Scotland Loves Anime, the UK’s longest-running festival of Japanese animation, starts its 2026 run at Glasgow Film Theatre on Friday 6 November. Over the weekend the cinema is showing new anime features that have not yet played anywhere in the UK, alongside two returning favourites: Ninja Scroll in a new 4K restoration and A Silent Voice, back for its 10th anniversary.
Some of these films reach Glasgow before they reach cinemas in Japan. Ghost, an original feature from Madhouse, does not open there until February 2027, and the CloverWorks anthology Grotesqqque is released in Japan on the same day it plays at GFT.
Every Glasgow screening opens with an introduction from anime historian Dr Jonathan Clements, co-author of The Anime Encyclopedia. The weekend also has a guest: composer Kensuke Ushio, who scored both A Silent Voice and Cocoon, will be at GFT in person for a Q&A after Cocoon on Sunday.
Every film below has its own screening time and booking link, so it is easy to pick out single screenings. Ticket prices, including the cheaper 15-25 Card and concession rates, come after the films, followed by how to get to the cinema.
Scotland Loves Anime in Glasgow
Anime premieres and a Kensuke Ushio Q&A at Glasgow Film Theatre- Address
- Glasgow Film Theatre, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RB
- Admission
- £12.25 standard ticket
- Starts
- November 6, 2026, 12:40 PM
- Ends
- November 8, 2026 9:15 PM
More about the event
- Host
- Dr Jonathan Clements, whose book Anime: A History traces Japanese animation back to around 1912
- Guest
- Kensuke Ushio also releases electronic music under the name Agraph
- Screen 1
- GFT’s main screen seats 404 and was built from the old Cosmo balcony
- Berlinale
- A New Dawn was selected for the main competition at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival
- Character design
- Ghost’s characters were designed by Natsume Ono, creator of the manga House of Five Leaves
Inside the Scotland Loves Anime 2026 Glasgow Line-up
Scotland Loves Anime Glasgow screening times, 6 to 8 November 2026
| Day | Time | Film | Status | Cert | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 6 Nov | 12:40 | The Obsessed | UK premiere | N/C 12+ | 98 min |
| Fri 6 Nov | 15:10 | To You in the Beyond | UK premiere | N/C 15+ | 116 min |
| Fri 6 Nov | 18:00 | Grotesqqque | Scottish premiere | N/C 15+ | 104 min |
| Fri 6 Nov | 20:40 | Ninja Scroll (4K restoration) | 1993 classic, restored | 18 | 94 min |
| Sat 7 Nov | 15:00 | A Silent Voice | 10th anniversary | 12A | 130 min |
| Sat 7 Nov | 18:00 | Ghost | UK premiere | N/C 15+ | 111 min |
| Sat 7 Nov | 20:40 | A New Dawn | UK premiere | N/C 12+ | 76 min |
| Sun 8 Nov | 14:00 | Samurai Ballerina | UK premiere | N/C 12+ | 119 min |
| Sun 8 Nov | 17:00 | Cocoon, with composer Q&A | UK premiere | N/C 15+ | 60 min, plus Q&A |
| Sun 8 Nov | 19:00 | We Are Aliens | UK premiere | N/C 15+ | 117 min |
Every film is in Japanese with English subtitles, and running times are the ones listed on the festival’s Glasgow page. Most of these films have not yet been classified by the BBFC, so Glasgow Film Theatre lists them as N/C (not certified) with a minimum age, for example N/C 15+.
Friday 6 November: The Obsessed, To You in the Beyond, Grotesqqque and Ninja Scroll
The Obsessed (UK premiere)
Giuseppe cannot stick at anything. Opera, insect collecting, embroidery and detective work each take over his life for a while, until he meets Pechka, a sad balloon seller from a faraway country. For the first time he wants to stay put, and he sets about cheering her up with music and a lot of clumsy kindness.
