Watch Ten Minutes Of FRIENDS: NAKI OF MONSTER ISLAND, Plus Three TV Spots And Music Video

With the theatrical opening of Takashi Yamazaki's animated kids flick Friends: Naki of Monster Island (aka Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki, フレンズ: もののけ島のナキ) in Japan today, the audience has already spoken with approval or rather to be exact, feeling emotionally moved from the unlikely friendship shared between the boy and ogre.  I'm a grown-ass man and everytime I look into the kid's sad puppy eyes, even I must admit feeling heartbroken inside.  Japanese R&B singer MISIA sings the theme song Smile and its quite beautiful.

In a country strangely similar to Japan, there is an island floating on the middle of a lake. It is said that monsters have been living there from the ancient time so that people feared the island calling it "the Monster Island." But in reality, the monsters living there are sweet and are in fact living their lives fearing the humans.

One day, a human child named Kotake wanders off into the island. Surprisingly, Naki, a red ogre who is difficult to please and therefore unpopular among others, ends up taking care of him. Naki hates other ogres as well as humans, and has been living a lonely life, but starts living together with his only friend Gunjo, who is a blue ogre, and the human child Kotake. Through the life with Gunjo and Kotake, Naki gradually opens up his heart and gets to know the meaning of tenderness. However, the merry living together doesn't last long. Since Kotake comes to miss his parents, Naki sends him back to his village. But when the villagers see Naki, they beat him off, and Naki is stripped away from Kotake.

Naki gets depressed after losing Kotake. Seeing his discouraged friend, Gunjo makes up his mind to do a certain thing, which separates Gunjo and Naki forever.

You'll find the seven clips, three TV-spots and music video embedded below.