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Layton Mystery Tanteisha Anime Reveals Cast, More of Staff, April Debut

The official website for Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File (Layton Mystery Detective Agency: Kat's Mystery-Solving Files), the television anime inspired by the Professor Layton game franchise, revealed the anime's cast, additional staff members, and a new visual on Tuesday. The site also revealed the anime's April premiere.

The anime will premiere on Fuji TV in April, and it will air on Sundays at 8:30 a.m.

Kana Hanazawa (Infini-T Force's Belle Lynn, March comes in like a lion's Hinata Kawamoto) will voice Katrielle (Kasumi Arimura voiced the character in the game). Juurouta Kosugi will voice Sherl (replacing Kōji Yakusho), Kyousuke Ikeda will voice Noah Montoir (replacing Kentarō Sakaguchi), and Youhei Tadano will voice Darjeeling Aspoirot (replacing Hajime Inoue).

Singer and actor Tsubasa Imai will play a guest role as the character Simon Wright in the anime's first episode. The role will be Imai's first anime voice acting role. The first episode's story centers on Simon, an Englishman with a wife and two daughters, and who has moved in with his family to their recently purchased house. But when his wife and daughters disappear, he turns to the Layton Mystery Detective Agency for help.

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.

Level 5 CEO Akihiro Hino (creative producer for Yo-kai 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.

Additional staff include:

• Assistant Director: migmi
• Prop Design: Takayuki Onoda
• Color Design: Takahiro Mogi
• Art Director: Takamasa Nakakuki
• Backgrounds: Quun Plant
• Music: Tomohito Nishiura
• Sound Director: Ryō Tanaka
• Sound Production: Tôhoku Shinsha
• Sound Effects: Yuusuke Inada
• Director of Photography: Ayumi Okano
• Photography: Graphinica
• 3D CGI: Felix Film
• Editing: Kiyoshi Hirose, Misaki Enokida

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 last 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.

Source: Comic Natalie

Update: Corrected voice actress for Katrielle in game. Thanks formcomp