Sonnawood: Lucy's A-maze-ing Flower Adventure

Sonnawood: Lucy's A-maze-ing Flower Adventure (Japanese: 劇場版ソナウッド: 花の迷宮, Hepburn: Gekijō-ban Sonnawood: Hana no Meikyū lit: Sonnawood Movie: The Flower Labyrinth) is a 1993 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film based on Sonnawood, and the series' first film adaptation, written and directed by Toshihiro Chiba and co-written by Sumi Shimizu.

The Flower Labyrinth was originally released in Japan on December 18, 1993 by Nippon Herald Films as part of the Winter 1993 Axel Triplemation Event. It was later released in other countries direct-to-video or premiered on television.

Synopsis
When Lucy accidentally ruins the garden outside Ms. Evergreen's schoolhouse, she is stricken with guilt. Sympathetic to her plight, Roddy informs her of a flowery maze where a rare species of tree is to bloom under the lights of both a new moon and rising sun, which will also dispense seeds to regrow a fallen garden. Lucy decides to undergo this perilous journey but the others are worried about her, thus Oliver proceeds to tag along and ensure she's not alone.

Production
Toshihiro Chiba was under considerable stress when Sonnawood premiered in 1992 on NHK, fearing some themes and plot elements would not gel with a Japanese audience, only to reverse course when numerous parties overseas expressed interest in and eventually bought it. This turn of events led to suggestions for theatrical films based on the property to be made, something Chiba was also uncertain of.

A 45-minute and full-length feature were planned, with Axel splitting animation duties among themselves and various studios in Japan and other parts of Asia (as was a common practice of the time). It was originally intended for release as an OVA but investors insisted the featurette instead be released in movie theaters, thus it became the centerpiece of the Axel Triplemation Event in late 1993.

Music
Much like the series, the featurette was scored by composer Shigeaki Saegusa, whose previous work included Astro Boy (1980), and the Gundam series Zeta and ZZ, also later on doing the score for ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnapped! Catnapped!]''. The album was released on CD by BMG Victor the same month as the film's theatrical release.

The soundtrack includes the ED (ending) pop/R&B song "Hananoki" (花の木, "Tree of Blossoms") was performed by lover-girl, which was also released as a Mini CD single. The album contains both original and karaoke versions.

Unlike the 1994 theatrical movie, its soundtrack was not released in Europe, North/South America and Australia on CD during this time, eventually reaching these territories in 2018 with a remastered release available on iTunes and Spotify, although an English language version of "Hananoki", retitled as "Tree of Blossoming Dreams", was included on the album Sonnawood Songs: An Sonnawood Album released in 1995.

Japan
The film's release in Japan on December 18, 1993 resulted in a gross of ¥875,000,000 (approx. $6,252,200 USD). It was later released on VHS on July 8, 1994, just a week before The Castle of Night Magic 's release in theaters, by BMG Victor and soon re-released on VHS with a DVD premiere on July 5, 2002.

Overseas
Due to its short length, the featurette was not shown in theaters at the time and instead premiered either on TV or video. Very notably, PolyGram Video released an English dub (produced by Kaleidoscope Entertainment Inc. and Droimétra-DMT with actors reprising their roles for characters included) on VHS on February 14, 1995 in North America and in the UK later that same year in December through PolyGram's 4Front and Channel 5 imprints.