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Joker Game Spy Anime's Theme Songs, More Cast, Character Visuals Revealed

posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Synopses for first 3 episodes also revealed for Production I.G series premiering in April

The official website of Production I.G's television anime of Kōji Yanagi's spy mystery novel Joker Game announced the opening and ending theme song artists for the anime on Wednesday.

Rock band Quadrangle is performing the opening theme song "Reason Triangle," while Magic of Life is performing the ending theme song "Double." The single CD for "Reason Triangle" will ship on April 27, while the CD for "Double" will ship on May 25.

The site also revealed character visuals and additional cast for the anime:


Kenyuu Horiuchi as Lt. Col. Yūki
He is an IJA spymaster, and the founder of the spy training school D Agency. He is often called by the moniker "Demon King," and he possesses boundless intelligence. He was once an excellent operative himself. Rumors say that his signature white glove and walking stick are borne from a botched operation in a foreign country, where his fellow operative betrayed him, and he was captured and tortured, but the details are unclear. Many have attempted to see if he is truly an ally, but all have met with failure.


Tomokazu Seki as Lt. Sakuma
He is a first lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. Under orders from Col. Mutō, his CO, he is transferred to the newly minted and classified D Agency to report on its progress to the Army General Staff. What he finds when he inspects the members of D Agency shocks him. He is a straight-arrow officer, for whom the unrestrained and undisciplined attitudes of D Agency operatives are a source of frequent resentment.


Hiro Shimono as Miyoshi
He is a condescending narcissist with a sarcastic attitude. His body language is often conspicuous, and he constantly looks down on his peers. He volunteered to be D Agency's wetworks man, alongside Kaminaga.


Ryohei Kimura as Kaminaga
He is a notorious playboy, and at first glance, he may seem to be needlessly frivolous. But he actually has a high sense of pride, and he stands by whatever he says. He volunteered to be D Agency's wetworks man, alongside Miyoshi.


Yoshimasa Hosoya as Odagiri
He graduated from a military school and went straight to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. He is commissioned, with a rank of second lieutenant, and is thus unique among the D Agency members. He is taciturn, and rarely smiles. He always seems like he is hiding something apart from the circumstances of his upbringing, and he distances himself from the other operatives.


Toshiyuki Morikawa as Amari
He is the oldest person among all D Agency operatives, along with Kaminaga. He has a likable, sociable, and supportive personality, and so the operatives treat him as an older brother. He is free-spirited, and not liable to get bogged down in details. He is used to dealing with women.


Yuuki Kaji as Hatano
He is the youngest operative in D Agency. He has an undeniable charm that belies a sense of inner pride that sometimes crosses over into impudence. He is a clever man, and a martial arts master.


Jun Fukuyama as Jitsui
He has a friendly personality, and can tell that many things weigh on the mind of Lt. Sakuma. While he often declines to take sides in disputes, and is extremely polite, he has also demonstrated a cruel and sadistic side directed toward his enemies.


Kazuya Nakai as Fukumoto
He is the tallest D Agency operative. He has a tendency to be a bit slow in action, and is careful not to show overt emotion. He is close to the equally silent Odagiri. He loves to cook, and often serves as de-facto chef to the operatives.


Takahiro Sakurai as Tazaki
He is a fine and gentle young man with an intellectual air about him. He is calm and collected, and is often mistaken for someone older than he actually is. When he's thinking, he has a tendency to grab any nearby small object and do hand tricks with it.


Kenjiro Tsuda as Jirō Kamō
He is a person who is attentive and self-conscious about his appearance, but is serious and devoted to his duties. He is a competitive-level chess player.


Tesshô Genda as Col. Mutō
He is an Imperial Army colonel. He detests the existence of Lt. Col. Yūki's D Agency.


Kentarou Tone as John Gordon
He is an extreme Japanophile. The Imperial Army suspects him of espionage for stolen communication ciphers.


Nobuyuki Hiyama as Alan Lelunier
He is a brave French citizen, and a member of a French Resistance cell fighting the Wehrmacht.


Ryota Takeuchi as Jean Victoire
He is a French citizen, and like Alan, is a French Resistance member. He is brawny and physically strong.


Shizuka Itou as Marie Torres
She is a French citizen and Resitance member who conducts missions along with Alan and Jean. She is a freckled beauty with auburn hair.

The anime will also get a drama CD on May 11 titled Joker Game - Cigarette Code, which will serve as a side story for the anime.

The website also unveiled the titles and synopsis for the anime's first three episodes.

Episode 1-2 "Joker Game, Part 1 and 2"
1937. Despite extreme opposition from within the Imperial Japanese Army, Lt. Col. Yūki establishes the D Agency army intelligence unit under conditions of extreme secrecy for the purposes of training operatives. Lt. Sakuma is attached to D Agency with orders from Army General Staff to oversee the operation. He watches as Yūki directs young, calm, and collected trainees who pass the mentally and physically grueling selection process.

Episode 3 "Miscalculation
He remembers nothing. When he wakes up, he has lost all his memories. The name written on his passport is "Ryōsuke Shimano." His port of entry: Marseille. According to Alan — the man who was beside him when he awoke — France has just been invaded by the German Wehrmacht.

The website previously streamed a promotional video for the anime.

The original novel is set in 1937, before World War II begins in earnest. Lieutenant Colonel Yūki of the Imperial Japanese Army forms the "D Agency," an army intelligence outfit under his command and tutelage. Army General Staff attaches Lieutenant Sakuma to observe the unit's performance. D Agency casts a wide net to find agents beyond Japanese military personnel, and Yūki establishes D Agency's tenets, which go against IJA doctrine: "Don't kill, don't get killed, don't get captured." With this, Yūki trains a team of operatives who conduct missions against domestic and foreign powers.

The series will premiere in April.

Kazuya Nomura (Ghost in the Shell: New Movie, Robotics;Notes) is helming the project at Production I.G. Toshiyuki Yahagi (Guilty Crown) is serving as chief animation director and is adapting Shirow Miwa's (Dogs: Bullets & Carnage) original character designs. Taku Kishimoto (Haikyu!!, ERASED) is helming series composition and writing the scripts. Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Barakamon) is scoring the music. Other staff members include:

  • Chief Researcher: Seiichi Shirato
  • Art Director: Yoshio Tanioka
  • Art Setting: Iho Narita
  • 3D CGI: Sublimation
  • Color Key: Sayoko Noda
  • Special Effects: Masahiro Murakami
  • Director of Photography: Hiroshi Tanaka
  • Editing: Junichi Uematsu
  • Sound Director: Yoshikazu Iwanami

Subaru Nitō launched a manga adaptation of the anime in Mag Garden's Comic Garden magazine on February 5.

Yanagi published the original Joker Game novel in 2008. The novel won the Nihon Suiri Sakka Kyōkai-shō (Mystery Writers of Japan) award in 2009. Yū Irie directed a live-action adaptation of the novel, which premiered in Japan on January 31. Yanagi followed up the original novel with three sequel novels — titled Double Joker, Paradise Lost, and Last Waltz — in 2009, 2012, and 2015, respectively. The series has more than 1 million copies in print.

Source: Animate.tv


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