Wataru Takahashi directs for Shin-Ei Animation, adapting Shinji Ishii’s story Toritsukare Otoko, with Masaya Sano and Moka Kamishiraishi voicing the two leads. The film opened in Japan in November 2025 and went on to the Contrechamp section at Annecy in 2026. It makes a gentle lunchtime start to the weekend.
When: Friday 6 November, 12:40 Running time: 98 minutes Certificate: N/C 12+ Book The Obsessed at Glasgow Film Theatre
To You in the Beyond (UK premiere)
Kazuki Tsukigase moves to a school on a remote island to get away from his past. In a cove where people are said to vanish, he finds a girl lying unconscious who remembers nothing except a single year, 1974. Finding out who Nanao is pulls him into her story and into the island’s old legends.
Junichi Wada directs for TMS Entertainment, with a voice cast led by Hiiro Ishibashi and Anna Nagase. If you like a mystery running underneath your romance, this is the Friday afternoon film to book.
When: Friday 6 November, 15:10 Running time: 116 minutes Certificate: N/C 15+ Book To You in the Beyond at Glasgow Film Theatre
Grotesqqque (Scottish premiere)
The only Scottish premiere in Glasgow is also the strangest film on the programme. Grotesqqque is an anthology from CloverWorks made up of three episodes, each built around its own original music, which the festival describes as blending together like a chimera.
Atsushi Nishigori is chief director, and the voice cast includes Kana Ichinose and the singer and actor Gen Hoshino. Grotesqqque opens in Japanese cinemas on 6 November, so Glasgow is seeing it on its release day.
When: Friday 6 November, 18:00 Running time: 104 minutes Certificate: N/C 15+ Book Grotesqqque at Glasgow Film Theatre
Ninja Scroll (4K restoration)
Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s 1993 action film follows Jubei Kibagami, a wandering swordsman who rescues a ninja woman from a monster and is poisoned for his trouble. His hunt for a cure drags him across a feudal Japan overrun by demons and back into his own past. It is very violent, and the festival rates it 18.
The new restoration was made from a 4K scan of the original 35mm negative, with Kawajiri supervising, and premiered in the Berlinale Classics strand at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2026. Kawajiri also directed The Running Man, one of the three stories in the 1987 anthology Neo-Tokyo. If the feudal setting is what draws you in, our guide to samurai cinema is a good place to find live-action jidaigeki to watch next.
When: Friday 6 November, 20:40 Running time: 94 minutes Certificate: 18 Book Ninja Scroll at Glasgow Film Theatre
Saturday 7 November: A Silent Voice, Ghost and A New Dawn
A Silent Voice (10th anniversary screening)
Naoko Yamada’s film for Kyoto Animation came out in Japan in September 2016 and returns to the big screen for its 10th anniversary. Shoya Ishida bullies Shoko Nishimiya, a deaf girl who joins his primary school class, until his classmates turn on him instead. Years later, still weighed down by what he did, he sets out to make amends.
It is adapted from Yoshitoki Ōima’s manga, with a screenplay by Reiko Yoshida and a score by Kensuke Ushio. Ushio also composed the music for Cocoon, and he is at GFT in person for a Q&A after that screening on Sunday. Yoshida wrote Samurai Ballerina, so this screening links neatly to two of the new films. A Silent Voice is one of the picks in our list of 30 Anime to Watch Before You Die.
When: Saturday 7 November, 15:00 Running time: 130 minutes Certificate: 12A Book A Silent Voice at Glasgow Film Theatre
Ghost (UK premiere)
Ghost is an original film from Madhouse, written and directed by Shingo Natsume, with original character designs by Natsume Ono. It does not open in Japan until 11 February 2027, so Glasgow audiences are seeing it around three months early.
Natsume directed the first season of One-Punch Man and created the series Sonny Boy. Andrew Partridge, who founded Scotland Loves Anime, picks Ghost as the film he is most excited for people to see on the big screen, calling it “a real visual & story treat for audiences looking for dark & mature sci-fi content.”
