Mechamato Movie, the nation’s number one animated movie has made its way as the first local animated film to break into the Japanese market where it will be screening in over 30 cinemas starting January 19.

The film name, Mechamato is a combination of the names of the main character, Amato, and a powerful robot named MechaBot. The film by MONSTA and Astro Shaw managed to collect RM36 million during its 2022 release.

Last year, the Mechamato animated series made history when it became the first non-Japanese animation to win the ‘Animation Fan Award’ at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF) 2023. The Animonsta Studios (MONSTA) chief executive officer, Nizam Abd Razak said the win was a good start for the local studio’s animation series in Japan as well as the international market.

Now, their film will be premiered in Japan and will feature a cast of famous Japanese voice actors, such as Ayumu Murase as Amato, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as MechaBot, and Kenjiro Tsuda as General Grakakus. Monsta has taken the advice from a strategic partner in Japan to utilize the talents of famous voice actors since each voice actors have a fan base and appeal of their own.

In addition, the Mechamato Movie theme song, ‘Temaniku’ sung by local artist Yonnyboii, was also remade in Japanese by singer Ruka from Japan and retitled Tomodachi.

They are also working to bring the Japanese-dubbed version to Malaysia since they believe that Mechamato fans do not want to miss the opportunity to watch this version as well.