News

MAPPA's Zombie Land Saga Team Makes Original Gymnastics TV Anime Taiso Samurai in October

The Say You (Seiyū) to Yo Asobi program announced the title, cast, story, and other details for Taiso Samurai (Taisō-Zamurai or Gymnastics Samurai), the new original sports television anime from the studio MAPPA (Yuri!!! on Ice, Zombie Land Saga), on Thursday.

The anime reunites director Hisatoshi Shimizu (Zombie Land Saga, episode director Eureka Seven: Hi - Evolution director), series script supervisor Shigeru Murakoshi (Zombie Land Saga, Dororo), and character designer Kasumi Fukagawa (Zombie Land Saga, IDOLiSH7).

Kenshō Ono will star in the anime's main cast, and he introduced the story:

The story is set in the year 2002 in the once powerful Japanese men's gymnastics team. Shōtarō Aragaki, the former Japanese team member who devoted his life to gymnastics, is no longer able to compete to his expectations. Despite still training strenuously day after day, he is advised to retire by his coach Amakusa. However, a certain encounter alters Aragaki's fate.

The main cast includes:

• Daisuke Namikawa as Shōtarō Aragaki
• Kenshō Ono as Leonardo
• Yūki Kaji as Tetsuo Minamino, Shōtarō's rival
• Kenyuu Horiuchi as Noriyuki Amakusa, Shōtarō's coach
• Rina Honnizumi as Rei Aragaki, Shōtarō's daughter

The other staff members include:

• Original Story: Snack Mary
• Chief Animation Director: Fumihide Sai
• Art Director: Masatoshi Kai
• Color Key Arist: Azusa Sasaki
• Director of Photography: Mitsuhiro Sato
• Editing: Keisuke Yanagi
• Music: Masaru Yokoyama

The series will premiere at 25:30 a.m. on October 10 (effectively, 1:30 a.m. on October 11) in TV Asahi's NUMAnimation block. Asahi Broadcasting (ABC) and TV Asahi announced on Wednesday that NUMAnimation will expand to station affiliates throughout Japan, starting in October. In addition, the series will premiere simultaneously on the Abema TV streaming service in Japan.

Source: Say You (Seiyū) to Yo Asobi program