Anime News Round-up

The world of anime never stops, and as such there have been several pieces of news that have caught my interest. I’ll be talking about details for Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel, Fate/Extra Last Encore, Konohana Kitan, Slow Start and Märchen Mädchen in this post.
Let’s kick this off with the news relating to the Fate franchise.A key visual has been revealed for Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel I. presage flower – the first film in the Heaven’s Feel trilogy – on the official website. The film will premiere in Japanese theatres on October 14th.

Next up, Fate/Extra Last Encore. The official website revealed a new visual for this one as seen above. This anime will star Atsushi Abe as Hakuno Kishinami, and Sakura Tange as Saber.
I’m disappointed that Shaft aren’t going with the female Hakuno Kishinami for this adaptation, but it’s not like I can do anything about it…
There’s a new PV, as well:

Fate/Extra Last Encore is due to air next winter.
The trailers on the official websites for the Fate franchise are region-locked to Japan.

The official Twitter account of the Konohana Kitan anime revealed the main character designs for the show.

From left to right: Natsume, Ren, Kiri, Sakura, Yuzu & Satsuki

The cast are as follows:
– Ayaka Suwa as Natsume
– Risa Kubota as Ren
– Manami Kamakura as Kiri
– Ai Kakuma as Sakura
– Yuko Ōno as Yuzu
– Sawako Hata as Satsuki

The studio producing Konohana Kitan is Lerche, who have previously produced Assassination Classroom and Magical Girl Raising Project. The director is Hideki Okamoto (Nagasarete Airantou, Nana to Kaoru, D.C. II: Da Capo II).
The series composition is being handled by Takao Yoshioka (WATAMOTE, Elfen Lied), and the character designer is Keiko Kurosawa (Scum’s Wish, Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle)

Next we have an original anime from Silver Link to celebrate its 10th anniversary. It is called Two Car, and here’s a visual for it:Two Car focuses on a pair of girls who enter the world of competitive motorcycle racing. The setting is Miyake Island, located south of Tokyo, but still within the boundaries of the Tokyo Metropolis. Miyake is a small and sparsely populated island.
The main characters are Yuri Miyata (on the right in the visual) and Megumi Meguro (on the left).
Yuri is the girlish, cool-headed and slender driver who works the accelerator and brake. Her household runs a guesthouse.
Megumi is a tomboy and impulsive. She is the glamorous passenger who uses her acrobatic skills and body weight to handle corner work. Her household runs an inn.
Both attend the Tokyo Metropolitan Miyake Girls High School, but their opposite personalities often resulting in them clashing with each other. However, they complement each other well during races.
Yuri and Megumi will compete against other motorcycle sidecar teams from all over Japan, each of which possess their own opposing traits.

The creator of the original work is Nikoichi, whilst the director is Masafumi Tamura (Ange Vierge). In charge of series composition and writing the script is Katsuhiko Takayama (Looking Up at the Half-Moon, Ga-Rei: Zero, Aldnoah Zero). The original character concepts are being drawn by Tiv (Masamune-kun’s Revenge, Idol Incidents), whilst Yuki Sawairi (Masamune-kun’s Revenge) is designing them for animation.
The sound director is Toshiki Kameyama (Kan Colle, March comes in like a lion), whilst the composer is Ryo Takahashi (ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., Please tell me! Galko-chan). Lantis is producing the music.

Two Car is due to premiere in October.

The penultimate piece of news I’ll be sharing in this post concerns the anime adaptation of Yuiko Tokumi’s Slow Start manga.A website opened for the anime, which revealed the visual seen above as well as the staff and premiere date for this series.
The story focuses on 16-year-old Hana Ichinose, who was a year late enrolling in high school unbeknownst to her class mates. That’s a big deal to Hana, who wants to catch up with everyone else someday.
Hiroyuki Hashimoto (Is the order a rabbit?, Magical Girl Raising Project) is directing the anime at A-1 Pictures. In charge of series composition is Mio Inoue (Is the order a rabbit? episode scripts, Pretty Cure All Stars: Spring Carnival♪). Masato Yasuno (Flying Witch) is designing the characters for animation.

The staff for this anime gives me high hopes for it. Also, the manga was originally serialised in the Manga Time Kirara magazine. Any manga from that magazine that gets an anime adaptation is something that I will almost certainly watch.
Slow Start will premiere in January 2018.

Finally, some more news about an anime I have mentioned before: Märchen Mädchen.The website for the anime series has revealed the anime’s cast, main staff, visual and premiere date.
The cast are as follows:

Tomori Kusunoki as Hazuki Kagimura.

Hazuki is a girl who loves reading and daydreaming. She has no friends, and is generally a loner. She is chosen by the Cinderella story.

Rie Suegara as Shizuka Tsuchimikado

Shizuka is the chosen of the The Tale of Princess Kaguya story, one of the world’s oldest stories. She inherited the story as a scion of the Tsuchimikado family. She is a very serious and hardworking girl.

Lynn as Yumilia Quzan

Yumilia is a foreign exchange student that has been chosen by the Shuten-dōji folk tale and wields lightning powers. She has a big sisterly attitude.

The chief director for Märchen Mädchen is Hisashi Saito (Haganai, Fantasista Doll, Bamboo Blade). Directing the anime at Hoods Entertainment is Shigeru Ueda (RIN – Daughters of Mnemosyne, Senran Kagura: Estival Versus – Festival Eve Full of Swimsuits). Yuki Morikawa (Fantasista Doll, If Her Flag Breaks, animation director) is adapting Kantoku’s original character designs for animation. Tomohiro Matsu is credited for series composition.

After discovering a bit more about the characters, I am even more interested in Märchen Mädchen than before. The author of the original light novel, Tomohiro Matsu, passed away last year. I’m not too familiar with his works, but I am hoping this anime turns out to be something he would be proud of.
The anime will premiere some time in 2018.

Some pretty interesting stuff coming up in the future – heck, I’m already considering covering Märchen Mädchen when it starts.

There’s been some rather interesting news in the world of video games as well, so stay tuned for that later on today.