Wareware wa Uchuujin

We Are Aliens (Wareware wa Uchuujin) is an original anime film. That means it is not based on a manga, a novel, or a game. The story was made just for the screen. It is the first full-length movie from Nothing New, a small Japanese film label that started in 2022. A French company, Miyu Productions, is also helping with the business side. Work on the film began in 2022, and the team planned to finish it around March 2026. Showings in Japan were expected around fall 2026, and showings in other countries were planned to start in 2027.

The film is mostly the work of one creator, Kohei Kadowaki. He came up with the idea, wrote the script, directed the movie, drew the storyboards, and edited it. A storyboard is a set of rough drawings that plans every shot, a bit like a comic strip of the whole film. Before this movie, Kadowaki was known for animated music videos, including work for the Japanese pop group YOASOBI. This is his first feature film.

At the center of the story are two boys, Tsubasa and Kyotaro. Tsubasa is shy and does not talk much. Kyotaro is the opposite: he is the kid the rest of the class admires and wants to be around. The two meet during a summer when they are young elementary school students, and a close bond grows between them. For a while, their time together feels special, like something no one else could share. Then a small event, the kind that seems minor at the time, breaks them apart. The film does not reveal in its early material what that event is, and it is best to learn it while watching.

What makes the movie unusual is how much time it covers. The story follows the two boys for more than thirty years, from childhood into adult life. It is not an action story or a big fantasy adventure. It is a quiet, slow, and thoughtful drama about growing up. It asks simple but deep questions. What gives a life its meaning? How can one friendship, even one that ended long ago, keep shaping a person for decades? Fans of calm, emotional stories about friendship and the passing of time will likely feel at home here.

The look of the film got attention as soon as the first teaser video came out in November 2025. Viewers praised the beautiful pictures and smooth movement. The team used filmed reference video of real movement to guide how the characters move. This is close to a method called rotoscoping, where artists follow live-action footage to draw more natural motion. The staff also worked to make the characters and the painted backgrounds feel like one single world, instead of two separate layers.

Because Nothing New is a young and independent team, it also asked fans for help. It opened a crowdfunding campaign on the Japanese site Motion Gallery, with a goal of at least 8 million yen, or about 51,000 US dollars. Crowdfunding means many people each give a small amount of money to help finish a project. For viewers, it is a chance to watch a small studio try to make a personal, heartfelt film on its own terms.