Don’t worry, that high-pitched squeal was just me trying to hold back my excitement!
Earlier today, an official website and Twitter account launched for Kunihiko Ikuhara’s newest anime project. The first staff members and trailer for the project, titled Sarazanmai, were also unveiled.
We break the details down below.
Trailer
The 19-second promo features a deep-voiced narrator, who speaks over a scrolling visual. The teaser confirms a 2019 premiรจre for the show. The tagline at the end states “Don’t surrender, desire is your life.”
Staff
The series will be produced by studios MAPPA and Lapin Track. “Ikunirappa” is credited with the original concept.
Broadcast
Sarazanmai will hit Japanese TV in 2019.
This is the first original project from Kunihiko Ikuhara since his 2015’s Yurikuma Arashi.
Ikuhara, himself, has been active in the anime industry since 1986. He started his career at Toei Animation, where he cut his teeth as assistant director on shows like Maple Town Monogatari and Akuma-kun.
Ikuhara received his big break in 1993, when he took the director’s chair for Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S.
In 1996, Ikuhara left Toei to form the Be-PaPas creative group with manga artist Chiho Saito, animator Hasegawa Shinya, producer Okuro Yuuichiro, and writer writer Yลji Enokido. The collective crafted Revolutionary Girl Utena, which consisted of a manga by Saito and an anime that Ikuhara directed at J.C. Staff.
Following the Utena franchise, Ikuhara collaborated on manga title The World Exists for Me and novel Schell Bullet. He also served as supervisor for the English dub for Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie – Adolescence of Utena.
In 2011, Ikuhara returned to the director’s chair with Mawaru Penguindrum.
Sources: Comic Natalie, Otakomu, Animate Times
