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Neppu Kairiku Bushi Road Project Restarts as Fall TV Anime
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
Game maker Bushiroad confirmed at its "Bushiroad Dai Senryaku Happyōkai 2013 (Summer)" event on Tuesday that the project Neppu Kairiku Bushi Lord has been restarted as the television anime Neppu Kairiku Bushi Road. The anime will air this fall as a collaboration between Bushiroad, video distributor Bandai Visual, software company Nitroplus, and anime studio Kinema Citrus.
The mecha mixed-media project was originally announced in 2003 as a collaboration between Gainax, Takara, and Broccoli, and it would have included a television anime movie in 2005. However, after staff members of the project left one after another, the project was put on indefinite hiatus. The movie's original cast included Ryoko Shintani (Galaxy Angel, Kage kara Mamoru!) as Mikoto Ikeda, Sakura Nogawa (Lovedol ~Lovely Idol~, Slap Up Party: Arad Senki-) as Nene Swarovski, and Yae as Hikage.
Bushiroad had announced in March that the project was "restarting" one decade after its original announcement. Bushiroad President Takaaki Kidani is credited as the original concept creator and executive producer, while the late novelist Sunao Yoshida (Trinity Blood) is still credited as the original story creator.
A teaser trailer at Tuesday's event revealed that Masayuki Sakoi (Princess Resurrection, Needless) is directing off a script by Norimitsu Kaihō (Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet episodes, Guilty Gear games). Shinov Mimori of Nitroplus (a partner in the original 2003 project) and Mai Toda (Holy Knight) are designing the characters, including Ame (a princess miko formerly of the country Ise, pictured above left), Yagyū Suō (a cursed human weapon, pictured above right), and Kazusa Shin (a young leader of the mighty country Tōrai, pictured left). Niθ (Busou Shinki, Blassreiter, Demonbane) is designing the main mecha.
Neppu Kairiku Bushi Road will be part of Bushiroad's new Five Qross "hybrid trading card game" that combines paper cards with online gaming, via QR codes printed on the back of the cards. Each card will have a unique serial code as a countermeasure against overseas counterfeits. The first batch of Five Qross cards will feature two other anime — Fantasista Doll and IS (Infinite Stratos) — besides Neppu Kairiku Bushi Road.
Source: Inside Games via 0takomu
