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Crunchyroll to Stream Shonen Hollywood Outside N. America
posted on by Karen Ressler
Crunchyroll announced on Monday that it will stream the Shōnen Hollywood - Holly Stage for 49- anime in Europe (except in English-speaking territories), the Middle East, and North Africa. The series will premiere for premium members on July 5 at 1:30 p.m. ET, and will be available for free the following week.
Shōnen Hollywood is a television anime series inspired by Ikuyo Hashiguchi's mixed-media project Shōnen Hollywood and produced by anime studio ZEXCS (Diabolik Lovers, Cuticle Detective Inaba) and the music label Starchild Records. Shogakukan Bunko published Hashiguchi's original popular novel Shōnen Hollywood in July 2012. The Shōnen Hollywood project already inspired a popular live-action production that Hashiguchi also created.
The anime will tell an original story set 15 years after the novel's story. It takes place at a fictional theater called Hollywood Tokyo in Harajuku, where members of the idol group "Shōnen Hollywood" develop their talents with diligent work and studying. The newly announced cast includes several original members of Shōnen Hollywood from the novel.
Hashiguchi herself is in charge of the series scripts, and Toshimasa Kuroyanagi (Say, "I Love You".) is directing the anime. Kei Tsuchiya (Aruvu Rezuru - Kikai Jikake no Yōsei-tachi) is designing the characters and serving as chief animation director. Yuka Hirama is the art director, and Tetsuji Hayashi is scoring the soundtrack.
The cast members Ryota Ohsaka (as Kakeru Kazama), Daiki Yamashita (as Kira Saeki), Tetsuya Kakihara (as Ikuma Amaki), Shōta Aoi (as DAIKI Tomii), and Kenshō Ono (as Shun Maiyama) are singing the opening theme song "Hello Sekai" (Hello World) as the titular group Shōnen Hollywood (pictured from left to right in the image below). The CD single for the song will go on sale on August 13 with the song "Eien never ever," as well as vocal-less versions of the songs.
