News

Layton Games Get Spring TV Anime Starring Professor's Daughter

The February issue of Shogakukan's Ciao magazine is revealing on Friday the Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File (Layton Mystery Detective Agency: Kat's Mystery-Solving Files) television anime inspired by the Professor Layton game franchise for a spring 2018 premiere. The anime will be based on Level 5's Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy game that focuses on Katrielle "Kat" Layton, daughter of Professor Hershel Layton.

Like the game, the anime will be set in London and follow Katrielle as she solves mysteries with her talking dog Sherl. The magazine describes the anime as having a "high-speed comical mystery-solving story" and also shows the silhouette of a character resembling Professor Layton.

Kana Hanazawa (Infini-T Force's Belle Lynn, March comes in like a lion's Hinata Kawamoto) will play Katrielle. Level 5 CEO Akihiro Hino (creative producer for Yōkai Watch, Time Bokan 24) will be the creative director, and he is also credited with the original concept and series composition. Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!, Cuticle Detective Inaba) will direct the series at LIDEN FILMS (The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Terraformars). Yoko Takada (key animation for The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance, Inuyasha) will design the characters based on Takuzō Nagano's original designs.

Ciao will begin serializing a manga adaptation of the anime in spring 2018. In addition, the magazine revealed that Takara Tomy will release "stylish goods" for the series.

Singapore-based distribution and production company Bomanbridge Media announced in November that it will distribute Level 5 Abby's original productions in Asian territories, including a Lady Layton Mystery Journey series. The announcement listed the series at 50 episodes with each a runtime of 30 minutes.

The Total Licensing magazine had reported in October that a television series based on the Professor Layton game franchise is in development. According to the magazine, the series would have 26 episodes and is slated for 2018.

Level 5's puzzle game series stars Professor Hershel Layton and his apprentice Luke as they solve mysteries. The most recent game in the franchise, Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy, shifted the focus to Hershel Layton's daughter Katrielle Layton. The game launched worldwide on iOS and Android devices on July 20. The game also shipped for Nintendo 3DS in Japan on July 20, and shipped for 3DS in the West on October 6.

The franchise already inspired an anime film titled Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (seen above left). The film opened in Japan in 2009, and Viz Media licensed and released the film in North America in 2011.