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Funimation to Simulcast Rainbow TV Anime on June 1
posted on by Egan Loo
The North American anime distributor Funimation has announced on Friday that it will simulcast the Rainbow television anime series with English subtitles, starting on June 1 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Funimation will also stream the first eight episodes that have already aired on Japan's NTV network since the anime's April 6 premiere.
The anime adapts George Abe and Masasumi Kakizaki's acclaimed manga about six junior delinquents and their mentor at the Shōnan Special Reform School near Tokyo in 1955. The story follows the boys' lives during their time in the school and the years after they leave. The manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 2006 and has sold over 30 million copies over the course of the first 21 volumes. The 22nd and final manga volume shipped in March.
In Rainbow, actor Shun Oguri (Gokusen, Hana Yori Dango [2005], Crows Zero, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa) voices his first starring role in an over-the-air television anime. Shihori Kanjiya, Rikiya Koyama, Romi Paku, Takaya Kuroda, Keiji Fujiwara, and Takaya Hashi also star in the anime with Megumi Hayashibara as the narrator. Hiroshi Koujina (Kiba, Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro) directs the series at the anime studio Madhouse.
Update: More background and story information added.
Image © 2010 George Abe, Masasumi Kakizaki/Shogakukan, VAP, NTV
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