A Midnight Rose

Horikoshi: Believe, known in Japan as Horikoshi: I Want to Believe (Japanese: 堀越：信じたい, Hepburn: Horikoshi: Shinjitai) is a 2009 Japanese anime romantic drama film based on the light novel series Horikoshi: The School Idol's My Friend and its 2007 anime adaptation. Multiple staff from the original series worked on the film, including director Masahiko Murato, writer Ryunosuke Kingetsu, animation director Naoki Aisaka and composer Yoshihisa Hirano. Both the original Japanese and English voice cast also reprised their roles. In addition, the English dub also features the voices of Kevin Conroy, Tom Kenny and Jonathan Winters.

Horikoshi: Believe serves as a sequel and conclusion to the series, and, whereas the series was a slice of life romantic comedy, the film is a romance drama focusing on the relationship between Naoki Miyashita and Katsumi Hino and their feelings towards each other.

The film was conceived by the light novel's creator, Ryotaro Sekizawa, for he wanted to end the series with something big and not just a simple TV and light novel finale. So as not to alienate fans of the series, a large amount of aesthetic material was incorporated, while also adjusting it to make it accessible to newcomers. Increased budget and production facilities enabled the use of filming styles associated with live action films and a higher animation quality than the series.

The film was produced by studios Shaft and Feel, who had previously collaborated on the original series, and Kodansha LTD. Horikoshi: Believe was released to theaters in Japan on May 16, 2009 and in the United States on November 19, 2010. It went on to gross over $4 million worldwide and it also sold well on home video in Japan and the US. The film received generally positive reviews from mainstream and anime critics and was nominated the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, but lost to Summer Wars.

Plot
Coming soon

Additional voices

 * Brian Beth
 * Hynden Walch
 * Barbara Goodson
 * Stephanie Sheh
 * Jason C. Miller
 * David Vincent
 * Doug Stone
 * Xanthe Huynh

Production
Coming soon!

Music
Coming soon!

Release
Horikoshi: Believe was first released in cinemas in Japan on May 16, 2009. The Japanese screening included an exclusive promotional trailer for Call of the Falcon: A Quincy Story, which was presented in English with Japanese subtitles.

In late 2009, Anime News Network reported rumors surfacing that Paramount Pictures, who would later distribute Call of the Falcon: A Quincy Story in the United States, was showing interest in acquiring the North American distribution rights to the film, supposedly as a way to help promote Call of the Falcon. On February 19, 2010, it was confirmed that Paramount Pictures secured the North American rights to the film, with plans to release it later that year. It was first shown to the west at the 2010 Anime Expo on July 2, 2010, where it was announced that the English cast would reprise their roles, and that Kevin Conroy, Tom Kenny and Jonathan Winters would also provide voices in the film. Its Japanese subtitle, I Want to Believe, was changed for the western release due to sharing its subtitle with the 2008 X-Files movie of the same name. The dubbing team chose to shorten the title to Believe instead. In addition, the team were unable to license the usage of the ending song Life by Mika Nakashima, as the Japanese publishers weren't interested in licensing it. Instead, the western release uses the song Love Lives by Steven Tyler, which was the credits song for the Space Battleship Yamato movie released that year. Paramount Pictures and Insurge Pictures distributed the film in a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 19, 2010 in fifty theaters, fifteen of which showed the movie in Japanese with English subtitles. It grossed $1,000,293 at the US box office. Overall, the worldwide gross for the film was $4,000,382.

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan by Geneon Universal Entertainment on March 16, 2010. The film's release on home media proved to be very popular, with Geneon earning ¥1,388,150,000.00 ($10 million USD) in video sales by August of that year. Paramount Home Entertainment released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on February 22, 2011, along with a double pack DVD release with Call of the Falcon: A Quincy Story later that year. By 2014, Paramount had an estimated $22.6 million in combined DVD and Blu-ray sales. It did not receive a theatrical release in the United Kingdom, instead being released as a direct-to-DVD feature on February 25, 2011.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 56% based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "While it may run longer than it should, Horikoshi 's beautiful visuals and chemistry between it's two characters might just be enough for fans and even some audiences to appreciate." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film was nominated at the 33rd Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, but lost to Mamoru Hosada's Summer Wars.