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Chiruran Nibun no Ichi Comedy Anime's Video Previews Theme Song

Comic Zenon began streaming a promotional video for the television anime adaptation of Shinya Umemura and Eiji Hashimoto's Chiruran Nibun no Ichi (Chiruran ½) comedy spinoff manga on Monday. The video previews the theme song "Boku no Te ni Fureruna" (Don't Touch My Hand) by the band Kami-sama, Boku wa Kizuite Shimatta.

The anime will premiere on January 9 on Tokyo MX at 25:00 (effectively January 10 at 1:00 a.m.), and on KBS Kyoto 30 minutes later. The series will also air on Sun TV on January 11 at 24:15 (effectively January 12 at 12:15 a.m.). The anime will air from January to March.

The cast includes:

• Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Toshizō Hijikata
• Yuichiro Umehara as Shinpachi Nagakura
• Ryōhei Kimura as Hajime Saitō
• Tsubasa Yonaga as Sōji Okita
• Shōta Aoi as Sanosuke Harada
• Wataru Takagi as Isami Kondō
• Makoto Furukawa as Heisuke Tōdō
• Fukushi Ochiai as Kai Shimada
• Showtaro Morikubo as Keisuke Yamanami
• Katsuyuki Konishi as Kamo Serizawa

Fumie Moroi is directing the anime at LandQ studios. Mutsuaki Murata (Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection, Love Live! School idol project key animation) is designing the characters. Mieko Ichihara (Chibi Maruko-chan, Maken-Ki! Battling Venus) is the art director, while Tomomi Murakami (The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls, Spice and Wolf II) is in charge of color design. Toshitaka Kanda (Paprika, MAOYU) is director of photography. Kashiko Kimura (Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie, Paranoia Agent) is in charge of editing.

The original manga is a spinoff of Umemura and Hashimoto's Chiruran: Shinsengumi Chinkon-ka (Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem) manga. The spinoff manga runs in the same Comic Zenon magazine as the main series, but instead follows the everyday lives of the members of The Shinsen-gumi, who are depicted in SD form. Umemura and Hashimoto launched the spinoff in May.

Comic Zenon describes the main manga:

On the eve of a new era, Kyoto was in chaos. Different factions were moving at cross-purposes, and with the clash of different ideals, many were resorting to violence to enforce their views. To bring back order to the streets of Kyoto, Shinsengumi – the supposed guardians of peace – were formed. A chosen group of hot blooded youth, on a mission to save Kyoto, and to prove their worth… This is a tale of proud young Samurai mercenaries, who lived and died by the sword, in a turbulent period of political upheaval. To them, a man is defined by the way he dies.

Umemura provides the story, and Hashimoto illustrates the manga. The duo launched the series in the inaugural issue of Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Comic Zenon magazine in 2010. Tokuma Shoten released the 17th compiled book volume on December 20.

Comic Zenon is offering some of its series in English online, and readers can vote on which of its series they want translated into English, including Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem.