News

Idoly Pride Anime's Trailer Highlights Idols' Aspirations (Updated)

The official website for the Idoly Pride multimedia idol project debuted a trailer for the anime part of the project on Saturday. The trailer highlights Mana Nagase (Sayaka Kanda), a talented performer aiming to become the top idol. It also profiles Kotono Nagase (Mirai Tachibana), a solitary idol striving for the same goal as her big sister, and Sakura Kawasaki (Mai Sugano), a naive idol who listens to her heart.

The website also posted an illustration featuring Mana Nagase and the 10 other main characters under Hoshimi Production:

The anime will premiere on Tokyo MX and other channels on January 10. It will also stream on ABEMA.

The project's cast includes:

Hoshimi Production

• Mirai Tachibana as Kotono Nagase
• Mai Sugano as Sakura Kawasaki
• Moeko Yūki as Rei Ichinose
• Kokona Natsume as Nagisa Ibuki
• Nao Sasaki as Haruko Saeki
• Koharu Miyazawa as Saki Shiraishi
• Kanon Takao as Chisa Shiraishi
• Kanata Aikawa as Suzu Narumiya
• Moka Hinata as Mei Hayasaka
• Yukina Shutō as Shizuku Hyōdō

TRINITYAiLE

• Sora Amamiya as Rui Tendō
• Momo Asakura as Yū Suzumura
• Shiina Natsukawa as Sumire Okuyama

LizNoir

• Haruka Tomatsu as Rio Kanzaki
• Ayahi Takagaki as Aoi Igawa
• Minako Kotobuki as Ai Komiyama
• Aki Toyosaki as Kokoro Akazaki

Sayaka Kanda is voicing the new character Mana Nagase, who is the older sister to Kotono.

Yū Kinome (episode director for Classroom of the Elite, Scum's Wish, School-Live!) is directing the anime at CAAnimation. Tatsuya Takahashi (Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko, The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls) is in charge of the series scripts, and Sumie Kinoshita (Forest of Piano, The Mystic Archives of Dantalian) is designing the characters and is the chief animation director. Lerche (School-Live!, Scum's Wish, Kino's Journey - The Beautiful World) is also credited for animation production.

CyberAgent subsidiary QualiArts, Straight Edge, and Music Ray'n are collaborating on the multimedia project. QP:flapper (Girlish Number, Girl Friend BETA) is providing the original character designs. YOSHIKI Minazumi (name romanization not confirmed) of QualiArts, Kaoru Adachi (Love Live! School idol project producer) of Straight Edge, and Jukki Hanada (Love Live! School idol project, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! scripts) of SATZ are credited with the original concept. Music Ray'n and QualiArts are credited for the music.

English text on the project's promotional materials reads, "No one starts from the spotlight. They all start as nobody. Only way there is to prove that she is a true idol." The multimedia project includes anime, video games, music, and several other forms of entertainment. A manga titled Idoly Pride: Stage of Asterism launched on Kadokawa's Comic Newtype website on June 10.

The anime is CAAnimation's first project. CyberAgent, the parent company of game developer Cygames and streaming service company AbemaTV, founded the CAAnimation label in October 2018.

Update: The website also revealed more staff members:

• Assistant Chief Animation Director: Nozomi Kawano
• Art Design: Risa Iranami
• Art Director: Tatsurō Ōnishi
• Background Art: Kusanagi
• Color Design: Tarō Kaguchi
• CG Director: Masafumi Uchiyama
• CG Production: Larx Entertainment
• Director of Photography: Naoki Serizawa
• Editing: Naoki Miyazaki
• Editing Studio: Morita Editing Room
• Sound Director: Satoki Iida
• Sound Production: Half HP Studio
• Music: Yūki Kishida, Kazuya Saka (Wicky.Recordings), Takayuki Tonegawa (Wicky.Recordings), Yūki Nara (F.M.F)
• Music Production: F.M.F, Wicky.Records
• Animation Production Supervision: Yūji Higa
• Animation Producer: Nobuto Akita, Yūki Matsumura

Sources: Idoly Pride project's website, Comic Natalie via Yaraon!