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Battle Spirits Saikyō Ginga Ultimate Zero Anime to Launch in September

Sunrise has launched a website for Battle Spirits Saikyō Ginga Ultimate Zero, the sixth and latest television anime series inspired by Bandai's Battle Spirits card game. The television anime series is set to premiere on TV Asahi stations on September 22.

The cast and staff for the new series is as follows:

Cast:

Ichiban Hoshi no Rei (Rei of the First Star): Yūichi Nakamura
Nagareboshi no Kiriga (Kiriga of the Shooting Star): Junichi Suwabe
Mugen: Yuka Iguchi
Rikuto April: Rie Kugimiya
Laila April: Mariya Ise
Salt: Jun Fukuyama

Staff:

Planning: Sunrise
Original Work: Hajime Yatate
Director: Masaki Watanabe
Series Composition: Atsuhiro Tomioka
Character Design: Tetsuya Ishikawa
Spirit Design: Susumu Imaishi, Hiroshi Maruyama, Junya Ishigaki, Ryō Hirata
Mechanical Design: Takahiro Yamada
CG Director: Kiichiro Inoue
CG Producer: Hideki Shibata
Music: Eishi Segawa
Sound Director: Sadayoshi Fujino
Game Design: Michael Elliott
Animation Production: Sunrise
Production: Mētele / Sunrise / ADK

The band Backdraft Smiths will perform the opening theme "I Wish" and Kato*Fuku (a unit made of Emiri Katō and Kaori Fukuhara) will perform the ending theme song "Nostalgia."

In related news, the September issue of Shueisha's Saikyō Jump magazine will publish the final chapter of the Battle Spirits: Sword Eyes manga when the issue ships on September 3. The third compiled volume in the series will ship on September 4. Masato Ichishiki drew the manga. The Battle Spirits: Sword Eyes television anime series, the fifth in the franchise, premiered in Japan in September 2012, and then changed its name to Battle Spirits: Sword Eyes Gekitōden in April.

The story of Battle Spirits: Sword Eyes is set 14 years after Atlantia, the largest country in the world of Legendia, was torn apart by riots. The protagonist Tsurugi Tatewaki was secreted away from the chaos at a young age. Oblivious to his true birthplace, Tsurugi grows up as a spirited boy in the neighboring rocky land of Pacifis. One day, Tsurugi suddenly comes across the "Shining Sword," and his great adventure begins.

Saikyō Jump will then launch a new Battle Spirits Saikyō Ginga Ultimate Zero manga based on the anime series in the October issue when it ships on September 4. The advertisement for the new series notes that the manga's "battle stage" will be the galaxy itself.

The Battle Spirits anime franchise launched with the 50-episode Battle Spirits: Shōnen Toppa Bashin series on September 7, 2008. The anime adapted Bandai's original trading card game, in which cards represent dragons, demons, birds, insects, and other spirits that the players can control in battles. Bandai imported the game to America in 2009.

The Battle Spirits: Shōnen Gekiha Dan follow-up series premiered on September 13, 2009. Battle Spirits: Brave, the third Battle Spirits television anime series, then debuted in Japan in September of 2010. The fourth series, Battle Spirits: Heroes, launched in September 2011.