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New Kaiketsu Zorori Anime Reveals Cast, Theme Songs, April 5 Premiere
posted on by Alex Mateo
The official website for Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori (More! Seriously Unserious Incredible Zorori), the new television anime based on Yutaka Hara's Kaiketsu Zorori children's book series, revealed on Thursday the anime's cast, theme songs, and April 5 premiere. The anime will air on Sundays at 7:00 p.m. on NHK Educational.
The newly announced cast includes:
Kōichi Yamadera as Zorori
Rikako Aikawa as Ishishi
Motoko Kumai as Noshishi
Yūki Kaji as Beat
Yamadera, Aikawa, and Kumai are reprising their roles from previous works in the franchise.
Yamadera is also performing the opening theme song "Motto! Motto! Kaiketsu Zorori" (More! More! Incredible Zorori) as Zorori, and ONEPIXCEL is performing the ending theme song "Shalalala."
The new anime will have episodes with stories that did not appear in the previous books and adaptations. The anime will also feature the new, original character Beat, Zorori's rival.
Takahide Ogata is directing the anime. Atsuhiro Tomioka (Inazuma Eleven, Pokémon XY) is in charge of series composition, Hideyuki Funakoshi (Kaiketsu Zorori 2004 anime) is designing the characters, and Kōhei Tanaka (One Piece) is composing the music. Bandai Namco Pictures and Ajia-do are producing the series.
The new series will be the first television anime of the books in 13 years, since the second anime ended in 2007. It will contain stories from the original books as well as original stories.
Hara began the book series in 1987 and published the 66th book on December 12. The books inspired a 1993 film, a 2004-2005 television anime series, a second television anime from 2005 to 2007, and a second film in 2006. The earlier films were short works that screened with other anime, but the series then inspired four feature-length films in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017.
Hara's books follow Zorori, a mischievous bandit fox who dreams of becoming the "King of Pranks." Zorori aims to "build my own castle and make a beautiful princess my wife," and he embarks on one misadventure after another with his two boar companions Ishishi and Noshishi.
Sources: Press release, Motto! Majime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori's website, MoCa News
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