In the near future, a young woman called Neekei cannot settle in a world that looks complete and peaceful. In a place where the memories of the dead become stars, she senses Mass, a man shaped by loss, and the two form a fragile bond that is hard to call either friendship or family.
When: Saturday 7 November, 18:00 Running time: 111 minutes Certificate: N/C 15+ Book Ghost at Glasgow Film Theatre
A New Dawn (UK premiere)
Keitaro lives in an abandoned fireworks factory that once stood in a forest. The land around it is now covered in solar panels, and before the factory is knocked down he sets out with his brother and a childhood friend to launch his late father’s firework.
It is the first feature directed by Yoshitoshi Shinomiya, a former background artist who has worked with Makoto Shinkai, and it won the Contrechamp Jury Award at Annecy in 2026. The theme song, Aoba, is by imase. At 76 minutes it fits comfortably after Ghost, which finishes at about 19:50.
When: Saturday 7 November, 20:40 Running time: 76 minutes Certificate: N/C 12+ Book A New Dawn at Glasgow Film Theatre
Sunday 8 November: Samurai Ballerina, Cocoon and We Are Aliens
Samurai Ballerina (UK premiere)
Set in Paris in the early 20th century, Samurai Ballerina follows Fujiko and Chizuru, two Japanese girls who first met as children in Yokohama. Fujiko wants to paint but is expected to become a dutiful wife. Chizuru, from a samurai family and skilled with the naginata, falls in love with ballet. With help from Olga, a former Russian ballerina, they go after both dreams, until Fujiko’s uncle and guardian goes missing.
Gorō Taniguchi directs for Arvo Animation, and the film won the audience award for best feature at Animafest Zagreb in 2026. You may also see it listed under its French title, L’étoile de Paris en fleur.
When: Sunday 8 November, 14:00 Running time: 119 minutes Certificate: N/C 12+ Book Samurai Ballerina at Glasgow Film Theatre
Cocoon (UK premiere, with Kensuke Ushio Q&A)
Cocoon is based on Machiko Kyo’s manga, which drew on the story of the Himeyuri students, the schoolgirls sent to nurse wounded soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. San and Mayu go to a girls’ school on a peaceful island until the war reaches them and they are sent to work in a military hospital hidden inside a cave.
It comes from SASAYURI, a studio founded by former Studio Ghibli animator Hitomi Tateno, with animation by Akihiko Yamashita and Shinji Otsuka, who both worked on Princess Mononoke and The Boy and the Heron. Yukimitsu Ina directs and Kensuke Ushio composed the score. The film was made for the Japanese broadcaster NHK and runs about an hour. Ushio is the festival’s guest in Glasgow and will take questions in person after the screening. His other scores include Devilman Crybaby, Chainsaw Man and Dandadan.
When: Sunday 8 November, 17:00 Running time: about 60 minutes, plus the Q&A Certificate: N/C 15+ Book Cocoon at Glasgow Film Theatre
We Are Aliens (UK premiere)
We Are Aliens closes the Glasgow weekend. In a rural town in the Heisei era, shy Tsubasa worries that he is ordinary until he becomes best friends with the popular Akitaro. When rumours turn Akitaro into an outcast, something happens that cannot be undone, and the film follows the two of them across 30 years.
Kouhei Kadowaki wrote, directed and edited the film at Nothing New, in a co-production with France’s Miyu Productions, and Yaffle composed the score. Before opening in Japan on 25 September 2026, it played in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and in competition at Annecy. If the Heisei setting appeals, our explainer on Heisei retro looks at why the look of that era is back in fashion in Japan.
When: Sunday 8 November, 19:00 Running time: 117 minutes Certificate: N/C 15+ Book We Are Aliens at Glasgow Film Theatre
The Scotland Loves Anime screenings to book first
If you can only make a few screenings, these are the ones we would book, in this order.
- Ghost, Saturday 18:00. A new Madhouse film you can see in Glasgow months before audiences in Japan.
