Pack Your Tissues, New 'The Imaginary' Trailer Is a Tearjerker

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The Imaginary

By Erick Massoto

Published Jun 28, 2024

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Image via Studio Ponoc

Summary

The Imaginary gets a second English dub trailer focusing on Rudger's perspective.
The animated movie explores the bond between an imaginary friend and a human child.
Directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, The Imaginary is from Studio Ponoc, featuring a Studio Ghibli-like style.

Netflix wants you to get even more hyped up with its upcoming animated movie The Imaginary. Just a couple of weeks after it got a first trailer, the animation got a second English dub trailer that puts a new perspective on the tale. The story centers around Rudger (voiced by Louie Rudge-Buchanan) and Amanda (Evie Kiszel), two friends who share a pretty strong bond — especially if you consider that one of them is imaginary. The animated movie premieres on July 5.

While the first trailer showed mostly Amanda's perspective of the story, the new one released this week makes it all about what Rudger is going through and how not actually existing influences his perspective. The trailer also revealed that the stakes are pretty high for the boy in the story: the less connected Amanda feels to him, the bigger is the risk that the imaginary boy will disappear forever. The question is: does Amanda want to keep this bond forever or will she just grow out of it?

While Rudger fights for his own existence, The Imaginary will take him on an adventure in which he'll meet several other imaginary beings like him and learn a lot about the human condition in the process. Despite Rudger's worries, the trailer also reveals that he made a pact with Amanda to never disappear and always protect each other. The duo will get to visit some wondrous worlds before Rudger receives the very disturbing news that his kind is always predestined to disappear.

Is 'The Imaginary' a Studio Ghibli Movie?

Despite the Studio Ghibli look and feel, The Imaginary actually hails from Studio Ponoc. So far, the new studio has released two other feature films: Mary and the Witch's Flower and Modest Heroes. The similarities with Studio Ghibli aren't coincidental: the production company hails from animators and writers that have previously worked with Hayao Miyazaki in the legendary Japanese studio.

The Imaginary is directed and written by Yoshiyuki Momose, who previously worked in the animation department of modern classics like Grave of the Fireflies and Spirited Away. The English dub voice cast also features Hayley Atwell (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One), Kal Penn (Smile), Ruby Barnhill (The BFG), Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso), Sky Katz (Raven's Home), LeVar Burton (Star Ttrek: Picard), Jane Singer (Green Lantern: Emerald Knights) and Roger Craig Smith (Megamind Rules!).

Netflix premieres The Imaginary on July 5. You can watch the new trailer below: