Trivia / Ni no Kuni

• Box Office Bomb: The Animated Adaptation film was a massive flop in Japan, only making $1.3 million opening weekend and vanishing after a couple weeks. They didn't try for an international run, merely dumping the film on Netflix.
• Cross-Dressing Voice: In the original Japanese dub of the game, Oliver is voiced by the female actress Mikako Tabe.
• Dummied Out: A close inspection of Jet-Black Mage reveals the book was once planned to be included in the game, as there is a button for the "Rune Book" in the beta.
  • Many graphics for scenes that were included only in White Witch went unused as well. In turn, the (animated!) cutscene for when Oliver first enters Ninokuni is left out, though it can be still be viewed in the casino's theater with the rest of the games cutscenes.
  • If one views the animations for certain Nobilia type creatures (starting with Mandragorer up to the Guardian of the Woods), one will notice that they all share the same amount of animations with the other familiars, including eating animations, suggesting that they were probably meant to be catchable at some point^note That, or it's just light foreshadowing of something reveal late in the post-game.. Once this is noticed, it also becomes obvious that each of these Nobilia creatures also only have four forms, much like regular familiars.
• Fan Translation: Jet-Black Mage eventually saw one in 2018, complete with a full English and Spanish translation of the Wizard's Companion tome that is required reading to play the game. Unsurprisingly, the tome itself was what caused the translation to miss the intended Spring 2018 release window, pushing it back into December.
• Feelies: The limited Wizard Edition comes with a plushie of Mr. Drippy, and a 340-page hard-bound physical copy of the in-game Wizard's Companion spell book, which contains in-game spells, a bestiary, alchemy recipes and item compendium, and faerie tales.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The Wizard's Edition of White Witch, which came with a physical copy of the Wizard's Companion, a plush of Drippy, the sidekick, a soundtrack CD, and some bonus familiars. A promotion led to some art cards and a special coin being added too.
• No Export for You: The original version with the spellbook is only available in Japan due to the physical, and essential, spellbook included with the game. Also the two cell-phone games (one a prequel to the first game, and another essentially a spinoff Collectible Card Game). Averted for White Witch, which got a North American and European release with all the DLC and extras from the Japanese re-release version.
• The Other Darrin: Since the film's English dub was recorded at Bang Zoom! Entertainment in California rather than Side UK in London, everyone from the game, being only the old man heavily implied to be Oliver (who would've needed to be changed to account for the character's age), was inevitably recast.
• Real-Life Relative: Joe Hisaishi's daughter, Mai Fujisawa, sang the Japanese version of the game's theme.
• Recycled Soundtrack: The movie recycled Hamelin's town BGM from White Witch, rechristening it "To The Death".
• What Could Have Been: While Studio Ghibli was involved with many story ideas and details, the basic idea for the game came about before they were even asked to take part in the game's development. It's very hard to imagine what the game would be like had they declined.

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