- Cocoon, Sunday 17:00. The only Glasgow screening with a guest. Composer Kensuke Ushio takes questions afterwards, and the film tells a story based on real events from the Battle of Okinawa.
- A New Dawn, Saturday 20:40. This year’s Contrechamp Jury Award winner at Annecy, and short enough to pair with Ghost on the same night.
- We Are Aliens, Sunday 19:00. The closing film, fresh from Cannes and Annecy, and a story that covers three decades of one friendship.
- Ninja Scroll, Friday 20:40. A 1993 action classic restored from its original negative, and best seen on a big screen.
If you can only come for one day, make it Saturday. A Silent Voice ends at about 17:10, which leaves time to eat before Ghost at 18:00, and A New Dawn follows at 20:40. Those finish times come from each film’s listed running time, so allow a few extra minutes for any introduction.
Scotland Loves Anime ticket prices at Glasgow Film Theatre
Tickets are booked film by film through the links above, and Scotland Loves Anime screenings are charged at standard GFT prices. Booking online has no fee, and phone bookings cost £1.50 extra. A limited number of weekend passes are still available, at £90 standard, £72 concession and £60 with a 15-25 Card.
- Standard ticket: £12.25.
- Concession: £9.50, for over 60s, full-time students, disabled visitors, people who are unemployed and CEA Card holders.
- 15-25 Card: £6.90 a ticket.
- Child, 14 and under: £7.40.
The 15-25 Card is free for anyone from their 15th birthday until the day before they turn 26, with proof of age checked at the box office. It takes up to five working days to set up, so sign up now if you want it in time for 6 November. GFT’s CineCard members also get £1.50 off standard tickets. Full details are on the Visiting GFT page.
Glasgow Film Theatre, Scotland’s leading independent cinema
If you are travelling from outside Scotland, GFT is worth the trip in its own right. The building opened in 1939 as the Cosmo, often called Scotland’s first arts cinema, and reopened as Glasgow Film Theatre in 1974. Its art deco interiors have since been refurbished, and its three screens show around 600 films a year, from new releases and themed seasons to rarely screened classics. It still projects 35mm and 70mm film as well as digital.
GFT is also home to Glasgow Film Festival, Scotland’s largest film festival, which returns from 24 February to 7 March 2027. The cinema is an educational charity funded by Screen Scotland and Creative Scotland, it is fully accessible, and it runs regular autism-friendly and dementia-friendly screenings. In 2024 it won Best Independent Cinema Experience at the Into Film Festival Awards.
How Scotland Loves Anime began, and where it goes after Glasgow
Andrew Partridge founded the festival in 2010 and later set up the UK anime distributor Anime Limited. This year is its 17th edition, and after Glasgow it moves on to London and Edinburgh later in November.
Asked what keeps Glasgow at the heart of the festival, Partridge says the city “feels genuinely like the home of the festival for so long now that it’d feel surreal not being in it! It’s just such a warm and welcoming audience.” What he most wants this year’s audiences to take away is “that Japanese animation remains a diverse medium made up of different extremes that can both delight and challenge us in such a beautiful array of ways.”
The festival has a habit of bringing films to the UK early. In 2024 its programme included Naoko Yamada’s The Colours Within, which played at all three of its venues, and in 2025 The Last Blossom won both its jury prize, the Golden Partridge, and its audience award.
Getting to Glasgow Film Theatre on Rose Street
- Address: 12 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RB, just off Sauchiehall Street in the city centre.
- By train and Subway: GFT lists Glasgow Queen Street and Glasgow Central as the nearest mainline stations, and Cowcaddens as the nearest Subway station.
- By car: there is a 24-hour multi-storey car park on Cambridge Street and limited metered parking opposite the cinema.
- Language: every film is in Japanese with English subtitles.
- Age ratings: check each film’s certificate before booking for younger viewers. Ninja Scroll is rated 18.
Glasgow Film Theatre
Looking for more anime on the big screen or in concert? Our Japanese events page lists what is coming up in London and around the UK.
