts of short films later but utilised for a different project.
Since Plaion Pictures are also involved with the licensing, KSM Anime handled the German rights while Anime Factory handled the Italian rights.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited have been building a collection of Science SARU titles over the years (Dan Da Dan, Devilman Crybaby, Lu Over the Wall as an example) and are also big fans of the director, so they went all-out with the collector’s release.
The collector’s edition release is presented with a rigid box, two Scanavo cases housing the discs as well as a bonus Blu-ray disc and original soundtrack CD exclusive to this release, three art cards and a 52-page booklet with interviews from the cast and staff with some storyboards and art galleries.
The rigid box artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray & DVD has an unspecified number of units printed (but is expected to be the usual 1000 run) for an SRP of £49.99, with a standard edition Blu-ray available for retailers at an SRP of £19.99.
I pre-ordered my copy from Anime Limited’s online store for £34.99 during its early bird (plus 10% discount from Anime Unlimited membership) alongside BLEACH Part 7 to save on shipping costs.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork
- 2 Scanavo cases packaging
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- Bonus Blu-ray disc with additional bonus features
- Original Soundtrack CD from composer Kensuke Ushio
- 52-page Booklet
- 3 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 15th September 2025
The collector’s edition release for The Colors Within contains the film on a single Blu-ray disc and single DVD disc, plus an additional Blu-ray disc exclusive to this release filled with additional bonus features. The discs were authored and encoded by Plaion Pictures.
At the start of the disc’s menu, you have the option to choose between English, Deutsch (German) and Italiano (Italian) languages but you’ll have to restart the disc to switch to different menus. Audio options include Japanese audio with English, German & Italian subtitles, the NYAV Post English dub commissioned by GKIDS, the German dub (the dubbing studio wasn’t credited on the disc credits, but Think Global Media were involved with the release) and the Tecnomovie Italian dub; the latter two both commissioned by Plaion Pictures.
The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are region locked to players set to B and the DVD discs locked to players set to 2.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, German, Italian, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English, German, Italian |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, German, Italian, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 German Dolby Digital 5.1 Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English, German, Italian |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1: Main Feature Film:
- Original Teaser (01:03 runtime)
- Original Trailer (03:03 runtime)
- Character Dance (00:45 runtime)
- Cast Dance (00:48 runtime)
- Picture Gallery (01:30 runtime)
Disc 2: Bonus (Exclusive to Collector’s Edition release):
- Ushio and Yamada Interview at Scotland Loves Anime 2024 (23:30 runtime)
- Yamada Interview at Annecy 2024 (10:02 runtime)
- Color Palette #1: Interview with Director Naoko Yamada (09:18 runtime)
- Color Palette #2: Interview with Music Creator Kensuke Ushio (08:37 runtime)
- Color Palette #3: Interviee with the Cast (11:55 runtime)
- Color Palette #4: Behind the Scenes with the Cast (06:09 runtime)
- Starting a Band with Kensuke Ushio (09:39 runtime)
- Live Talk & Drawing with Naoko Yamada (38:06 runtime)
- Crate Digging with Naoko Yamada (03:37 runtime)
- Photo Walk with Naoko Yamada (06:37 runtime)
- Scene Breakdown – The Candlelit Church Sequence (12:41 runtime)
- Scene Breakdown – The Final Performance (07:56 runtime)
- Scene Breakdown – Totsuko’s Flashback Sequence (07:20 runtime)
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Original Teaser (01:03 runtime)
- Original Trailer (03:03 runtime)
- Character Dance (00:45 runtime)
- Cast Dance (00:48 runtime)
- Picture Gallery (01:30 runtime)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The Colors Within is available to purchase on Blu-ray & DVD by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland.
The collector’s edition Blu-ray & DVD release is available to order exclusively through AllTheAnime Store.
The standard edition Blu-ray is also available for purchase from retailers Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store and Anime-on-Line.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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