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Crunchyroll Adds Wish Upon the Pleiades Anime
posted on by Karen Ressler
Media distribution service Crunchyroll announced on Wednesday that it will stream the Wish Upon the Pleiades (Hōkago no Pleiades) television anime. The first episode will premiere for premium members on Wednesday, April 8 at 3:15 p.m. EDT, and free members will be able to watch one week later.
The stream will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Sentai Filmworks licensed the series for streaming and home video in North America. The series will premiere in Japan at night on April 8 at 3:44 a.m. (effectively April 9).
The project's story centers around an afterschool club of magical girls who help recover fragments so that an alien from Pleiades can return home. The Pleiades is the English name for the star cluster that the Japanese call "Subaru" — the origin of the car maker's name and six-star logo. Subaru and Gainax streamed the original anime online with English subtitles.
Natsumi Takamori, Ayuru Ōhashi, Kanako Tateno, Yui Makino, and Saki Fujita star as the five heroines and Houko Kuwashima plays the male character Minato.
Mirai Denki launched the manga adaptation in Ichijinsha's Manga 4-Koma Pallette magazine on December 22.
Gainax announced a Hōkago no Pleiades film project in 2013 and a television anime project in February 2014.
The original net anime's staff includes director Shouji Saeki (Mahoromatic: Tadaima Okaeri, Strike Witches 2 episode storyboarder), concept artist and original character designer Daisuke Kikuchi (Gurren Lagann, Mahoromatic: Tadaima Okaeri), and character designer Mai Otsuka (Shakugan no Shana, Hanamaru Kindergarten). Also involved are art director Hiroshi Katō (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Jo/Ha, Gunbuster 2) and director of photography Toyonori Yamada (Gurren Lagann, Hanamaru Kindergarten). These staff members are returning for the television anime.
