by Alex Billington
April 21, 2026
Source: YouTube
“Do you think we can be… superstars?” Greenwich Entertainment has unveiled an official US trailer for an indie animation film titled Jinsei, which translates directly to “life” in Japanese. This is not your typical anime production from Japan, it’s an independent creation from one up-and-coming director. The film is entirely hand-drawn, written, directed, edited by, and scored by a filmmaker name Ryuya Suzuki over two years of time. A man’s journey through life, marked by various names and labels, leads him to unexpected success while confronting modern social issues & personal struggles along the way. The Tokyo Film Festival describes it with more awe: “From birth to death, each person goes through life with a variety of nicknames, and sometimes derogatory. This is an epic feature animation that follows the tumultuous 100-year life of ‘the man who was never called by his real name.'” Featuring the Japanese rapper ACE COOL as the voice of the main character. This looks wonderfully unique and existentially fascinating in its examination of life and what it all means and how everyone we interact with matters, etc. I’m curious to watch. What do you think?
Here’s the official US trailer (+ poster) for Ryuya Suzuki’s animated film Jinsei, direct from YouTube:
Our hero (voiced by rapper ACE COOL), called by a different name in each chapter of his life, becomes a J-pop idol, an outcast, a leader, and an oracle in this hundred-year chronicle spanning the past, present, and future. Through a chance encounter with a transfer student, he trains to become an idol, starting his search for self-identity and a journey toward greatness beyond superstardom. Written, directed, edited & entirely hand-drawn by newcomer Ryuya Suzuki over 18 months, Jinsei (meaning “life” in Japanese) is an anime tour-de-force that announces Suzuki to the world as a bold new talent in independent animation. Jinsei, also known as 無名の人生 in Japanese, is written and directed by Japanese animation filmmaker Ryuya Suzuki, making his feature directorial debut with this project. This initially premiered at the 2025 Annecy Film Festival last year and it also played at the Tokyo Film Festival. Greenwich Ent. debuts Suzuki’s Jinsei in select US theaters starting June 5th, 2026 with a wide release later that month. Want to watch?
