News
Daisuke Namikawa Joins Cast of Shinkalion Anime
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The official website for Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion the Animation, the television anime adaptation of Takara Tomy's Shinkalion toy line, revealed on Saturday that Daisuke Namikawa is joining the show's cast. The site did not reveal the name or character design of Namikawa's character, but stated that it is "a certain important character" who will debut in the show in April.
The website also revealed that starting in April, the E5 Hayabusa Shinkalion will "power up" to the E5 Hayabusa Mk II, and Hayato and his friends will also have new clothes.
The anime premiered in January 2018, and airs on Saturdays at 7:00 a.m. on TBS and its affiliates.
Takahiro Ikezoe (Show By Rock!!, PriPri Chii-chan!!) is directing the anime at OLM. Ajia-do is credited for animation cooperation. Kento Shimoyama (Bleach, Armed Girl's Machiavellism) is in charge of series composition. Yuka Aono (Brave Beats) is designing the characters, and Keita Hattori is in charge of mechanical design. Toshiyuki Watanabe (Giovanni's Island, Space Brothers) is composing the music, and Masafumi Mima (Attack on Titan, Valvrave the Liberator) is the sound director. SMDE is credited for CG animation.
The Shinkalion robots are various models of real-life Japanese bullet trains (shinkansen) that transform into robots to fight an unknown evil to protect the safety and peace of Japan.
In the franchise's story, Hayato Hayasugi (his last name is a pun on the words for "too fast"), the train-loving son of a train museum curator, accidentally stumbles into his dad's secret research lab one day. Inside he finds the E5 bullet train. As soon as he enters, he hears an announcement that a mysterious enemy, the Bachigami ("bee god"), is attacking the city of New Saitama. Luckily, with the touch of his father's Shinca ("evolve") card, the bullet train he's in transforms into a mighty robot — the Shinkalion E5 Hayabusa.
In the anime's story, Hayato and other children serve as conductors to pilot the Shinkalion. The children must work together with the adults of the "Shinkansen Ultra Evolution Institute" (SUEI) to defeat a monster that looks like a jet black bullet train.
Sources: Shinkalion anime's website, Comic Natalie
