Hara worked for years on the Crayon Shin-chan television anime series before garnering critical attention for such films as Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Appare!
The film is slated to open in Japan on April 26.
Warner Bros. announced on Tuesday that director Keiichi Hara’s next anime film is titled Birthday Wonderland, an adaptation of Sachiko Kashiwaba’s 1988 children’s book Chikashitru Kara no Fushigi na Tabi (Strange Journey From The Basement).
He earned the Jury’s Special Distinction and the Audience Award for the bittersweet film Colorful at Annecy 2011.