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Sakura Quest TV Anime Listed With 25 Episodes

The official website for P.A. Works' new original television anime Sakura Quest revealed on Wednesday that the series' staff is planning a total of seven Blu-ray Disc and DVD sets for the anime. The first, fourth, and seventh sets will have three episodes each; and the second, third, fifth, and sixth sets will have four episodes each, for a total of 25 episodes. The website also revealed an image for the first set (pictured right).

The anime premiered in Japan at 12:00 a.m. at night on Tuesday, April 4 (effectively Wednesday morning) on Amazon Prime Japan, and new episodes are streaming at 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday nights. The series premiered at 12:00 a.m. at night on Wednesday, April 5 (effectively Thursday morning) on Tokyo MX and AT-X, and also airs on ABC, BS11, and Tulip TV. The anime also streams on Niconico Anime Channel.

Crunchyroll is streaming the series as it airs. Funimation will also stream the series with an English dub beginning on May 4.

Anime studio P.A. Works announced the anime in December. The studio describes the anime as the third in P.A. Works' "working" series about people and their jobs, after Hana-Saku Iroha and Shirobako.

The story centers on five girls who work in the tourism bureau of their small rural town. The town revives its "micro-nation" tourism program, which originated from a nationwide movement during Japan's bubble economy period, and hires the five girls as "monarchs" (tourism ambassadors). The anime depicts one year in their jobs in the tourism industry, and show how they change and grow.

During the bubble economy in Japan, a micro-nation fad arose, where regions in Japan declared themselves "micro-nations" to revive tourism and industry in their region, starting with the "Shin Yamatai Koku" nation in 1977. The micro-nations coordinated with local governments and tourism bureaus, and some even had their own chambers of commerce. At its height, there were over 200 such micro-nations in Japan.

"Alexandre S. D. Celibidache" is credited for the original work. Sōichi Masui (Chaika the Coffin Princess, Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Ōgon no Spy Daisakusen) is directing the anime, and Masahiro Yokotani (Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club, The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Re:Zero) is supervising the series' scripts. BUNBUN (Yuki Yuna Is a Hero, Izetta: The Last Witch) is designing the characters, and Kanami Sekiguchi (Hana-Saku Iroha, Shirobako, Charlotte) is adapting those designs for animation.

(K)NoW_NAME performs the opening theme song "Morning Glory" and produce the anime's music. (K)NoW_NAME is a new project founded by Toho Animation Records. The project provided opening, ending, and inserts songs, as well as back ground music, for the Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash television anime that premiered in January 2016.

[Via WTK]