Soon, the somber melody shall sound from the forest’s boughs.
Earlier today, the official The Piano Forest (Piano no Mori) anime website updated with details on the show’s cast and staff, as well as a key visual and the closing theme song artist.
We break the details down below.
Key Visual
The new visual features Kai Ichinose playing the piano in the forest. In the background, a child version of the character can be seen doing the same.
Staff
Gaku Nakatani will direct the series at Gainax Fukushima, with Sumie Kinoshita (Girlish Number, A Sister’s All You Need) filling the dual role of character designer and chief animation director. The team of Mika Abe (Danchi Tomoo) and Aki Itami (Rainbow Days, Flowers of Evil) is in charge of series composition.
Cast
The series will star the following:
- Kai Ichinose (Adult): Sōma Saitō
- Shūhei Amamiya (Adult): Natsuki Hanae
- Kai Ichinose (Child): Ryoko Shiraishi
- Shūhei Amamiya (Child): Yō Taichi
- Sōsuke Ajino: Junichi Suwabe
Visuals for each other characters were also revealed, which you can check out below:
Theme Songs
Aoi Yūki will perform closing theme song Kaeru Basho ga Aru to Iu Koto (To Have a Place to Come Home To).
The Piano Forest will hit Japanese TV in April. The series will air on NHK.
The Piano Forest manga launched in the pages of Kodansha’s now-defunct Young Magazine Uppers in 1998. The series ran through 2015, switching to Weekly Morning magazine after Young Magazine Uppers‘ demise. The title spans 26 collected volumes, in total.
Madhouse produced an anime film based on The Piano Forest, which hit theaters in 2007. Masayuki Kojima (Made in Abyss, Monster) directed the project, while Shigeru Fujita (Eureka Seven: Hi – Evolution, Monster) provided character designs. Ryuta Hourai wrote the movie’s screenplay.
Manga resource Baka-Updates describes the title as:
A tranquil tale about Shuhei Amamiya, who transfers to Moriwaki Elementary filled with hope and ambition about his new life. But it doesn’t take long before he gets picked on by the class bullies, and gets involved in a dare to play the mysterious piano in the forest, leading to his meeting an enigmatic child that goes by the name of Kai Ichinose, who seems to be the only one capable of getting sound out of the thought-to-be broken piano. His ability earns him the respect of Shuhei and his music teacher, former master pianist Sosuke Ajino. At first Kai is resistant to refining his art but after hearing Sosuke play a Chopin piece he just can’t seem to play by himself, he relents.
Source: Ota-suke
