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Sentai Filmworks Licenses BanG Dream! Anime
posted on by Karen Ressler
Sentai Filmworks announced on Tuesday that it has licensed the upcoming BanG Dream! television anime series. The company will release the series digitally and on home video.
Sentai Filmworks describes the story:
When she was a child, Kasumi Toyama (played by Poppin' Party's lead singer, Aimi) felt a heart-pounding thrill every time she gazed at the stars, and she's been looking without success for something that could inspire the same feeling ever since. One day, she comes across a star-shaped guitar in a rundown pawnshop and, for the first time, discovers the thrill she's been searching for. Kasumi becomes determined to form an all-girl band, and her search leads her to four like-minded souls: Saya, Arisa, Rimi, and Tae (all brought to life by the members of Poppin' Party). Does this band have what it takes to make their dreams of stardom come true?
Sentai Filmworks also noted that BanG Dream! is a mixed-media project that includes live performances from the girls' band Poppin' Party.
The anime will premiere in Japan on the Abema TV streaming service on January 21 at 10:00 p.m., and then it will run on the Tokyo MX, Sun TV, KBS Kyoto, AT-X, TV Aichi, Teletama, BS11, BS Fuji, tvk, and Miyagi TV channels.
Bushiroad launched the BanG Dream! multimedia project in January 2015, and the company formed the Poppin' Party band for the project in February 2015. The band's members consist of voice actresses who portray the characters in the story, and they play the same instruments as their characters. The cast includes:
- Aimi as Kasumi Toyama on guitar and vocals
- Ayasa Itō as Arisa Ichigaya on keyboard
- Rimi Nishimoto as Rimi Ushigome on bass
- Sae Ootsuka as Tae Hanazono on lead guitar
- Ayaka Ohashi as Saaya Yamabuki on drums
Bushiroad and OLM's joint anime brand ISSEN is credited with the original work, and is also handling animation production alongside XEBEC. Novelist Kō Nakamura is credited with the original story, and Hitowa designed the original characters. Atsushi Ootsuki (Wagnaria!!2, To Love Ru: Darkness, Argevollen) is directing the anime, and Yuniko Ayana (Locodol, Girls Beyond the Wasteland, Hello!! KINMOZA) is handling the series composition. Matsuko Nitta is adapting Hitowa's characters for animation, and Noriyasu Agematsu and Junpei Fujita from Elements Garden are producing the music.
Novelist Kō Nakamura launched a manga titled BanG_Dream! Star Beat in Bushiroad's Monthly Bushiroad magazine in January 2015, and Mami Kashiwabara launched the BanG Dream! manga this past spring with Nakamura collaborating on the story. Hakuto Shiroi also launched a separate BanG Dream! manga, Yon-koma Bandori! (4-panel BanG Dream!), in Kadokawa's Dengeki G's Comic magazine earlier this year.
